November 28, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 22, 1423

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LONDON, Nov 27: Reigning European champions Real Madrid were beaten but former titleholders Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan all won on the opening night of the second phase of the Champions League Tuesday.

History repeated itself for Real who lost 1-0 at five-time European champions AC Milan with the Italian side maintaining their 100 per cent home record against the Spaniards in European competition going back to their first meeting in 1956.

Andriy Shevchenko scored the only goal in their outstanding Group C match at the San Siro stadium as Milan beat Real for the fifth successive time at home.

The hard part will come for AC Milan in the return leg where they have never beaten Real in Madrid.

Meanwhile, Manchester United bounced back to win the first European tie they have ever played in Switzerland with a 3-1 victory in Basel where the home side took the lead after only 31 seconds with the sixth-quickest goal in Champions League history.

But Christian Gimenez’s early strike was not enough against the two-time champions who stormed back to take the lead with two goals in 90 seconds by Ruud Van Nistelrooy just after the hour mark.

His second goal from the acutest of angles was particularly outstanding and deflated Basel so much they fell even further behind five minutes later when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the third to ensure United would go home with all three points.

Juventus, the other former European champions in action, fought back superbly to gain a 2-2 draw at Deportivo Coruna after the home side had raced into a 2-0 lead after only 11 minutes.

Diego Tristan (9) and Roy Makaay (11) gave the Spaniards a flying start, but Juve came back with a 38th minute goal from Alessandro Birindelli and a 57th minute equaliser from Pavel Nedved.

Borussia Dortmund, the 1997 European champions, also came from behind to win, outclassing a weary Lokomotiv Moscow 2-1 in Russia.

The home side, who clinched their domestic title for the first time in their 67-year history last week, started the brighter and went ahead after 31 minutes through Sergei Ignashevich.

But Dortmund were level just two minutes later when Torsten Frings equalised, and wrapped up the points two minutes before the break thanks to a well-taken goal by tall Czech striker Jan Koller who was gifted the ball by the home defence.

Second phase matches start in Groups A and B on Wednesday with Bayer Leverkusen playing Barcelona and Newcastle United meeting Inter Milan in Group A. In Group B, Roma host Arsenal and Valencia play Ajax Amsterdam.

Champions League results: