Round Of 16 In UEFA Cup Begins

Eight two-game, total-goals series began Thursday in Round-of-16 play in the 2006-07 UEFA Cup:

At Braga, Portugal:

Robbie Keane's double (57', 90'+2) helped spurred Tottenham Hotspur to a 3-2, series-opening, road win over Sporting Braga.



At Vigo, Spain:

Hugo Almeida was the man for Werder Bremen as his goal at 84 minutes gave the German club a 1-0 road win in their series opener over Celta Vigo.

At Lens, France:

Goals from Oliver Monterrubio (17') and Daniel Cousin (PK-70') paced Lens to a series-opening 2-1 home win over Bayer Leverkusen.

At Glasgow:

Brahim Hemdani's equalizer two minutes into second-half stoppage time enabled Rangers to salvage a series-opening 1-1 home draw with Osasuna. Raul Garcia scored at 17 minutes for the guests.


At Tel-Aviv, Israel:

In the series opener for both clubs, visiting Espanyol and Maccabi Haifa battled to a 0-0 stalemate.

At Paris:

Quick goals late in the first half from Pedro Pauleta (36') and Pierre-Alain Frau (41') enabled Paris Saint-Germain, a team currently in the drop zone domestically, to overcome an early 1-0 deficit to take the opening match, 2-1 at home, over SL Benfica.

At Newcastle, England:

Obafemi Martins twice tallied (23', 37') to help lead Newcastle United to a 4-2 home win in their series opener with AZ Alkmaar.


At Seville, Spain:

Enzo Maresca's successful penalty kick at 88 minutes enabled current UEFA Cup holders Valencia to salvage a series-opening 2-2 draw with visiting Shakhtar Donetsk.