Pep Guardiola got his reign as Barcelona boss off to a winning start with a 4-0 win over Polish side Wisla Krakow in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League third qualifying-round clash on Thursday.
Samuel Eto'o, who was told he could leave the club earlier this summer, opened the scoring after 17 minutes and completed the rout seven minutes from time, while Xavi and Thierry Henry were also on target.
Dynamo Kiev all but booked their place in the Champions League group stages with a thumping 4-1 win away to Spartak Moscow.
Ismael Bangoura and Artem Milevskiy bagged a brace apiece to turn the game at the Luzhniki Stadium on its head after Nikita Bazhenov had given the Russians an early lead.
And there could be two Ukrainian sides in the competition proper after Shakhtar Donetsk claimed a 2-0 first-leg win over Dinamo Zagreb.
Croatian Darijo Srna put the hosts ahead after just three minutes and Evaeyerson Brandau doubled their advantage.
Vladimir Rzhevskiy gave Belorussian champions BATE a 1-0 win at Bulgarian side Levski Sofia.
Levski had the opportunity to take the lead, but Georgi Ivanov missed from the penalty spot.
Juventus had little trouble establishing a commanding first-leg lead over Slovakian side Artmedia Petrzalka as they strolled to a 4-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico.
Mauro Camoranesi opened the scoring after just seven minutes and Alessandro Del Piero made it two shortly before the half-hour mark.
Giorgio Chiellini added a third to all but settle the tie before half-time and Nicola Legrottaglie completed the rout in stoppage time.
Last season's quarter-finalists Schalke hold the upper hand against Atletico Madrid after a 1-0 first-leg win in Gelsenkirchen.
Left-back Christian Pander scored for the Bundesliga side to get new coach Fred Rutten's reign at the Arena AufSchalke off to a winning start.
Atletico's cause was not helped by the sending off of Antonio Lopez with 14 minutes remaining.
Elsewhere, Shabani Nonda scored twice as Galatasaray came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Romanian outfit Steaua Bucharest.
The visitors raced into a 2-0 lead through Dayro Moreno and Banel Nicolita inside 12 minutes, but Nonda's double either side of half-time brought the Turks level.
Greek giant Olympiacos surprisingly came unstuck against Anorthosis Famagusta, going down 3-0 in Cyprus.
A Vassilis Torosidis own goal and a Lukasz Sosin effort in the opening 20 minutes put Anorthosis in control before Vincent Laban sealed the victory late on.
Another Greek side, Panathinaikos, fared better as it won 2-1 away at Sparta Prague.
Stepan Kucera put through his own net to gift Pana the lead and Junior Simao restored their advantage after Marek Kulic had levelled for the hosts after 30 minutes.
Marseille also have one foot in the group stages after victory over SK Brann in Norway, Benoit Cheyrou with the only goal of the game five minutes before the break.
FC Twente, starting life under former England manager Steve McClaren, frustrated Arsenal for more than an hour before goals from William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor gave the Gunners a 2-0 away win.
Goals from Brazilian Caca and Jeppe Curth gave AaB a 2-0 win over Kaunas of Lithuania, who knocked out last season's UEFA Cup finalists Rangers in the last round.
Fenerbahce, surprise quarter-finalists last season, survived a scare at Partizan Belgrade as they came from 2-0 down to rescue a 2-2 draw.
Goals from Veljko Paunovic and Milos Bogunovic put the