Burnley celebrated its first home match in the top division for 33 years with a shock 1-0 victory over Premier League champion Manchester United at Turf Moor Wednesday. Robbie Blake's smart volley from outside the box in the first half gave Burnley a memorable victory after United's Michael Carrick saw his penalty well saved by Brian Jensen just before the break. Michael Owen, partnering Wayne Rooney in a disappointing United attack, was replaced after the hour by Dimitar Berbatov but their attempts for an equalizer were stopped by an inspired Jensen. Liverpool put an opening defeat to Tottenham Hotspur behind it with a 4-0 victory over Stoke City. Rafa Benitez's side went ahead after just four minutes when Spanish striker Fernando Torres met Steven Gerrard's cross to score before Glen Johnson grabbed a second before the break. Great work from captain Gerrard allowed Dutchman Dirk Kuyt to add a third on 78 minutes and David Ngog added a fourth late in the game. Elsewhere, a Jermain Defoe hat trick helped Spurs to a 5-1 victory at Hull City to make it two wins from two, while Birmingham City beat Portsmouth 1-0. Lyon, Zurich well set Olympique Lyon virtually guaranteed its place in the Champions League group stage for the 10th successive season after thumping Anderlecht 5-1 in the first leg of their playoff final Wednesday. Lyon raced into a 4-0 halftime lead and, barring an unlikely reversal in next week's second leg, will go into the draw for the competition proper when it takes place in Monaco on Aug. 27. Zurich look set to join them after scoring a convincing 3-0 away win over Latvian champions Ventspils and is now just 90 minutes away from a return to Europe's elite competition for the first time for 28 years. Atletico Madrid also grabbed the advantage in their tie, winning a thriller 3-2 at Panathinaikos in Athens, as did Hungarian champions Debrecen who beat Levski Sofia 2-1 away while Maccabi Haifa also won away, 2-1 at Salzburg. The second legs will be played next Tuesday.
