UEFA Cup - Zenit miss chance to go top

Eurosport - Fri, 30 Nov 09:52:00 2007

A round up of all the action on UEFA Cup groups A, C, D, E and H

FOOTBALL; FC Zurich's Marc Schneider and Johan Elmander of Toulouse, Nov 2007 - 0

Group A

Zenit St Petersburg 2-2 Nuremberg

Everton stay top of Group A after Russian club Zenith St. Petersburg conceded a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at home to Nuremberg.

Angelos Charisteas gave the visitors a first-half lead before two goals in four second-half minutes from Pavel Pogrebnyak and substitute Aleksei Ionov put Zenith ahead.

Leon Benko then came off the bench to head home five minutes from time and level the scores.

AZ Alkmaar1-0 Larissa

Striker Moussa Dembele's 77th minute goal gave Louis van Gaal's side the three points which keeps them in third place in Group A. Larissa are now eliminated from qualification for the knockout stages.

Group C

IF Elfsborg 1-3 Mlada Boleslav

Mlada Boleslav came from a goal down to claim victory at the Boras Arena.

Mathias Svensson gave Elfsborg the lead on the half hour in the 31st minute before Boleslav keeper Petr Pizanowski saved a Stefan Ishizaki penalty.

Ivo Taborsky, Noel Alexandre Mendy and Petr Vorisek all then found the net to complete a comeback that gives Mlada their first win of the tournament.

AEK Athens 1-1 Fiorentina

Serie A side Fiorentina were held to a 1-1 draw at the OACA stadium in Athens.

Pablo Daniel Osvaldo opened the scoring for La Viola, but five minutes later Federico Balzaretti deflected Julio Cesar's strike into his own net for the Greek side to equalise.

Group D

Hamburg SV 3-0 Rennes

Hamburg appeared not to need the benefit of home advantage as they brushed off the threat of French pretenders Rennes, winning 3-0 to virtually seal their place in the last 32.

On the half hour Croatian Ivica Olic slipped the ball to Rafael van der Vaart who made no mistake from near the penalty spot. Van der Vaart then turned provider for Eric Choupo-Moting in the 83rd minute, and Hamburg grabbed their third goal from a Mohamed Zidan penalty seven minutes later.

SK Brann 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb

Eirik Bakke's scored the winner for Brann against 10-man Dinamo Zagreb to keep them in the hunt for a top three spot in Group D.

Gordon Schildenfeld was sent off for a foul in the Dinamo area, with Olafur Orn Bjarnason scoring the resulting penalty to give Brann the lead.

Ognjen Vukojevic equalised just after the break before Bakke sealed the win for the Norwegian champions.

Group E

Sparta Prague 0-0 Spartak Moscow

Spartak Moscow forced their hosts Sparta Prague into accepting a scoreless draw, but there was arguably more drama off the pitch than on it, as Czech police were forced to brandish and use their batons after fans of the Russian fans attacked stadium stewards.

Violence erupted just before half time and Czech police were forced to keep the Spartak fans in the stadium for more than half an hour after the final whistle.

Zurich 2-0 Toulouse

FC Zurich are on course for the knockout phase as they made it two wins from two Group E games against Toulouse, who now have no chance of qualifying.

Hannu Tihinen struck before the half time and a Rafael De Araujo penalty for the Swiss champions were enough to see off the French side.

Group H

Panionios 0-3 Galatasary

Hakan Sukur put in an inspiring performance to resurrect Galatasary's qualification hopes against 10-man Panionios in Athens.

The veteran striker came on at half-time to inspire his team and scored the third after Serkan Calik and a Rigobert Song a penalty had given the Turkish side the lead.

Helsingborgs 3-0 Austria Vienna

Helsingborgs moved to the top of UEFA Cup Group H after strolling to victory over Austria Vienna.

A brace from Razak Omotoyossi and one more from Olafur Ingi Skulason move the Swedish club a point above Bordeaux, their opponents next week.

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