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UEFA Champions League extended group stage battles on Tuesday, after which two clubs - inspired by T.Henry's return, London's "Arsenal" and Munich's "Bayern" - remained without losing points. "Juventus" from Turin suffered their first defeat in a duel of group leaders.
"Juve" had won all their matches before this encounter - seven matches out of as many possible in the Italian championship and both matches in the Champions League. However, Bayern, the German champions thirsting for revenge for their failures in the previous season's mutual duel, awaited them in Munich.
In the brand new "Allianz" arena, hosts dominated from the very beginning of the match, and broke through 32 minutes in when S.Deisler's shot caught the unprepared goalkeeper C.Abbiati. Seven minutes later, M.Demichelis increased the score with a header, and Z.Ibrahimovic's goal in extra time did not help the "Juventus" team to steal even one point.
In other matches in Group A, the team "Brugge" won away against Vienna's "Rapid" with a single goal from B.Balaban, earning their first victory and revived hopes of taking second place, now trailing "Juventus" by three points.
In Group B, "Arsenal" confidently leads, adding three more points to their account with an away win against "Sparta" in Prague. The winner scored both goals, the "Gunners" leader Thierry Henry - replacing the injured J.A.Reyes, the Frenchman led his team forward with a great shot after seven minutes and later added another goal with a total of 186 precise shots, surpassing I.Wright and becoming the all-time leading "Arsenal" player.
Amsterdam's "Ajax" moved up to second place in the group, defeating league debutant "Thun" club 2-0 and achieving their first victory, overtaking the defeated opponent by one point. Greek veteran I.Anastasiou's goals in the 36th and 55th minutes determined the victory for the Dutch.
Spain's strongest club, "Barcelona," lost their first points in Group C, failing to break Athens' "Panathinaikos" resistance away and playing to a goalless draw. "Udinese" shares second place with the Greeks, saving themselves from defeat at home against "Werder" Bremen - the visitors scored an own goal through defender Felipe, but A.Di Natale from the home team scored four minutes before time to snatch a point.
In Group D, the most intense competition is taking place, where both matches ended in draws again: the leading "Man Utd," playing the second half at home without the sent-off P.Scholes, did not break through the defense of fourth-placed "Lille," while "Villarreal" led against Lisbon's "Benfica" after J.R.Riquelme's converted penalty, but M.Fernandes equalized the score.
