Paris, Oct 02: It was a European nightmare for England in the Champions League as Manchester United were stunned by tournament new boys VFB Stuttgart and Chelsea's millionaires slumped to the Turks of Besiktas.
Bundesliga leaders Stuttgart inflicted a 2-1 defeat on United at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium yesterday as Imre Szabics and Kevin Kuranyi struck within three minutes of the second half, leaving Alex Ferguson fuming at his defenders' "terrible" blunders.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy's 31st goal in the competition from the penalty spot could not save United from defeat and they slipped into second in Group E behind their next opponents, Rangers, who drew 1-1 with Panathinaikos.
"We knew Stuttgart were strong but I did not realise they were this strong," said Ferguson of the side playing in the Champions League for the first season in their history.
Chelsea pitted their multi-million pound squad against the modestly financed Besiktas and the Turks left Stamford Bridge with a 2-0 win after inflicting the first defeat since Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich took over the London club.



Two goals from portly midfielder Sergen Yalcin earned Besiktas an unlikely first ever away win in the competition.



Real Madrid, in contrast, came back from a goal down at FC Porto to win 3-1 and top Group F after two impressive wins out of two and Didier Drogba scored the first hat-trick of the Group stages as Marseille moved into second place behind Real with a 3-0 demolition of Partizan Belgrade.


Bureau Report