Turkish triumphs trip Italian pair

Turkish sides Gençlerbirligi SK and Gaziantepspor gained
1-0 victories against Italian opposition and the Spanish Primera División teams also impressed as the UEFA Cup resumed for 2004 with the first legs of the third round.

Skoko strikes
Gençlerbirligi had already accounted for Blackburn Rovers FC and Sporting Clube de Portugal in this competition and travelled to injury-hit Parma AC hoping for another fine result in a match delayed 15 minutes by snow. Josip Skoko's fine goal on 60 minutes ensured the visitors the advantage for the return in Turkey, which, like all the second legs, is scheduled for next Wednesday.

Roma beaten
New signing Yusuf Simsek's 19th-minute goal was enough for Gaziantepspor to make the most of home advantage against Serie A contenders AS Roma. Indeed, it could have been more against a side without attacking threesome Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano and Vincenzo Montella.

Late delight for Mallorca
RCD Mallorca and FC Barcelona were the winners on a good day for the Spanish contenders. Mallorca scored three late goals to win 3-0 at FC Spartak Moskva, while a superb Ronaldinho strike gave Barcelona a 1-0 victory at Brøndby IF. Villarreal CF led 2-0 at Galatasaray SK before finally drawing 2-2, while Valencia CF were celebrating as David Navarro's last-gasp strike gave them a 3-2 advantage against Besiktas JK in a game the Turkish champions led twice.

Italian disappointment
However, none of the four Italian survivors will go into the return matches ahead. Not only were Roma and Parma beaten, but AC Perugia, Villarreal's fellow UEFA Intertoto Cup winners, were unable to make the most of home advantage against PSV Eindhoven as they drew 0-0. Meanwhile, FC Internazionale - along with PSV, Besiktas and Galatasaray among the eight teams transferring from the UEFA Champions League - led twice at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard through Christian Vieri and Alvaro Recoba only for Pierre-Alain Frau to level each time in a 2-2 draw.

Marseille milestone
It was generally a decent night for the Ligue 1 entrants. Marouane Chamakh scored a minute into added time to give FC Girondins de Bordeaux a 1-0 win in Poland against Groclin Grodzisk Wielkopolski despite Eduardo Costa's red card just half an hour in. Olympique de Marseille triumphed in their 100th European fixture, 1-0 at home to FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine, while AJ Auxerre were reduced to ten men but still earned a goalless draw against Panathinaikos FC, who like Marseille had also moved from the Champions League.

Newcastle pegged back
Liverpool FC took 67 minutes to break the deadlock versus PFC Levski Sofia before Steven Gerrard and Harry Kewell scored in quick succession to secure a 2-0 win at Anfield. Newcastle United FC led at half-time through Craig Bellamy against Vålerenga IF in Oslo, but Runar Normann levelled for the Norwegian team on 54 minutes for a 1-1 draw.

Celtic score three
Norway's other side in action, Rosenborg BK are still in with a chance after losing 1-0 to a Zlatko Zahovic goal at SL Benfica. Elsewhere, Celtic FC and Club Brugge KV both gained home wins. The Scottish Premier League leaders saw off Czech side FK Teplice 3-0, and Brugge were given a hard match by Hungarian visitors Debreceni VSC but prevailed through Rune Lange's goal.