Uefa Cup Wrap: Wins For Ajax, Valencia & Pana
2/17/2005 12:37:00 AM
Ajax, Panathinaikos, Valencia and Sporting Lisbon were the winners of
Wednesday’s night’s Uefa Cup ties as the first legs of the tournament’s
last 32 round got underway across Europe. Bad weather caused the postponement
of Austria Vienna’s home clash with Athletic Bilbao, but of the other ties
that were played, all three ended as draws.
In Amsterdam, a well-worked goal by Brazilian wing-back Maxwell shortly after
the half-hour mark was enough to give Ajax a lead against Auxerre going into
the second leg. Maxwell stormed into the Auxerre penalty area onto Rafael Van
der Vaart’s clever back-heel and fired the Dutch side ahead.

Greek champions Panathinaikos maintained their impressive home record against
Spanish opposition when defender Loukas Vintra netted the only goal of the
game against Sevilla. Pana’s newly-appointed coach Alberto Malesani was an
interested spectator as the side selected by caretaker boss Panagiotis
Fylakouris adopted a 3-5-2 formation to crowd the midfield and make life
difficult for Sevilla’s strikers, Julio Baptista and Ariza Makukula. It
worked and the Greeks have a clean sheet for the second leg.

Another Brazilian, Brand?o, was the hero for Shakhtar Donetsk who drew 1-1 at
home with FC Schalke 04. Brand?o scored just four minutes from the end to
time haul Shakhtar level after fellow-Brazilian Ailton had netted after seven
minutes for the German side.

In freezing Belgrade, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk twice came from behind to prevent
two-goal Obiora Odita from celebrating a victory on his Partizan Belgrade
debut. Odita put Partizan ahead in the 12th minute, but Sergey Nazarenko
equalised in the 28th. Then Odita scored again on the stroke of half-time,
only for Andrey Rusol to cancel out Partizan’s advantage for a second time
and ensure that Dnipro take two precious away goals with them into the second
leg.

Heavy overnight snow in Vienna forced the postponement of Austria Vienna’s
game with Athletic Bilbao, as despite the Austrian club’s efforts, the pitch
at the Ernst Happel Stadium remained partially covered by snow. Athletic
coach Ernesto Valverde was concerned about the safety of his players and the
match referee agreed. A new date for the game will be announced shortly.

But there were no such problems in Valencia where Claudio Ranieri’s side,
the current Uefa Cup holders, got their first win since 8 January – a 2-0
victory over Steaua Bucharest, who were playing their first competitive game
of 2005. Goals seven minutes before half-time and nine minutes after it – by
Marco Di Vaio and Pablo Aimar, respectively – ensured Valencia a
morale-boosting victory.

In Italy, the hero of the night for German side VfB Stuttgart was their
goalkeeper, Tino Hildebrand, who pulled off two outstanding saves in the
second half at the Ennio Tardini to deny Parma victory in a game that
finished goalless.

The night’s remaining Uefa Cup tie saw Sporting Lisbon triumph 2-1 at home
to Dutch visitors Feyenoord. Bart Goor gave Ruud Gullit’s side the perfect
start with a goal after seven minutes; but the Portuguese hosts hit back
through Fidelis Rogerio on 22 minutes. And Da Silva Liedson scored what
proved to be the winner 15 minutes later. Nevertheless, Feyenoord will be
buoyed by their away goal going into the second leg next week.

On Thursday night, the remainder of the first leg ties take place with the
English pair Middlesbrough and Newcastle United away to GAK and Heerenveen,
respectively, and Spain’s Villarreal and Real Zaragoza travelling to Kiev to
tackle Dinamo and Istanbul to take on Fenerbahce, respectively. Aachen are at
home to Alkmaar, Basle to Lille, CSKA Moscow to Benfica, and Olympiacos to
Sochaux.
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