Rangers suffer Ibrox setback

Rangers held
Rangers began their group campaign with a 5-0 win at Amica, but three days later were held 1-1 at home by Dundee United FC and slipped to seven points behind Scottish Premier League leaders Celtic FC. Looking for an eighth straight victory, Rangers took a 69th-minute lead through Nacho Novo's long-range effort, but in added time Barry Robson struck a free-kick 20 metres out to salvage a point for the visitors, the first away goal scored at Ibrox since August. Illness had forced striker Peter Løvenkrands out after the pre-game warm-up.

GAK victory
GAK stayed on the shoulders of the Austrian Bundesliga's top three as they defeated bottom side SW Bregenz 3-0. Roland Kollmann broke the deadlock on 23 minutes and Mario Bazina doubled the lead early in the second half before René Aufhauser, making his comeback after suffering an elbow injury playing for Austria against Poland earlier this month, confirmed the win in the 88th minute. GAK are within three points of leading pair FK Austria Wien and SK Rapid Wien, who drew their derby.

Auxerre draw
Auxerre, who shared the spoils with GAK on Matchday 1, remain three points behind French Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Lyonnais in third place after a stout defensive performance earned them a 0-0 draw at fellow title challengers AS Monaco FC. Wing-back Jean-Sébastien Jaurès still faces a race against time to recover from his broken foot for the Matchday 2 trip to Alkmaar, but defender Johan Radet's cruciate ligament injury keeps him out until 2005.

In-form Alkmaar
Alkmaar entered the top three of the Dutch Eredivisie with a 3-0 win at SBV Vitesse. Michael Buskermolen made it 1-0 on the half-hour mark, and in the first five minutes of the second half Barry van Galen and Kenneth Perez secured the points. Juha Reini and Olaf Lindenbergh are both back in training and play for the reserves on Monday as Alkmaar prepare for their opening group stage game against Amica.

Cup victory
Amica overcame the 5-0 defeat by Rangers as they continued their fine start to their Polish Cup campaign with a 2-1 home victory against Zaglebie Lubin. After falling behind to a penalty at the beginning of the second half, Amica's Pawel Kryszalowicz equalised eleven minutes from time before Jacek Dembinski's last-gasp spot-kick took Amica three points clear at the top of their group with two out of six matches played. Coach Maciej Skorža included only a few players who had taken part in the UEFA Cup tie, the rest coming from the bench. But midfielder Krysztof Kowalczyk has been dropped to the reserves.