Danny Welbeck plundered a hat-trick as Arsenal got their Champions League campaign up and running with a 4-1 victory over ­Galatasaray at the Emirates Stadium, where play was halted in the first half after the Turkish away supporters threw flares on to the pitch.

The England striker swept home an inch-perfect pass from from Alexis Sanchez to open his account in the 22nd minute before doubling his and his team's tally on the half-hour mark, with Sanchez adding the third just before the break.

Welbeck completed his hat-trick on 52 minutes, before Arsenal were reduced to 10 men when goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pole-axed Burak Yilmaz, who converted the resulting penalty.

Elsewhere, Liverpool became the latest big-name English scalp to be claimed by Basel recorded a 1-0 win in Switzerland.

The Swiss had beaten Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham in the last four years and added the five-time Champions League winners to that list to move ahead of their opponents in Group B after Marco Streller converted a 53rd-minute corner.

Bayer Leverkusen turned in an impressive display to open their Group C account with a 3-1 win over Benfica, leaving the Portuguese facing an early exit.

Real Madrid avoided the embarrassment of losing to the Bulgarian minnows Ludogorets after falling a goal behind in Razgrad.

After Marcelinho scored for Ludogorets, Cristiano Ronaldo responded to missing one penalty by scoring another, before Karim Benzema got a second for a 2-1 victory.

Substitute Adrian Ramos ensured Borussia Dortmund maintained a perfect start to their Champions League Group D campaign by sealing a 3-0 victory at Anderlecht.

Meanwhile, Markus Rosenberg's brace gave Malmo a famous 2-0 victory over Olympiacos in their Champions League Group Group A encounter while Zenit St Petersburg drew 0-0 at home to Monaco in Group C.

Arda Turan scored the only goal of the game as Atletico Madrid defeated Juventus 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon in Group A.