French and German pairs in good shape

Olympique de Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain FC, Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen were responsible for four of the five wins earned by the eight UEFA Cup quarter-finalists this weekend ahead of Thursday's ties. uefa.com rounds up all eight teams' fortunes.

FC Shakhtar Donetsk v Olympique de Marseille
Shakhtar lost 1-0 at FC Metalurh Zaporizhya and are now only two points ahead of FC Metalist Kharkiv in the second of Ukraine's UEFA Champions League qualifying berths. They had no response to Dmytro Nevmyvaka's third-minute goal fort Metalurh. Marseille, by contrast, won 3-0 at Ligue 1 strugglers AS Saint-Etienne and are only a point behind leaders Olympique Lyonnais. Mamadou Niang converted a penalty on the hour and headed the third three minutes after Brandão had doubled the lead.

Paris Saint-Germain FC v FC Dynamo Kyiv
PSG put themselves back in the Ligue 1 title mix with a 2-1 defeat of OGC Nice that lifted them to fifth. Having suffered two consecutive defeats before the international break, PSG needed to bounce back and got themselves going through Guillaume Hoarau with 21 minutes gone. Loïc Rémy levelled before the break, but the capital outfit were back in front seven minutes after the restart, when Sammy Traoré headed in powerfully from a Stéphane Sessegnon corner. Dynamo stretched their Ukrainian Premier League lead over Shakhtar to 15 points with eight games left as they won 2-0 at FC Metalurh Dontesk. Olexandr Aliyev converted a penalty just before the break and Ognjen Vukojević added the second in the 56th minute.

Hamburger SV v Manchester City FC
Jonathan Pitroipa's 28th-minute strike earned Hamburg a 1-0 home win against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and lifted Martin Jol's side to second in the Bundesliga – trailing VfL Wolfsburg only on goal difference after three consecutive victories. Manchester City's away problems continued, however, as they succumbed 2-0 at Arsenal FC with Emmanuel Adebayor scoring early in each half. Mark Hughes' charges remain in mid-table but have not earned a victory in 14 Premier League away matches dating back to their only triumph on the road in August, and have suffered four straight reverses on their travels in all competitions.

Werder Bremen v Udinese Calcio
Claudio Pizarro's hat-trick earned Bremen a 4-1 win against Hannover 96. Bremen, tenth in the Bundesliga, went ahead through Pizarro late in the first half and although Jacek Krzynówek equalised in the 69th minute, Diego – who had a penalty saved by Robert Enke just after the hour mark – restored Bremen's lead. Pizarro scored twice in the last ten minutes to take his seasonal tally to 15. Udinese were on top for much of their match at home to Serie A leaders FC Internazionale Milano but they could not force an opening and with 13 minutes left Zlatan Ibrahimović crossed to visiting substitute Patrick Vieira, whose shot hit Udinese goalkeeper Emanuele Belardi and then deflected in off the luckless Mauricio Isla. Udinese lie 14th.