Both Manchester United and Manchester City grabbed their first wins in the Champions League this season while Real Madrid and Inter Milan also found joy.
Sergio Aguero scored a dramatic and potentially priceless injury-time winner at the Etihad Stadium as City came from behind to beat Spanish underdogs Villarreal 2-1.
But Aguero pounced to tap home a Pablo Zabaleta cross in the third minute of added time to keep City in touch with group pace-settlers Bayern Munich and Napoli, who drew 1-1 in Germany.
Bayern looked set to make it three Group A wins in a row when Toni Kroos put them ahead in the second minute at the Stadio San Paolo, but Holger Batstuber's 39th-minute own goal gave Napoli a draw.
Two late Wayne Rooney penalties were enough to give Manchester United their first win in Group C at the third time of asking but they were made to work for their 2-0 win by Otelul Galati in Romania.
The home side rode their luck in the first half with Michael Carrick wasting a fine opportunity, while Sir Alex Ferguson's men also saw Nemanja Vidic sent off in the 69th minute, perhaps harshly.
Benfica moved two points clear at the top of the group as Bruno Cesar and Oscar Cardozo both scored for the Portuguese giants in an impressive 2-0 win over Basel in Switzerland.
The visitors finished with 10 men as Emerson was dismissed four minutes from the end.
Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid continued their remarkable run of goalscoring form as they crushed Lyon 4-0 in UEFA Champions League Group D to make qualification from the group stage a mere formality.
Real's third straight win in the group leaves them five points clear in the group with half the games played. It also takes to 20 the number of goal's Mourinho's men have scored in their last five European and domestic matches.
Karim Benzema opened the scoring in the 19th minute and a burst after the break put paid to the French side's chances of clawing back into the game, with further goals coming from Sami Khedira, a Hugo Lloris own goal and Sergio Ramos.
Also in Group D, Ajax moved level with Lyon in second place with a priceless 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, Derk Boerrigter and Christian Eriksen grabbing the goals in the second half.
Carlos Ranieri's Inter Milan made light of their dismal form in Serie A to move to the top of Group B with a 1-0 win over Lille in France.
Inter slumped to 17th in the table after defeat at Catania at the weekend but Giampaolo Pazzini's 21st-minute goal was enough to take pole position after previous leaders Trabzonspor were thumped by CSKA in Moscow.
The Russians, who started the night bottom of the group with a single point to their name, took a 29th-minute lead through Seydou Doumbia, and late goals from Aleksandrs Cauna and Doumbia again sealed a 3-0 win.
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