Manchester United looks strong

Who has the guns to win the European Champions League?

To judge by defending champion Manchester United’s decisive 3-0 victory over Aalborg BK in Denmark on Tuesday, Coach Alex Ferguson’s squad is the best-armed of the 32 teams, boasting a quartet of goal scorers in Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov.

Such riches allow Ferguson to chop and change at will, and usually one of the four comes through.

Against Aalborg, it was Bulgaria’s Berbatov. Bought from Tottenham Hotspur last month for $54 million, he scored his first two goals for the Red Devils as they demolished the Danish side. Rooney got the other.

“That will help his confidence,” Ferguson said of Berbatov. “Always when you get transferred for that amount of money, you want your first goal as quickly as possible.”

The only down note for United was the knee injury suffered by midfielder Paul Scholes that will sideline him for up to 10 weeks.

Arsenal and Liverpool have also shown their firepower. On Tuesday, Arsenal humiliated FC Porto, 4-0, in London as Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor each scored twice. It was midfielder Cesc Fabregas, however, who orchestrated the victory.

“Fabregas was outstanding,” said Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger. “He was good defensively and offensively. It was the complete performance. This is the response I wanted. We could have scored a few more, but most important was to win and respond in a convincing way. That’s what we did.”

Five-time champion Liverpool routed PSV Eindhoven, 3-1, on Wednesday with two of the goals being especially noteworthy.

After Dutchman Dirk Kuyt had put Liverpool ahead in the fourth minute, Ireland’s Robbie Keane, a $33-million summer acquisition from Tottenham, scored his first goal for the club on a rainy night at Anfield.

That would have been the headline in Thursday morning’s Liverpool Echo, but Steven Gerrard then banged in his 100th goal for Liverpool to bring the crowd to its feet and steal the limelight.

Gerrard is the 16th player in Liverpool’s 116-year history to reach the century mark and the first since his England teammate Michael Owen did so in 2001.

“It was almost a perfect night,” said Liverpool Coach Rafael Benitez.

The fourth English club in the competition, last season’s Champion League runner-up Chelsea, found the going much tougher but managed to escape from Romania with a 0-0 tie against CFR Cluj.

“It was difficult,” said Chelsea Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. “We did not play well, the players know that, but one point is better than zero.”

The more disheartening news for Chelsea fans was the ligament damage suffered by striker Didier Drogba, who had to be taken out of the game after a collision. He is expected to be sidelined for several months.

All four English teams are still on course for the knockout round of 16, as are four Spanish clubs.

Nine-time European champion Real Madrid traveled to Russia and defeated Zenit St. Petersburg, 2-1, with Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy collecting the game-winner.

Similarly, neighboring Atletico Madrid put itself in good shape with a 2-1 home win over Olympique Marseille, as Argentine striker Sergio Aguero scored.

Another young Argentine star, Lionel Messi, came to Barcelona’s rescue with goals in the 87th and 94th minutes as Barcelona escaped from Ukraine with a 2-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk.

Also, Villarreal helped its cause with a 1-0 home victory over Celtic of Scotland, courtesy of a free kick by Brazilian-born Marcos Senna.

Elsewhere this week, some big names suffered, none more so than a German giant and a trio of Italians.

Bayern Munich, still struggling to adapt to the coaching style of Juergen Klinsmann, had lost two Bundesliga games in a row when it hosted French champion Olympique Lyon. The winless streak is now three games after the French team held Bayern to a 1-1 draw.

“I don’t believe the team has two faces,” Klinsmann said of Bayern’s up-and-down performances. “It’s in the process of developing.”

For Italy, the 2008-2009 Champions League has so far proven a difficult road, even though the final will be played in Rome in May.

Juventus gave up two early goals in Minsk and was held to a 2-2 tie by BATE Borisov. Vincenzo Iaquinta scored twice to earn Juventus a point. Also, Fiorentina managed only a 0-0 tie with Steau Bucharest and was booed off its own field in Florence.

Italian champion Inter Milan, still smarting from its Sunday loss to AC Milan, was held to a 1-1 tie at home by Werder Bremen.

“If you consider the only goal we scored against all the chances we created, it’s disappointing,” said Inter Coach Jose Mourinho. “A draw at home pleases no one, not me, not the players, not the supporters.”

Only AS Roma managed to lighten the gloom. Upset by CFR Cluj in its Champions League opener, it rebounded to defeat Bordeaux, 3-1, in France as Julio “Beast” Baptista scored twice.

grahame.jones@latimes.com