Favourites hit goalscoring form

The leading contenders for the UEFA Women's Champions League made strong starts to their campaigns as the first legs of the round of 32 ties were played out on Wednesday. For full match details click here.

Duisburg on top
All the seeded clubs were away and many of them will have comfortable leads for the returns next Wednesday, including all three German entrants. Last UEFA Women's Cup winners FCR 2001 Duisburg came away from Belarus with a 5-1 lead against WFC Universitet Vitebsk including two goals from Inka Grings. German champions 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, who won the UEFA Women's Cup in 2004/05, scored four goals in the first 16 minutes at Finnish side FC Honka Espoo and triumphed 8-1 while debutants FC Bayern München, who came through the qualifying round, were 5-0 victors at Hungarian titleholders Viktória FC Szombathely.

Arsenal score nine
There were also comfortable wins for the other former European champions involved; Umeå IK prevailed 5-0 at Zhilstroy-1 Kharkov in Ukraine and four Kim Little goals helped Arsenal LFC to a 9-0 victory at PAOK FC. Last season's runners-up Zvezda-2005 won 3-0 at ŽNK SFK 2000 Sarajevo but it was closer for the beaten semi-finalists in 2007/08 and 2008/09, Olympique Lyonnais, as they beat ŽFK Mašinac Niš in Serbia 1-0 with a sixth-minute Simone goal.

Fortuna lead Bardolino
Whoever comes through that tie will meet 2002/03 runners-up Fortuna Hjørring or former semi-finalists ASD CF Bardolino Verona, with the Danish champions winning 4-0 in their home leg, their first European tie since their run six years ago. Bardolino's Italian rivals, ASD Torres Calcio, beat Valur Reykjavík 4-1 and in the only other home wins of the night, Norwegian champions Røa IL defeated Everton LFC 3-0 and Alma KTZH overcame AC Sparta Praha 1-0 in Kazakhstan.

Brøndby prevail
Elsewhere, two-time UEFA Women's Cup semi-finalists Brøndby IF won 2-1 on their tricky trip to AZ Alkmaar, while another side who have made the last four in the past, Montpellier Hérault SC, were held 0-0 at Standard Fémina de Liège. Umeå's Swedish rivals Linköpings FC prevailed 2-0 at FC Zürich Frauen, Austria's SV Neulengbach secured a 3-1 win in Poland at RTP 'Unia' Racibórz and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid's hopes of playing in the 20 May final in their home city are fading after losing by the same scoreline at home to WFC Rossiyanka of Russia.

Round of 16 draw
Once the ties are completed next Wednesday, the round of 16 fixtures will already be decided. The games will be played on 4 and 11 November, click here to see the draw.