Raul Gonzalez rescued nine-time winner Real Madrid from an embarrassing home loss with two goals against Lokomotiv Moscow in the Champions League competition on Wednesday as big rivals Barcelona, AC Milan and Manchester United maintained their charges towards the quarterfinal.
The most star-studded team in world soccer, Madrid managed only a 2-2 tie with the newly crowned Russian champion at its Bernabeu stadium and has now gone six Champions League games in a row without a win.
After Raul had given Madrid the lead, Nigerian forward James Obiorah and South African Bennet Mnguni turned the game Lokomotiv's way. But the Spanish striker's leveller had an element as luck as he blocked a clearance by visiting goalkeeper Sergey Ovchinnikov and managed to force the ball over the line.
The defending champion has just one point from two games and Milan tops Group C with a maximum six after another match-winning strike by Filippo Inzaghi at Borussia Dortmund.
``The result was terrible for us,'' said Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque. ``We are used to resuming the competition with six points. This is a new situation for us and it needs to be resolved.''
What made it worse was that Ronaldo, who missed three chances, Fernando Hierro and Claude Makelele all suffered injuries that could keep them out for vital games.
In a game postponed for 24 hours because its Nou Camp field had been waterlogged on Tuesday, Barcelona scored a 3-1 victory over Newcastle, managed by its former coach Bobby Robson, to tie AC Milan's record of 10 wins in a row in the competition.
Daniel Garcia ``Dani'' gave Barca a seventh minute lead before Shola Ameobi leveled for Newcastle. Patrick Kluivert's 100th goal for Barcelona in the 38th minute restored the lead before Brazilian Thiago Motta headed the third.
Barca now is tied with Inter Milan with six points in Group A. On Tuesday Inter Milan scored a 3-2 victory over last season's runner up, Bayer Leverkusen.
Two Ruud van Nistelrooy goals at Old Trafford earned Manchester United a 2-0 victory over Deportivo de La Coruna as Alex Ferguson's team stayed top of Group D.
England captain David Beckham, sidelined for a month with a fractured rib, returned to the lineup with 10 minutes to go. The last time he faced Deportivo was last season when he suffered a broken bone in his left foot which almost put him out of the World Cup.
In snowy Turin, Italy champion Juventus romped to a 4-0 victory over Switzerland's FC Basel.
Juve raced into a 3-0 half time lead at the Stadio Delle Alpi with strikes by David Trezeguet (third minute), defender Paolo Montero (34th) and Alessio Tacchinardi (43rd) before star forward Alessandro Del Piero added the fourth six minutes into the second half.
Manchester United has six points, Juventus four, Deportivo one and Basel none.
In Group B on Tuesday, Arsenal and Valencia tied 0-0 in another Anglo-Spanish confrontation at Highbury while Ajax Amsterdam edged AS Roma 2-1.
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