Denilson downs Czech challengers

Brazilian international Denilson scored the only goal as Real Betis Balompié scored a potentially crucial away win over FK Viktoria Zizkov in their UEFA Cup second round first-leg match.

Early chances
Czech side Zizkov, who knocked out Scotland’s Rangers FC in the first round, started well and Ales Pikl twice threatened in the opening minutes only to see his efforts fly narrowly wide. Betis's first real chance of the game fell to Capi after seven minutes, but he could not keep his shot down.

Czechs denied
The home side created another decent opening after 27 minutes when Peter Kruty narrowly missed with a header from Ludek Straceny's free-kick and after that Betis began to take control.

Casas comes close
Gastón Ángel Casas wasted a great chance six minutes before the break, shooting wide from eight metres while he and Juanito failed to make the most of openings in the closing minutes of the half.

Denilson strikes
However, those misses were soon forgotten as Denilson finally managed to break the deadlock in the 44th minute, the winger firing in from 20 metres following a corner.

Casas denied
The second half started as the first ended with Casas threatening the Zizkov goal in the 52nd and 57th minutes. His first effort went just wide while he was denied by Zizkov goalkeeper Pavel Kucera from 25 metres for the second.

Viktoria response
Viktoria did their best to get back into the match but too many misplaced passes in the centre of the pitch cost them the chance of making any real headway. However, they came within centimetres of levelling the game up when Miroslav Sebesta's strike hit the crossbar after 78 minutes. The hosts then laid siege to the Betis goal in the final minutes but Sebesta, Straceny, Pikl and Jiri Sabou all failed to hit the target when well-placed.