CSKA Moscow began the defense of its UEFA Cup title with a 3-1 win over Danish club FC Midtjylland, but Bayer Leverkusen lost and two-time champion Feyenoord drew in first-leg, first-round matches on Thursday.
No fans watched in Moscow's Dynamo Stadium as Rolan Gusev opened the scoring for CSKA, only for Razak Pimpong to level three minutes later. CSKA's Brazilian midfielder, Daniel Carvalho, scored two late goals.
UEFA ordered the game be played in an empty stadium after firecrackers were thrown from the stands during last season's semifinal against Parma. One firecracker had exploded by the head of visiting goalkeeper Luca Bucci.
PHOTO: AP
"The game turned out to be tough. Our opponents scored an equalizer and it encouraged them," said CSKA coach Valery Gazzaev. "I'm satisfied with the game and the result."
Forty matches featuring clubs from 30 European countries were played Thursday. The second-leg matches will be played Sept. 29. The 20 winners advance to the group stage.
Feynoord, champion in 1974 and 2002, also played in an empty stadium against Rapid Vienna as punishment for crowd trouble at its match with Sporting Lisbon last season.
PHOTO: EPA
Dirk Kuyt gave Feyenoord the lead in the 40th minute, but Ciprian Vasilache leveled with a penalty in the 76th.
Leverkusen's 1-0 loss to CSKA Sofia was the night's biggest upset after Jordan Todorov's winner in the 15th.
"In the second half we tried everything, but you have to ask yourself why nothing worked," said Leverkusen goalkeeper Joerg Butt.
PHOTO: EPA
Jon Dahl Tomasson and Christian Gentner scored in Stuttgart's first win in five matches. "We have had a difficult period, every knows that," Tomasson said. "It wasn't beautiful football, but we won, so we should be happy."
Hertha Berlin also won, while Hamburger SV and Mainz 05 drew.
Olivier Kapo and Emmanuel Adebayor scored each side of halftime for Monaco, while Rennes and Strasbourg won and Marseille drew in matches involving other French clubs.
Christian Panucci scored twice in Roma's crushing win, which coach Luciano Spalletti watched from the stands as he serves a European touchline ban earned while at Udinese last season.
Palermo won but Italy's third team, Sampdoria, drew 1-1 with Setubal of Portugal.
Last year's finalist Sporting rallied to defeat Halmstads BK after Deivid de Souza scored the winner two minutes into the second half.
English clubs Middlesbrough and Bolton won, but Everton, which finished third in the Premier League last season, conceded four second-half goals to its Romanian opponent.
Spanish clubs Espanyol and Sevilla drew their matches, while Osasuna lost.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, 115 Swiss fans were detained after skirmishes with police before Brondby IF beat FC Zurich 2-0.
Three officers were slightly injured in the clashes -- 90 minutes before the match was to begin -- near the suburban stadium in Brondby. One Swiss fan was also injured.
Several officers fired warning shots into the air, said chief constable Joern Bro.
The Swiss fans were escorted by nine police officers on a train to Brondby where some of them assaulted police at the station. The fans hurled stones and empty bottles and used their belts as weapons.
"It was so violent that the officers had to flee the train station and drew their guns and shot in the air," Bro told Denmark's TV2 channel.
The incident started after officers tried to arrest a fan writing graffiti on the train, Bro said.
Brondby won the game 2-0.
The supporters were also involved in some minor brawls after arriving in Copenhagen earlier in the day, officers said.
Three police officers and one fan were slightly injured.
One of the four suspects will be held for a week pending an investigation and possible indictment, police spokesman Steen Oerskov said yesterday.
Court hearings for the other three were pending, but Oerskiv refused to give their names because of Denmark's privacy laws.
The other detained fans were released yesterday morning. Some may face small fines for refusing to obey the police, Oerskov said.
Chief superintendent Arne Vissing told Danish media that Swiss police had said "that the game was a low-risk game."
The clashes allegedly started when police tried to detain a Swiss fan for spraying graffiti in a train station near the stadium.
Police said fans then assaulted nine officers escorting them from downtown Copenhagen. The fans, some of whom had been involved in brawls earlier Thursday, hurled stones and empty bottles and used their belts as weapons.
With five consecutive shutout victories to start the season, it's no surprise to find defending champion Chelsea on top of the Premier League.
But take a look at the Blues' second-place opponent on Saturday: Charlton Athletic, which hosts Chelsea at The Valley, also hasn't dropped a point.
The Addicks aren't among the leading title winners in English soccer, and their only success was winning the FA Cup in 1947. But manager Alan Curbishley has been quietly turning the team into a contender for a top-six place, and Charlton has the ability to upset the Blues at home.
