UEFA Cup

UEFA Cup

A late Jan Novak brace saw MFK Kosice battle back from 3-1 down to earn a draw against Roma in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie.

Marko Milinkovic had opened the scoring for the Slovakian outfit but the Italian giants turned the match on its head thanks to two goals from captain Francesco Totti (one penalty) and one from Jeremy Menez.

But Novak notched twice in the last 20 minutes, the first from the spot, to ensure there will be all to play for in the Eternal City in next week's second leg.

Roma's arch rivals Lazio had a much more comfortable evening, putting themselves in pole position for a place in the group phase with a 3-0 triumph over Elfsborg. Aleksandar Kolarov, Mauro Zarate and Stefano Mauri were the men on target.

Galatasaray and Ajax all but booked their places in the group phase with 5-0 romps in the home legs of their respective ties against FC Levadia Tallinn and Slovan Bratislava.

Kader Keita struck a brace with Milan Baros (penalty) and Harry Kewell also on target before a Vitali Leitan own goal completed the rout for Gala.

Luis Suarez struck four goals for Martin Jol's Ajax with Mitchell Donald putting the icing on the cake in stoppage time.

Pablo Hernandez, David Villa and Joaquin were on target in Valencia's 3-0 victory at Norwegian side Stabaek.

Dinamo Bucharest look to be in hot water after their match against Slovan Liberec was abandoned due to trouble among the disgruntled home fans with their side 2-0 down late on.

Jiri Liska set the visitors on their way after five minutes and Jan Blazek's 84th-minute second proved too much for the home fans to take.

Mladen Petric struck a hat-trick for Hamburg in an emphatic 5-1 win at Guingamp. Jose Paolo Guerrero and substitute Marcus Berg were also on the scoresheet.

A Ruiz Gonzalez double helped Steve McClaren's FC Twente overturn an early deficit to prevail 3-1 against FK Qarabag in Enschede.

Andre-Pierre Gignac's double helped guide Toulouse to a 3-1 win at Trabzonspor, while Lille were 2-1 winners at Genk.

Hertha Berlin have it all to do next week after Nemanja Pejcinovic's own goal handed Brondby a 2-1 win and the initiative ahead of the second leg.

Claudio Pizarro celebrated his permanent move to Werder Bremen from Chelsea this week by scoring in the German side's 6-3 win over FK Aktobe.

Naldo notched twice with Sebastian Boenisch, Hugo Almeida and Mesut Ozil (penalty) also among the goals.

Oscar de Marcos and Fernando Llorente struck in the final five minutes to give Athletic Bilbao a 3-2 win over Tromso.

Joseba Llorente's stoppage-time strike sealed a 3-1 win for Villarreal at NAC Breda, adding to earlier goals from Giuseppe Rossi and Ariel Ibagaza.

Luciano Figueroa bagged a double to also ease Genoa to a 3-1 triumph over Odense.

Goals from Olexiy Gai, Ilsinho and Vasyl Kobin earned last season's UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk a 3-0 victory at Sivasspor.

Ibrahim Afellay's strike midway through the first half was enough to secure PSV Eindhoven a slender 1-0 advantage in the away leg of their clash with Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv.

PAOK FC and Heerenveen shared a 1-1 draw to leave their tie finely poised for next week.

Also, Zenit St Petersburg went down 4-3 at Nacional and Red Star Belgrade were beaten 3-0 at Slavia Prague.

Basle won 3-1 at FK Baki, Hapoel Tel-Aviv prevailed 2-1 at FK Teplice and Litex Lovech triumphed 1-0 at BATE Borisov.

Fenerbahce won 2-0 at Sion, Vaslui overcame AEK Athens 2-1, Lech Poznan beat Club Brugge 1-0, Sparta Prague won 2-0 at Maribor and Benfica triumphed 4-0 against Vorskla Poltava.

The matches between Sarajevo and CFR Cluj, Partizan Belgrade and MSK Zilina, and Sturm Graz and Metalist Kharkiv all finished 1-1.

Metallurg Donetsk and Austria Vienna drew 2-2 while CSKA Sofia and Dinamo Moscow shared a goalless stalemate.