Teenage forward Stevan Jovetic scored twice, leading Fiorentina over Liverpool 2-0 Tuesday night in the European Champions League.
Defending champion Barcelona rebounded from an opening tie at Inter to win 2-0 over visiting Dynamo Kiev on goals by Lionel Messi and Pedro Rodriguez. Inter played the last 30 minutes a man short following Mario Balotelli’s ejection in a 1-1 tie at Russia’s Rubin Kazan.
Arsenal relied on late goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin in a 2-0 victory over visiting Olympakios.
At Florence, the 19-year-old Jovetic took a pass from Cristiano Zanetti and slid the ball past goalkeeper Pepe Reina in the 28th minute, then redirected in a shot from Juan Vargas nine minutes later.
“Everyone is disappointed, but at this level every team is a good team,” Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said. “We were not the best in any part of the pitch. We knew that they were a good team—very organized, good on the counterattack—and we were giving the ball away all the time and giving them chances.”
Lyon won the other Group E game 4-0 at Hungary’s Debreceni, getting goals from Kim Kallstrom, Miralem Pjanic, Sidney Govou and Bafetimbi Gomis. Lyon tops the group with six points, three ahead of Fiorentina and Liverpool and six ahead of Debrenceni.
At Barcelona, Messi scored in the 26th minute off a pass from Andres Iniesta, and Rodriguez scored in the 76th following Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s pass. Inter overcame Alejandro Dominguez’s 11th-minute goal, getting a 27th-minute equalizer from Dejan Stankovic.
Barcelona is first in Group F with four points, followed by Dynamo Kiev with three, Inter with two and Rubin Kazan with one.
At London, Van Persie scored in the 78th and Arshavin in the 86th to keep Arsenal in the Group H lead ahead of Olimpiakos. In the other match, substitute Moussa Traore scored in second-half stoppage time, giving Standard Liege a 1-1 tie at AZ Alkmaar, which got a 48th-minute goal from Mounir El Hamdaoui.
“The boss told us to be patient at halftime and our moment would come, and so it did,” Van Persie said.
In Group G, Sevilla won 4-1 at Rangers on goals by Abdoulay Konko, Adriano, Luis Fabiano and Fredi Kanoute, and Nacho Novo scored in the 88th minute for Rangers at Glasgow. Stuttgart gained a 1-1 tie at Romania’s Unirea, going ahead on Serdar Tasci’s goal in the fifth minute only to allow Dacian Varga’s goal on a curling shot in the 48th.