Manchester United recovered from conceding the sixth-fastest goal in Champions League history in Basel last night to score three times themselves in six second half minutes, and in the process went top of Group D following their 3-1 victory at the St Jakob stadium.

United coach Sir Alex Ferguson had warned his team prior to kick-off about how dangerous the Swiss champions were in the first ten minutes of matches and yet it took Christian Gross's team all of 31.5 seconds to score. Following a corner on the visitor's right, Quinton Fortune cleared a header from off his goalline, but the rebound was driven back across the penalty area for Argentinian striker Christian Gimenez to tap in from close range.

Ferguson admitted after the match that it had been: "a terrible start for us", but even though Fabien Barthez was called on to make a number of crucial saves, in particular from a Marat Yakin free-kick, United remained in the contest and equalised against the run of play after 62 minutes.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as he did in Saturday's Premiership fixture with Newcastle United, showed that he has the capabilities to play on the right of midfield by supplying an inch-perfect cross on to the head of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who made no mistake with his header.

"Ole crossed it in for me and all I had to do was head it on target and I was lucky that it went through the goalkeeper's legs", was how the Dutch international striker described his goal after the match.

Amazingly, United scored again a minute later and it was all down to the man who has now scored 16 times in his last 16 competitive games for his club. Chasing a lost cause, Van Nistelrooy beat two Basel defenders on the by-line before finding the net from a near impossible angle.

And the match was over as a contest five minutes later when Van Nistelrooy's fantastic first-time through-ball sent Solskjaer sprinting clear of a static Basel back four and the Norwegian made no mistake with the finish, drilling it low through Pascal Zuberbuhler's legs.

Ferguson said that it: "had been an uphill fight for us" and that his team: "had needed a break and got it with that great cross from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and from that point on, we were the better side."

Ryan Giggs suggested that the: "two goals coming so quickly helped us" and said of Van Nistelrooy's contribution: "Ruud is great at doing that. He scored two different goals, one a poacher's effort and the other made all by himself and this was an important win for us tonight."

Van Nistelrooy is now the second top scorer in the competition with six, two behind Hernán Crespo, Roy Makaay and Pippo Inzaghi and only five other players have scored more goals than him in the history of the Champions League.

In Group D's other fixture, Italian champions Juventus were at the Municipal de Riazor in La Coruña to face Deportivo and found themselves two nil down after just eleven minutes to identical goals from Diego Tristán and Makaay, both arriving from pinpoint left-wing crosses via the boot of left-back Joan Capdevila.

However, Marcello Lippi's side fought back and after Alessandro del Piero had had a goal ruled out for pushing, left-back Alessandro Birindelli hit an unstoppable 25-yard shot into the roof of the net seven minutes before the break. And, 12 minutes after half-time, Czech international midfielder Pavel Nedved drew the two sides level with another long-range effort, leaving both sides content with a point each.

Group C witnessed a clash between two sides that had lifted the European Cup on a remarkable 14 occasions between them, AC Milan and the current holders, Real Madrid. And, in front of a packed San Siro stadium, it was the form team of the tournament to date, Milan, who emerged victorious, winning the game 1-0 thanks to a first half strike from Andriy Shevchenko. It was the Ukrainian international's first start in the Champions League this season and he latched on to a defence-splitting pass from Manuel Rui Costa to score his second Champions League goal of the campaign.

Both sides had chances to score further goals, but the closest either team came was when Raúl's late goal was harshly ruled out for handball after a goalmouth scramble, leaving the side from the Spanish capital without a win in their last five Champions League games.

In the group's other fixture, Borussia Dortmund made the long journey to Moscow and fell behind after 31 minutes when Sergei Ignashevitch drilled in a low shot from the edge of the area past Jens Lehmann. But the Bundesliga champions responded within two minutes, Thorsten Frings getting on the end of Tomáš Rosicky's deep cross to head home. And Matthias Sammer's side sealed their impressive win two minutes before the break thanks to Jan Koller's close-range strike.

Tonight, Newcastle United host Internazionle at St James' Park and Sir Bobby Robson has stated that his side: "have a job on their hands and need to handle players such as Crespo and Vieri" if they are to emerge victorious and the former England manager thinks that if Newcastle can: "reproduce the form that we displayed against Juventus, then we will progress, but if we do not, we will go out, it is as simple as that."

Craig Bellamy is in line for a recall after Saturday's 5-3 defeat at Old Trafford, while Laurent Robert is fit again after recovering from a fractured cheekbone and should take his place amongst the substitutes. Hugo Viana is also back from a knee injury while Nolberto Solano could well start the game on the right-hand side of midfield.

As for the Italians, who currently lie fourth in Serie A, they will be without both Nelson Vivas and Sergio Conceicao. Group A's other game sees unbeaten Barcelona travel to last season's runners-up, Bayer Leverkusen.

In Group B, Arsenal play Roma in the Olimpico stadium in Rome and must make do without the services of Nwankwo Kanu, who has a knee injury, the suspended Kolo Toure and the unavailable Dennis Bergkamp. Oleg Luzhny and David Seaman (groin) are also both doubts and so German midfielder Moritz Volz has been called into the squad.

For Fabio Capello's Roma side, they qualified for the second phase having scored the least number of goals, but did become the first team ever in the Champions League to beat Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. However, the team is struggling by their own high standards in Serie A, having lost 3-0 at Parma on Saturday and may have to do without Brazil captain Cafu. That blow is offset though by the news that captain Francesco Totti is likely to return from a knee injury to play behind a front two of Marco Delvecchio and Vincenzo Montella.

In the group's other encounter, the tournaments second favourites Valencia host Ronald Koeman's Ajax.

From Richard Morgan