Top three in fine fettle

Middlesbrough
With left-back Franck Queudrue still suspended for the trip to Southampton FC on Saturday and central defenders Ugo Ehiogu and Chris Riggott still missing through injury, manager Steve McClaren made just one change for the side that defeated Manchester City FC on Monday, George Boateng returning to midfield after his ban in place of Szilárd Nemeth. Middlesbrough trailed 2-0 with a minute remaining of normal time, but Stewart Downing's corner was headed into his own net by Danny Higginbotham and then Downing struck a fine 20-metre shot two minutes into added time to give Middlesbrough an unlikely point.

Partizan
Partizan will travel to Middlesbrough on Wednesday buoyed by the return of Serbo-Montenegrin international defender Milivoje Cirkovic after five weeks out with a knee injury. With the First Federal League on its winter break, Partizan prepared for their return to European action with a 3-0 friendly win against second division FK Teleoptik on Saturday, Dragan Ciric, Nenad Brnovic and Borko Veselinovic getting the goals. Defender Dragoljub Jeremic is the only injury.

Villarreal
Villarreal moved up to 12th place in the Primera División thanks to a 2-1 win at Getafe CF on Saturday, with Juan Román Riquelme once again instrumental. The Argentinian playmaker provided telling passes for Antonio Guayre's early strike and Diego Forlán's winner. On Monday, midfield player Javier Calleja enters the final stage of his recovery from a knee ligament injury suffered in July and is expected to return to normal training in January. Juan Manuel Peña has returned after an ankle injury but striker José Mari Romero remains sidelined with a similar complaint.

Lazio
Lazio recovered from 0-2 and 2-3 to salvage a point at home against US Lecce on Saturday night. Paolo Di Canio started in attack and scored twice in the second half, while Tommaso Rocchi scored the first goal for the Rome side. The point was enough to keep coach Domenico Caso in a job, Lazio's official website announced after the game. The capital club are 15th in Serie A.

Egaleo
Egaleo remained in fourth place in the Alpha Ethinki after their goalless draw at Aris Thessaloniki FC, the team coached by Egaleo's former boss Georgios Hatzaras. Stephane Demol's side were missing long-term absentees Christos Moustogiannis and Guenther Friesenbichler, who have undergone surgery on knee and leg injuries respectively, while Emmanuel Liapakis did not play against Aris due to a knee problem and is considered doubtful for the trip to Villarreal.