2007-08 UEFA Cup Begins Group Stage Stay

This past Thursday saw the beginning of group stage action in the 2007-08 UEFA Cup tournament:

GROUP A:

At Saint Petersburg, Russia:

Visiting AZ Alkmaar and Zenit St. Petersburg battled to a 1-1 draw. Ari opened the scoring (20') for the visiting Dutch club, while Zenit's Anatoliy Tymoschuk equalized with his 43rd-minute penalty kick.

At Liverpool, England:

Goals from Tim Cahill (14'), Leon Osman (50'), and Victor Anichebe (85') helped Everton to post an easy 3-1 home win over Greek club Larissa.

GROUP B:

At Athens, Greece:

Panathinaikos, powered by goals courtesy of Ioannis Goumas (11'), Dimitrios Papadoulos (73'), and Dimitrios Salpingidis (77'), spanked visiting Aberdeen 3-0.

At Moscow:

Atletico Madrid, with Aguero's double (16', 85'), came from behind to gain a 3-3 road deadlock with Lokomotiv Moscow. The hosts' Peter Odemwingie also doubled (61', 64').

GROUP C:

At Boras, Sweden:

Charilaos Pappas scored the equalizer at 49 minutes to enable AEK Athens to gain a 1-1 road stalemate against Elfsborg IF. Daniel Moback scored the lone goal for The Yellow Ones at 15 minutes.

At Villarreal, Spain:

Thanks to Joan Capdevila's 88th-minute equalizer, Villarreal salvaged a 1-1 home draw with Fiorentina. Christian Vieri put the visiting Purple Ones ahead with his 48th-minute tally.

GROUP D:

At Bergen, Norway:

Vincent Kompany scored the only goal (62') in Hamburg's 1-0 home win over SK Brann.

At Basle, Switzerland:

Marco Streller lifted FC Basel to a 1-0 home win over Rennes with his goal in the 55th minute.

GROUP E:

At Prague, Czech Republic:

FC Zurich came from behind to defeat Sparta Prague 2-1. Oumar Konde (38') and Alexandre Alphonse (62') scored for the winning visitors.

At Leverkusen, Germany:

Stefan Kiessling, with his goal at 35 minutes, lifted Bayer Leverkusen to a 1-0 home win over Toulouse.


GROUP F:


At Bolton, England:

Jailson's equalizer at 87 minutes lifted Sporting Braga to a 1-1 road deadlock with Bolton, whose El Hadji Diouf had scored in the 66th minute.

At Belgrade, Serbia:

Miroslav Klose scored twice (20', 86') and Toni Kroos notched the game winner (90'+4') as Bayern Munich came from behind to defeat hosts Red Star Belgrade 3-2.

GROUP G:

At London:

Goals from Esteban Granero (21') and Braulio (70') enabled Getafe to come from behind on the road to defeat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1. This turned out to be the final game for embattled Spurs manager Martin Jol, who stepped down following the game.

At Brussels:

Nicolas Frutos provided all the scoring, both goals (36', 70') in fact, as RSC Anderlecht blanked visiting Hapoel Tel-Aviv 2-0.

GROUP H:

At Helsingborg, Sweden:

Henrik Larssen's equalizer (83') enabled Helsingborgs IF to salvage a 1-1 home stalemate with Greek club Panionios. Fanourious Goundoulakis had put the guests in front with his first-half score (45'+1').

At Bordeaux, France:

Marouane Chamakh scored the winning goal at 64 minutes, as Bordeaux came from behind to defeat visiting Galatasaray 2-1.