Brøndby feel Frankfurt force

Eintracht Frankfurt made the most of Brøndby IF being reduced to nine men to storm to a four-goal victory in their UEFA Cup first-round first-leg tie, but their Bundesliga rivals Bayer 04 Leverkusen were held in Switzerland by FC Sion. Meanwhile, AS Livorno Calcio made a winning debut on the European stage to give themselves hope of reaching the group stage after the return legs on 28 September.

Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 Brøndby IF
Brøndby's hopes of a second straight group stage appearance look slim after a comprehensive defeat in Germany. It was goalless at half-time, but five minutes into the second period Brøndby's Henrik Kildentoft handled in the box; he was sent off and team-mate Mark Howard followed him into the changing rooms after the resulting fracas. Michael Thurk converted the penalty and struck again from the spot in the 71st minute. His hat-trick was complete soon after and Benjamin Köhler scored in the final minute.

FC Sion 0-0 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Sion and Leverkusen are left with everything still to play for after a goalless draw in their opening encounter in Switzerland. Both teams took a cautious approach to the game and with the midfield area congested, chances were few and far between.

R. Standard de Liège 0-1 RC Celta de Vigo
A goal by Gustavo López proved the only difference between the sides in Belgium as Celta earned a narrow victory. The home side struggled to deal with the counterattacking style of their visitors, though the winner came as a result of a free-kick as Ángel López fed namesake Gustavo López to fire in off a post. Standard tried to claw their way back into it after the break and Sérgio Conceiçao came closest when his attempt was blocked on the goalline before Mohamed Sarr headed against the crossbar.

MFK Ružomberok 0-1 Club Brugge KV
An efficient performance from Club Brugge earned them a narrow victory over the Slovakian double-winners. Boško Balaban, the visitors' most dangerous player, claimed the only goal late in the first half with a free-kick that wrong-footed Ľuboš Hajdúch in the Ružomberok goal.

Fenerbahçe SK 2-1 Randers FC
Denmark’s Randers had hopes of an impressive result in Istanbul when Djiby Baye Fall gave them an early lead, but they will have a deficit to overcome when the second leg begins in Aarhus. It was an own goal from Kenneth Pedersen midway through the first half that turned the tide and Mateja Kežman scored after the break to boost Fenerbahçe's prospects of reaching the group stage.

Heart of Midlothian FC 0-2 AC Sparta Praha
Sparta triumphed on a sodden night at Murrayfield to give themselves a mighty advantage in the tie. Daniel Kolář put them ahead in the 34th minute with a superb shot from the edge of the penalty box, and although Jiří Homola headed over from point-blank range late in the first half, the visitors doubled their lead through substitute Miroslav Matušovič with 19 minutes left, moments after Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon had made a superb triple-save.

AS Livorno Calcio 2-0 FCS Pasching
Livorno had a happy European debut against their Austrian visitors. Lithuanian international Tomas Danilevicius opened the scoring for the Serie A side two minutes before the break when he turned home the loose ball after Josef Schicklgruber had saved his header. Home captain Cristiano Lucarelli doubled the advantage just three minutes into the second period after breaking clear down the left.

FC Salzburg 2-2 Blackburn Rovers FC
A goal from Marc Janko in the dying seconds gave Salzburg hope against Premiership outfit Blackburn. Prolific Salzburg striker Alexander Zickler had opened the scoring on the half-hour after good work from Christian Tiffert, but within nine minutes Robbie Savage's free-kick and Benni McCarthy, pouncing on a loose ball in the box, had turned the tide for the visitors. However, after a delay due to floodlight failure, Giovanni Trapattoni's team were to deny Blackburn their first-ever UEFA Cup win thanks to towering substitute Janko's header.

Panathinaikos FC 1-1 FC Metalurg Zaporizhya
The Ukrainian visitors came away with a valuable draw against the UEFA Champions League group stage regulars in a game switched to Patras due to an athletics event at the Athens Olympic stadium. Panathinaikos had the better of the first half and led on ten minutes through Dimitrios Salpingidis after Dimitrios Papadopoulos's clever header. Zaporizhya came roaring out of the dressing room following the interval and within two minutes Olexiy Godin had equalised. The visitors had several chances to steal victory, but played the last four minutes with ten men after Oleh Karamushka picked up a second booking.

Vitória FC 0-3 SC Heerenveen
Brazilian forward Afonso Alves struck two goals to help give Heerenveen a great platform to reach UEFA Cup group stage in a game played at Lisbon's Estádio José Alvalade. Alves, who has scored three goals in three Eredivisie matches this term, missed two openings in the first half but found the net after the break with two powerful free-kicks. The first came in the 58th minute, the second nine minutes later and another Brazilian, Nilsson, made it 3-0 in injury time. Setúbal also had their chances, the best falling to Auri who headed against the post from Silvestre Varela's cross.