Sevilla took another big step towards retaining its UEFA Cup title by winning 2-0 at Steaua Bucharest on Thursday in the first leg of the first knockout round.
The Spanish club, which thrashed Middlesbrough 4-0 in last season's final, cruised to victory with a 41st minute strike by Christian Poulsen and a 77th-minute penalty by Frederic Kanoute.
The result gives the Spanish club a seemingly easy job when the two teams meet again in the second leg in Seville on Thursday. However, Steaua won 3-0 in the same city at Real Betis last season to reach the quarter-finals of the same competition.
PHOTO: AFP
"In soccer everything is possible but we will try not to lose like Betis did last year," said the Spanish club's coach, Juande Ramos.
Another Spanish club, Celta Vigo, drew 1-1 at Spartak Moscow. Antonio Nunez put Celta ahead four minutes before halftime but Maxim Kalinichenko equalized for Spartak in the 64th.
Claudio Ranieri's spell at struggling Parma started with a 1-0 loss at Portugal's Braga. Ze Carlos Silva scored the only goal with nine minutes remaining.
A former Fiorentina, Valencia and Chelsea coach, Ranieri replaced Stefano Pioli, who was fired on Monday by a club which is second to last in the Serie A.
Newcastle won 3-1 at Belgium's Zulte-Waregem and will be confident of reaching the last 16.
Own goal
The visitors led in the second minute of the second half when Frederic Dindeleux turned the ball into his own net trying to stop Kieron Dyer's cross reaching the unmarked Obafemi Martins in front of the goal.
Martins added the second from the penalty spot in the 59th after goalkeeper Pieter Merlier was harshly judged to have pulled down Damien Duff.
Newcastle hadn't conceded a goal in five UEFA Cup games on the road but Karel D'Haene ended that streak by heading home a free kick for the Belgian side in the 68th minute. Antoine Sibierski weaved through the home defense to add a third for the Magpies in the 76th.
Issam Jomaa scored twice and Aruna Dindane converted a last-minute penalty as Lens beat Panathinaikos 3-1.
Dimitrios Salpigidis' goal had the Greek side 1-1 midway through the second half but the French side will be a strong favorite to reach the next round.
The other 11 games were played on Wednesday, with AEK Athens 0, Paris Saint-Germain 2; Bayer Leverkusen 3, Blackburn 2; Benfica 1, Dinamo Bucharest 0; Bordeaux 0, Osasuna 0; CSKA Moscow 0, Maccabi Haifa 0; Fenerbahce 3, AZ Alkmaar 3; Hapoel Tel Aviv 2, Rangers 1; Livorno 1, Espanyol 2; Shakhtar Donetsk 1, Nancy 1; and Werder Bremen 3, Ajax 0.
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