Associated Press

London, February 23:

Ivan Helguera scored to lead Real Madrid over Juventus 1-0 in the Champions League knockout round as Europe’s elite club competition resumed in freezing conditions after a two-month break.

Helguera scored in the 31st minute off an inswinging David Beckham free kick as the nine-time champion claimed the advantage ahead of the return leg in Turin in two weeks.

German and English clubs split their two head-to-head encounters. Claudio Pizzaro scored in each half as Bayern Munich trounced Arsenal 3-1, while Liverpool beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 with goals from Luis Garcia, John Arne Riise and Dietmar Hamann. PSV Eindhoven beat last season’s runner-up Monaco 1-0.

At the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid also twice hit the post as coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo made his Champions League lead debut with a victory.

Both sides sustained injuries. Michel Salgado limped off for Madrid in the ninth minute with a knee injury after a collision with Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved, who was carried off 26 minutes later after a colliding heads with Salgado’s replacement, Raul Bravo.

The match, a replay of the 1998 Champions League final, was attended by Spain’s King Juan Carlos and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

In Munich, Pizarro scored in the fourth and 58th minutes, while Hasan Salihamidzic added another in the 51st. A late Arsenal goal from Kolo Toure gave the London club some hope of advancing to the quarter-finals.

The match was billed as a fight between Germany’s top two goalkeepers — current No 1 Oliver Kahn of Bayern Munich, and his rival Jens Lehmann at Arsenal.

Toure’s goal couldn’t offset two costly defensive mistakes, as Arsenal missed the presence of its injured England defender Sol Campbell.

Kolo Toure was at fault for allowing Pizarro to volley past Lehmann for his first goal and was left stranded as the Peruvian headed in his second from a Mehmet Scholl cross.

Lehmann thwarted Roy Makaay with a reflex save, but Salihamidzic scored on the rebound. Toure scored off a rebound from a Patrick Vieira shot that hit the post.

Four-time champion Liverpool coped with the absence of influential midfielder Steven Gerrard with a 3-1 win at Anfield. Franca scored in injury time for Leverkusen, which hasn’t won in England in six attempts.

In Eindhoven, PSV defender Alex scored after eight minutes. The Brazilian rose up unmarked near the middle of the penalty box to meet captain Mark van Bommel’s corner kick, sending it into the goal off the hand of the leaping Monaco goalkeeper Flavio Roma.

English Premiership:

WEST BROMWICH: West Bromwich Albion and Southampton played to a goalless draw on Tuesday, leaving both clubs closer to relegation from the Premier League.

West Brom is last with 18 points while Southampton is two places higher with 20.

In the first half, Southampton had a chance from Peter Crouch tipped onto the post by West Brom goalkeeper Russell Hoult. His Southampton counterpart Paul Smith made an awkward save from Kieran Richardson, who had another shot hit the crossbar.

Southampton’s David Prutton sidefooted over an open goal from six yards in the second half, while Hoult made a late full-stretch save to deny Jamie Redknapp.