Curbishley's team, which has played four games, hopes to become the first to take points off Chelsea -- which started its Champions League campaign with a 1-0 victory over Anderlecht on Tuesday to extend its overall shutout streak to six.
Curbishley, widely considered an England coach of the future, has promised Chelsea he won't resort to the sort of defensive tactics the Blues have faced so far.
Anderlecht fielded five defenders and tried to smother the Chelsea midfield. The only goal came on a free kick by Frank Lampard.
"It is something which Chelsea have to cope with," Curbishley said. "They have to cope with it in the Premiership, and they will have to cope with it in the Champions League because teams are going to give them that respect.
"People know Chelsea are really dangerous on the break, but against Anderlecht, they could not get past the fullbacks to put any crosses in, mostly because they were doubling up on them. It could be a different game at The Valley this weekend."
Unlike Chelsea, which has spent some ?263 million (389 million euros) on new players since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club two years ago, Charlton has been far more frugal.
Curbishley's biggest signing has been Darren Bent from Ipswich. The striker has rewarded him with five league goals and a callup to the England squad.
By contrast, Lampard has been struggling for England but is happy with his form for the Blues. He also dismissed criticism that Chelsea doesn't play entertaining soccer.
"What are high levels if they are not winning every game?" he said. "We know that at times we are not playing the flowing football we can. But no team is doing that in the Premier League. We set high standards but we are not disappointed."
With the top two playing each other and protecting their 100 percent records, some of the spotlight has been taken away from Sunday's Liverpool-Manchester United confrontation at Anfield.
Manchester United's own perfect start to the season was halted by neighbor Manchester City, which held Alex Ferguson's team to a 1-1 tie today. Manchester United also settled for a 0-0 draw with Spain's Villarreal in the Champions League on Wednesday. Wayne Rooney, whose temper has boiled over in recent games for United and England, was sent off for sarcastically applauding the referee for giving him a yellow card.
Liverpool is unbeaten in three Premier League games but has won only one of them. Rafa Benitez' team, which won the Champions League last season, is coming off a 2-1 victory at Real Betis on Tuesday.
Today's other games are Aston Villa-Tottenham, Fulham-West Ham, Portsmouth-Birmingham and Sunderland-West Bromwich Albion.
Tomorrow, Blackburn hosts Newcastle, Manchester City welcomes neighbor Bolton and Wigan, boosted by two straight victories, receives a Middlesbrough side that beat Arsenal 2-1 last weekend.
The Gunners, who needed a last-minute Dennis Bergkamp winner to beat modest FC Thun 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, aren't in action until Monday when they host Everton.
After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open on Wednesday, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible. “Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the women’s singles quarter-finals. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.” Sabalenka’s wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while
BIG NAMES GONE: Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title, reaching semi-finals for the fifth time in six years and finishing second on three occasions Alexander Zverev on Tuesday breezed past Rafael Jodar to stay on course for an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, while Jakub Mensik halted Joao Fonseca’s scintillating run in the quarter-finals. Zverev, the highest-ranked player left in the men’s draw, put an end to Spanish teenager Jodar’s impressive Roland Garros debut, easing into the semi-finals with a 7-6, (7/3), 6-1, 6-3 win. The 29-year-old Zverev is the clear favorite for a maiden Grand Slam title. He has finished runner-up on three occasions, including at the 2024 French Open. “I want to win the matches that are ahead of
Liverpool are in advanced talks with former AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola as they seek a replacement for Arne Slot, reports said on Tuesday. Iraola has emerged as Liverpool’s top target to replace Slot, who was sacked on Saturday last week after a turbulent second season in charge. Liverpool have reportedly agreed a deal in principle to bring the Spaniard, who left Bournemouth at the end of this season, to Anfield. Sporting director Richard Hughes was heavily involved in hiring Iraola during his time at Bournemouth and is again spearheading the recruitment of the highly rated coach. The Reds are
KNICKS TAKE LEAD: San Antonio put on a 9-0 run to be up 95-94 with just over 2 minutes to play, but the rest of the game belonged to the New York Knicks It was past five minutes through the third quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday and the New York Knicks’ 11-game winning streak was in major jeopardy. The Knicks missed nine of their first 10 shots in the early part of the period and trailed the San Antonio Spurs by 14 points. They were floundering. Then something crazy happened. The Knicks found new life from an unlikely source: The Spurs. New York rallied to tie the game by the end of the period, gave up the lead briefly late in the fourth quarter, and pulled away late for a 105-95
RSS