Faltering Feyenoord miss out

Three of the Group A sides in UEFA Cup action this week warmed up with domestic victories over the weekend. FC Schalke 04, FC Basel 1893 and Ferencvárosi TC are in good spirits, but Feyenoord threw away a two-goal lead to draw. uefa.com rounds up the latest news:

Feyenoord
Feyenoord had to settle for a point after hosts SC Heerenveen came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw. Thomas Buffel and Dirk Kuijt had scored for the Rotterdam club before Giorgios Samaras and Ugur Yildirim instigated the fightback. Goalkeeper Patrick Lodewijks started the game while Pascal Bosschaart returned from suspension. Ahead of Wednesday's visit of Schalke, Feyenoord are faced with mounting injury problems. In addition to long-term absentees Sebastián Pardo, Ramon van Haaren and Leonardo, Salomon Kalou, Karim Saidi (both hamstring) and Shinji Ono (ankle) are all doubtful.

Schalke
Schalke defeated DSC Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 to retain second place in the Bundesliga. Levan Kobiashvili and Ailton turned the match Schalke's way after Rüdiger Kauf had given the visitors the lead. Darío Rodríguez, Fabian Lamotte, Thomas Kläsener, Niels Oude-Kamphuis and Gustavo Varela all missed out through injury, although Ralf Rangnick's side have already secured their place in the UEFA Cup's last 32.

Basel
Basel bounced back from three successive defeats to beat FC St. Gallen 1-0 at home on Sunday, a result which kept them three points ahead of Neuchâtel Xamax FC at the top of the Swiss Football League. Argentinian striker César Carignano scored the only goal - his second in four days after his strike against Heart of Midlothian FC last week.

Ferencváros
Hungarian champions Ferencváros stormed to a 4-0 home victory against Budapest Honvéd FC to retain their three-point advantage at the head of the First Division. Gábor Zavadszky opened the scoring before Gábor Gyepes made it two from the penalty spot. Thomas Sowunmi and Robert Vagner registered in the second half to put the bottom team in Group A in good spirits ahead of their crucial game against fellow strugglers Basel.

Hearts
Hearts followed their midweek win in Switzerland with a 3-2 domestic defeat by Rangers FC at Ibrox. Paul Hartley and Patrick Kisnorbo returned from suspension and it was Hartley who broke the deadlock from the penalty spot. Mark de Vries also found the net for the Edinburgh club, who sit out this week's UEFA Cup programme.