Stuttgart spoil clean sweep

Stade Rennais FC

Rennes continued to climb away from the Ligue 1 relegation zone with a 1-0 win at fellow UEFA Cup participants RC Strasbourg, Jimmy Briand getting the only goal in the 29th minute. The Brittany club, who finished fourth in the French top flight last season but lost four of their first five league games in the current campaign, climbed up to 13th position with their third win in six matches despite the absence of a number of key players.

Rennes coach Laszlo Bölöni, who attributed his side's win to "good organisation and good discipline", was without Swiss international forward Alexander Frei, whose suspension gave French Under-21 striker Briand only his third start of the season. Also missing were striker John Utaka (flu), defenders Abdeslam Ouaddou (thigh) and Jean-Joël Perrier Doumbé (ankle) while captain Cyril Jeunechamp and Cédric Barbosa remain long-term casualties with cruciate ligament and thigh problems respectively. In addition, Swedish international goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson had to be substituted after 62 minutes after sustaining a thigh strain, an injury which also forced the replacement of countryman Kim Källström, and both are doubtful for Thursday's game pending the outcome of scans.

VfB Stuttgart

Stuttgart came from behind at home against Mönchengladbach to earn a 1-1 draw thanks to Jeff Strasser's last-minute own goal. They had earlier fallen behind to a Peer Kluge effort on 17 minutes in a match which left them ninth in the Bundesliga standings.

Stuttgart were without the suspended Jon Dahl Tomasson, who was on target for Denmark in their final 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying game, a 2-1 win at Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Coach Giovanni Trapattoni also had to replace Daniel Bierofka and Silvio Meissner and decided to leave Ludovic Magnin, who scored the equaliser for Switzerland in their 1-1 draw against France, out of the starting lineup.

"We completely lacked confidence today and made the same mistakes we made earlier this season," said Trapattoni. "Mönchengladbach were extremely calm and always looked dangerous on the break. We must put this match behind us quickly and be more positive in the match at Rennes."

FC Shakhtar Donetsk

Ukrainian champions Shakhtar had no problems in defeating FC Vorskla Poltava 2-0 to maintain their two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. Both goals came before the break, captain Anatoliy Tymoschuk making an early breakthrough after eleven minutes and Brazilian striker Brandão, with his ninth goal of the season, doubling the advantage midway through the first half. Croatian Darijo Srna and Romanian Razvan Rat, who were in international action for their respective countries over the past week, did not play for Shakhtar due to restrictions on foreign players in a lineup where Viacheslav Shevchuk, Tymoschuk and Andriy Vorobey were the only Ukrainians on show. Vorobey and Olexiy Bielik both represented Ukraine in their 1-0 friendly win against Japan on Wednesday.

Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said: "We scored two early goals and deserved to win. I would not single out any of my players for special praise. I am very pleased to see that on the eve of the UEFA Cup group stage my team have found good form."

PAOK FC

PAOK recorded their first away win of the season and produced the shock of the weekend with a 2-1 victory against Olympiacos CFP, who had previously boasted a perfect league record. Yaya Touré scored a 59th-minute free-kick to give Olympiacos the lead, only for Pantelis Konstantinidis to level from close range six minutes later. With 20 minutes to go, Konstantinidis scored the winner from a Sikabala assist, and PAOK therefore go sixth, six points adrift of Olympiacos.

The Thessaloniki side were without several key players. Influential captain Theodoros Zagorakis was sidelined with a groin injury he picked up Greece's recent friendly against Georgia. while Amir Amzy Megahed, Yasoumis Yasoumi, Guy Armand Feutchine, Paraskevas Andralas and Panagiotis Egomitis were also sidelined by injury.

"We won because we believed in ourselves," said PAOK coach Georgios Kostikos. "We need to improve our game, but we are glad because we gained more than three points. This result shows we are on the right track."

AFC Rapid Bucuresti

Rapid managed to pick up their first points at FCM Bacau in five years, gaining a 1-0 victory thanks to Mugurel Buga's tenth-minute goal. The result was Rapid's second single-goal victory in succession and left them sixth in the Divizia A standings.

Rapid, who were without midfielder Ciprian Vasilache through suspension, do not start their UEFA Cup campaign until 3 November when Rennes visit the Romanian capital. Upbeat Rapid coach Razvan Lucescu said: "It was our most important away match this autumn. We won in Bacau for the first time in five years and, most importantly, we are in good shape ahead of the UEFA Cup group matches."