Hamburg - Champions League hopefuls Chelsea suffered an unexpected defeat Tuesday on a night of surprises in the lucrative European Champions League. Also on the night Inter Milan and Liverpool had to come from behind to snatch late draws in their group matches, while Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon became the first clubs to go through after making sure of finishing in the top two positions in Group C.
Last year's finalists Chelsea lost their Group A game in Italy against AS Roma 3-1 and had Portuguese international Deco sent off, while Liverpool needed a last-minute penalty in their Group D game against Atletico Madrid for a 1-1 draw at home.
In Cyprus Inter Milan had to come from behind to snatch a 3-3 draw against Champions League rookies Anorthosis Famagusta in Group B.
Roma blew their group wide open with a convincing 3-1 victory that saw them move to within one point of Chelsea, who remain top of the group with seven points.
Christian Panucci opened the scoring for the home side in the 34th minute. Mirko Vucinic added two more goals after the break before John Terry pulled one back for the Premier League side in the 75th minute.
Bordeaux, who won 2-1 at Romanian club CFR Cluj, are also on six points, while Cluj have four points.
Atletico Madrid were within a minute of becoming the first team through to the quarter-finals after Maxi Rodriguez's first half goal, but Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored a soft penalty five minutes into injury time to keep both sides on eight points.
Swedish referee Martin Hansson gifted Liverpool the equalizer when he ruled Gerrard to have been fouled by Mariano Pernia, when television footage seemed to suggest that it was Pernia who had been on the receiving end of a Gerrard challenge.
Gerard, however, made no mistake from the spot to give his side a share of the spoils.
The other group game saw Olympique Marseille manage a good 3-0 victory against PSV Eindhoven to move to three points. The Dutch club are also on three points.
In Cyprus Inter Milan twice took the lead against Anorthosis, but the Cypriots bounced back every time and even took the lead in the 50th minute through Nikos Frousos.
Inter substitute Julio Cruz managed a late equalizer nine minutes from the end to keep Inter at the top of Group B with eight points. Famagusta are on five points.
Greek club Panathinaikos scored thrice in the second half for a 3- 0 victory at Werder Bremen to move to four points, leaving the Bundesliga club bottom of the group on three points.
Bremen's Germany midfielder Torsten Frings, who was suspended for the game after picking up a second booking in Athens, said that his side had not played well.
"We created no chances, but it is always easy to say that as I was not playing, but we certainly did not do well."
He said that one of the reasons for their poor performance is that the players have had to play six or seven games in the space of two and a half weeks. "Some of the players simply do not have the power to go the distance."
The two other matches on Tuesday saw Barcelona drop their first point of their campaign at home to Basel in Group C, while Sporting Lisbon beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0.
In Barcelona substitute Lionel Messi thought he had given his side victory two minutes after coming on with a well-taken goal in the 62nd minute, but 20-year-old Basel sub Eren Derdiyok levelled matters in the 82nd minute.
Derlei scored the only goal of the match in Protugal to send his side through to the next round.
The results see Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon advance to the quarter-finals.
