Domestic form boosts Brugge

Brugge
The Belgian leaders increased their advantage over RSC Anderlecht to seven points by beating FC Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen 1-0 away on Wednesday. Peter Van der Heyden scored the goal and is one of five Brugge players - along with Olivier De Cock, Timmy Simons, Gaëtan Englebert and Philippe Clement - in the Belgium squad to tackle Serbia and Montenegro in midweek. Hans Cornelis, out since 23 October, has recovered from a muscle injury, while Marek Spilar remains sidelined by a hamstring pull.

Utrecht
Brugge's next European opponents FC Utrecht drew 1-1 at home with Roda JC to slip to seventh spot after 12 games in the Netherlands. Dave van den Bergh scored their equaliser in the second half, although the game was primarily notable for the return of prodigal son Michael Mols; the striker last played for Utrecht in the 1998/99 season before departing for a long stint at Rangers FC. He started for the first time as Hans van de Haar was serving the second game of a four-match domestic suspension. Goalkeeper Joost Terol is out for three more weeks with a thigh injury.

Dnipro
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk lead Group C with maximum points from two games. They have been unable to replicate that form in Ukraine, though, are now lie ninth after drawing 1-1 at FC Metalurh Zaporizhya. Dnipro went ahead through Ruslan Kostyshyn after nine minutes but could not extend that advantage and Irakli Modebadze levelled after the break. Training sessions have been affected by the international week, with eight regulars in the Ukraine squad to face Turkey.

Austria
Saturday's 1-1 draw at SV Austria Salzburg enabled FK Austria Wien to temporarily assume the league leadership from SK Rapid Wien, who promptly wrested it back the following day. The absences of Sigurd Rushfeldt, Markus Kiesenebner, Saša Papac and Krzysztof Ratajczyk told as Austria failed to convert their chances until the 87th minute when Didier Dheedene struck for a deserved draw.

Zaragoza
Real Zaragoza capitalised on Valencia CF's indifferent form to leave the Mestalla with a point which lifted them into fifth place. Coach Víctor Muñoz was without striker David Villa after the 22-year-old tore a muscle but deputy Javi Moreno came closest to breaking the deadlock when hitting the post in the second half. Zaragoza's six-goal leading scorer, Villa, is due back in training this week and should be fit for the visit of Dnipro on 1 December.