Mesut Ozil showed his playmaking pedigree to orchestrate Arsenal's 2-0 victory over Napoli while a late Cesc Fabregas header gave Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 win at 10-man Celtic in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Both sides have six points from their opening two games, as do Atletico Madrid with their Turkey midfielder Arda Turan netting an 86th minute winner in a 2-1 victory at Porto.
Julian Draxler's sweet strike just after the break was enough to beat Basel and maintain Schalke 04's perfect start.
Borussia Dortmund's Poland striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice in a 3-0 demolition of Olympique Marseille as did Chelsea's Ramires to get their campaign up and running in a 4-0 win at Steaua Bucharest after a shock opening home defeat by Basel.
There was also late drama in Amsterdam with Stefano Denswil heading Ajax ahead in the last minute, only for Mario Balotelli to level with a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time in a 1-1 draw.
Ozil has quickly impressed since his big-money move from Real Madrid last month and he again oozed class at the Emirates as Arsenal took control of Group F by easing past a Napoli side tasting defeat for the first time under coach Rafael Benitez.
The German international opened his account for the London club with a sweet strike from the edge of the box after eight minutes.
He then set up Oliver Giroud for a second soon after in a standout display not seen at the Emirates in a long time.
Barca, who surprisingly lost to Celtic at Parkhead in the group stage last season and on Tuesday were without injured World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, had to work hard for their Group H victory in Glasgow.
The task was made easier when Celtic captain Scott Brown was sent off just before the hour for kicking out at Neymar after the Brazilian had tumbled under his challenge.
Barca, without Messi's magic, had probed but mostly huffed and puffed all night until they made their numerical advantage pay 14 minutes from time with Neymar involved in the build-up.
His lay off found substitute Alexis Sanchez on the right flank and the Chilean's cross was met by Fabregas who headed past Fraser Forster.
Chelsea lost striker Fernando Torres with an early knee injury but Jose Mourinho's men were far too strong for Steaua with winger Andre Schuerrle instrumental in getting the 2012 European champions up and running in Group E.
The German had a hand in the first and third goals scored by Ramires, with a Daniel Georgievski own goal and a late Frank Lampard strike rounding off a comfortable win.
Atletico Madrid came into their Group G match in Porto on a high after stunning Real Madrid 1-0 at the Bernabeu on Saturday to keep up a perfect record in La Liga after seven games, but they fell behind after 16 minutes when Colombian Jackson Martinez scored with a diving header.
However, Atletico coach Diego Simeone has forged a highly motivated unit and the Spaniards battled back after the break. Uruguayan defender Diego Godin climbed high to head home in the 58th and the visitors took home the points when Gabi slotted a clever short free kick into the area for Turan to blast home.
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