Roma gave themselves a slender advantage after their first leg against Real Madrid with a 2-1 win at the Stadio Olimpico.

Mancini was the hero for the hosts, firing home the winning goal in the 58th minute after David Pizarro's 24th-minute strike had cancelled out Raul's opener on eight minutes.

Liverpool bounced back from their FA Cup exit at the weekend by posting a 2-0 win over a 10-man Internazionale in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at Anfield.

Liverpool lived up to their billing of European specialists by grabbing two goals in the final five minutes against the Italian champions.

They inflicted only the second defeat of the season on Roberto Mancini's side, with late goals from Dirk Kuyt (85) and Steven Gerrard (90).

Inter fought and defended magnificently for an hour after defender Marco Materazzi was sent off, but will face an uphill struggle at the San Siro in two weeks' time.

Chelsea carved out a bore draw against Olympiacos in Athens to give themselves a real chance of reaching the last eight.

The Londoners will be favourites to progress into the quarter-finals when the two sides meet again in the return leg at Stamford Bridge in a fortnight.

Arsenal kept European Cup holders AC Milan quiet at Emirates Stadium as Aussie goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac kept another clean sheet to give the Italians a valuable 0-0 result.

The Gunners - looking to bounce back from the 4-0 FA Cup thrashing at Manchester United on Saturday - more than matched their Serie A opponents, with World Player of the Year Kaka having only a limited impact.

Arsenal's performance, while spirited, lacked a real cutting edge in front of goal as the Londoners could not make the most of their dominance, particularly at the start of the second half - with in-form striker Emmanuel Adebayor seeing his stoppage-time header come back off the crossbar.

Nevertheless, the 2006 Champions League finalists remain very much alive heading into the return leg in Italy in a fortnight's time, when the young Gunners will indeed have to produce their performance of the season to advance.

thworldgame.com.au