Aston Villa, Milan, Valencia held in UEFA Cup

¹²³ · Feb 19, 2009

Defending champion Zenit St. Petersburg faces a tough passage into the last 16 of the UEFA Cup after Stuttgart snatched a crucial away goal as the Russian club clinched a 2-1 win on Wednesday.

AC Milan conceded a late equalizer at Werder Bremen to take a 1-1 draw back to San Siro next week.

With Europe's second-tier competition resuming after a two-month break, there were more comfortable first-leg victories for Hamburg, Aalborg, St. Etienne, Paris Saint-Germain and Braga in the round of 32.

Also among the 11 matches, Aston Villa recovered a 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen as Dynamo Kiev held Valencia by the same score.

Zenit, in action for the first time since Andrei Arshavin joined Arsenal, was ahead after just two minutes when new signing Szabolcs Huszti scored from a rebound.

But Stuttgart's Mario Gomez picked up a loose ball in the 15th and moved down the right flank to score an equalizer from the edge of the box.

Zenit struggled before Anatoly Timoshchuk fired the winner from just outside the box in first-half stoppage time but dominated after the interval only to waste numerous scoring opportunities on a grassless frozen field at Petrovskiy Stadium.

"Though it was our first game in the season, we played a good game, especially in the second half,'' Zenit coach Dick Advocaat said.

Filippo Inzaghi put Milan in front in the 36th, slotting home after Per Mertesacker blocked his initial header.

But with six minutes to go, Hugo Almeida headed down to Diego, who controlled the ball with his chest and put the ball in with his left foot.

AC Milan's on-loan midfielder David Beckham came off the bench in the 89th for Ronaldinho but couldn't spark a late victory.

John Carew recovered a draw for Aston Villa, but Vagner Love's 14th-minute opener ensured CSKA has the away-goal advantage going into next week's return leg in Moscow.

David Silva gave Valencia an early lead, scoring off Juan Mata's right cross eight minutes in against Dynamo Kiev.

But before being sent off, Kiev striker Artem Milevskiy fired the ball across the penalty area, where it struck Raul Albiol and deflected past Valencia goalkeeper Cesar to earn the home side a draw.

Denys Oliynuyk headed in Oleksandr Rikun's cross to give Metalist Kharkiv a 1-0 win over host Sampdoria.

Piotr Trochowski, Alex Silva and Ivica Olic all found the net as Hamburg defeated NEC Nijmegen 3-0, PSG will take a commanding lead into the second-leg tie against Wolfsburg thanks to Guillaume Hoarau's late double, while Bordeaux and Galatasaray played out a 0-0 draw in France.

A French fan was stabbed and slightly injured in clashes between supporters of Olympiakos and Saint-Etienne before the teams drew 0-0 in Greece.

The man was hospitalized with two stab wounds to the thigh. Three other French fans required first aid after being hit with bottles and sticks.

Anders Due struck twice as Aalborg netted three second-half goals against Deportivo La Coruna. Michael Jakobsen wrapped up the 3-0 victory for the Danish side.

Braga won by the same score to virtually seal its progression over Standard Liege.
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Colonel Ronan · Feb 19, 2009

Yeah, I caught parts of the Villa match and they deserved to win. Should be an interesting tournament.

¹²³ · Feb 19, 2009

Main Event said: ↑

Yeah, I caught parts of the Villa match and they deserved to win. Should be an interesting tournament.
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I caught some of the AC Milan vs Werder Bremen, Diego looked good when I was watching.

Colonel Ronan · Feb 19, 2009

Diego is a great player but he only has his days. That must of been one.

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