Liverpool and Juve pass early tests

Liverpool FC and Juventus both made winning starts and CS Marítimo hit a club record eight goals past Bangor City FC, but Turkish challengers Galatasaray AŞ and Beşiktaş JK could only draw.

Liverpool FC and Juventus both eased through their first UEFA Europa League assignments of the season but other European heavyweights did not have things all their own way on a busy night of third qualifying round first-leg action.

Eleven weeks after leading Fulham FC to the UEFA Europa League final Roy Hodgson was back in the thick of the action at the Liverpool helm. The 62-year-old rested the majority of his FIFA World Cup stars away to FK Rabotnicki, but the Anfield club were still comfortable 2-0 winners thanks to a goal in each half from David Ngog.

Juve enjoyed similar success at Shamrock Rovers FC with Amauri also striking twice. Luigi Delneri, also taking charge of his first competitive fixture, was rewarded for fielding a near full-strength side inside three minutes when Amauri lifted the ball over Alan Mannus after being teed up by Diego. The Brazilian scored his second with 15 minutes to play when he rose highest to head in Marco Motta's cross. "We still have to improve but have already shown our main weapons: intensity and pace," said Delneri. "The victory is well deserved."

Elsewhere, Olympiacos FC came from behind to beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC 2-1, Simon Vukčević got the only goal as Sporting Clube de Portugal won 1-0 at FC Nordsjælland and VfB Stuttgart look well placed to progress after a 3-2 win at Molde FK, new signing Martin Harnik heading in the decider for last season's UEFA Champions League contenders.

On a disappointing night for Turkey's high-profile challengers, however, Galatasaray AŞ threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to OFK Beograd and Beşiktaş JK were held 1-1 at FC Viktoria Plzeň. A strike in each half from Arda Turan put Galatasaray in command at the Ali Sami Yen, but OFK turned the tie on its head with late efforts from substitutes Milos Krstić (80) and Nenad Injac, the latter heading in Veseljko Trivunović's corner with four minutes remaining.

"It was a big surprise for us to equalise after going 2-0 down," OFK coach Dejan Djurdjević said. "But Galatasaray are still favourites. Now I need to motivate my players again and I honestly don't know how to do that. Maybe we can cause a second surprise in Belgrade." Beşiktaş had Matías Delgado's 44th-minute penalty to thank for a draw in Prague after David Limberský had put the Czech side ahead in only their second European tie.

It was a mixed night for the two sides making their European debuts. Poland's Jagiellonia Białystok fell 2-1 at home to Aris Thessaloniki FC, but there was cause to celebrate in Russia as FC Sibir Novosibirsk, the most easterly club ever to take part in UEFA competition, kicked off the day's action with a 1-0 win against Apollon Limassol FC thanks to captain Aleksei Medvedev's 74th-minute strike. "The victory is the first for Sibir in Europe and I would like to congratulate the team and the city," said coach Igor Kriushenko.

The third round began on Tuesday when PFC CSKA Sofia won 3-0 at home to Cliftonville FC, and there were a further 34 ties played on Thursday. Another side enjoying their first European campaign are Serbia's FK Spartak Zlatibor Voda who, after knocking out Luxembourg's FC Differdange 03 in the second qualifying round, pulled off one of the upsets of the night with a 2-1 home win against Ukrainian league leaders FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

Dnipro reached the UEFA Cup Round of 32 in 2004/05 and were twice UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finalists. They will need to draw on all that experience if they are to progress after losing to a pair of Vladimir Torbica penalties, the second coming in the final minute. Other upsets included Azerbaijani side FK Qarabağ winning 1-0 at 12-times Polish champions Wisła Kraków while former European Champion Clubs' Cup winners FK Crvena Zvezda lost 2-1 at home to ŠK Slovan Bratislava.

CS Marítimo were the night's big winners, a club record 8-2 at home to Bangor City FC with the Portuguese side scoring four goals in a five-minute spell towards the end of the second half. Three sides, meanwhile, hit five: IF Elfsborg winning 5-0 at home to FK Teteks, KRC Genk enjoying a 5-1 triumph at Finland's FC International Turku and Odense BK seeing off HŠK Zrinjski Mostar 5-3. The Bosnian side, however, gave their Danish hosts a scare by pulling back two goals through Mladen Žižović from the penalty spot and Vlado Zadro, with his second of the night, in the final 25 minutes.

Source: uefa.com

UEFA Europa League Third round - First leg results
Second round to be played August 3-5, 2010

Sibir 1-0 Apollon
Spartak Zlatibor 2-1 Dnipro
Dnepr 1-0 Baník
Beroe 1-1 Rapid Wien
MYPA 1-2 Timişoara
Inter Turku 1-5 Genk
Ruch Chorzów 1-3 Austria Wien
Karpaty 1-0 Zestafoni
Elfsborg 5-0 Teteks
Molde 2-3 Stuttgart
Utrecht 1-0 Luzern
Randers 2-3 Lausanne
Aalesund 1-1 Motherwell
APOEL 1-0 Jablonec
Odense 5-3 Zrinjski
Kalmar 1-1 Levski
M. Haifa 1-0 Dinamo Minsk
Wisła Kraków 0-1 Qarabağ
Cercle Brugge 1-0 Anorthosis
Dinamo Bucureşti 3-1 Hajduk Split
Galatasaray 2-2 OFK  
Nordsjælland 0-1 Sporting
Maribor 3-0 Hibernian
Crvena Zvezda 1-2 Slovan Bratislava
Plzeň 1-1 Beşiktaş
Olympiacos 2-1 M. Tel-Aviv
Sturm 2-0 Dinamo Tbilisi
Győr 0-1 Montpellier
Marítimo 8-2 Bangor City
Shamrock Rovers 0-2 Juventus
AZ 2-0 Göteborg
Jagiellonia Białystok 1-2 Aris
Rabotnicki 0-2 Liverpool
Budućnost Podgorica 1-2 Brøndby 
CSKA Sofia 3-0 Cliftonville