Stoke were denied a famous win against Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League after Ognjen Vukojevic’s last minute equaliser made it 1-1.
• Europa League gallery 
The Ukrainian hosts dominated the first 45 minutes and should have gone ahead
midway through when Andriy Yarmolenko blazed wide with the goal at his mercy.
Having weathered the storm, the Potters took the lead 10 minutes into the
second half when Cameron Jerome finished from Ryan Shotton’s cross, but after
Oleksandr Aliev had hit the bar for Dynamo, Vukojevic levelled in
stoppage time.
Celtic’s dismal European away record continued with an expected 2-0 defeat
to Atletico Madrid. The Hoops were still warming to their task when Colombian striker Radamel Falcao met a Diego corner in the third minute to head past Hoops keeper Fraser
Forster. Diego added the second in the 67th minute to leave Celtic with one
away win in Europe in 31 games ahead of Sunday’s Old Firm clash at Ibrox.
Mark Schwarzer’s own goal meant Fulham and Twente shared the spoils 1-1 at Craven Cottage. Fulham dominated the Group K encounter for the most part and broke the deadlock after Andrew Johnson flicked home with aplomb. However, Twente levelled as Luuk de Jong’s header bounced off a post and in off Schwarzer.
An inexperienced Tottenham side came through a nail-biting finish to
leave the cauldron of the Toumba Stadium with a hard-fought 0-0 draw against PAOK Salonika. Carlo Cudicini was called upon to make three fine saves at the death and
Vladimir Ivic rattled the crossbar in stoppage time amid a white-hot
atmosphere in Greece.
Birmingham‘s dream of making a flying start to their campaign was brought crashing back down to earth by a 3-1 loss to Braga. Two goals from Helder Barbosa, early in the game and again late on, sunk the Blues after Marlon King had offered the hosts a glimmer of hope following a
controversial effort from Lima that had given the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Midfielder Gokdeniz Karadeniz eased Rubin Kazan past Irish minnows
Shamrock Rovers as the Russian side won 3-0.
Obafemi Martins had opened the scoring at Tallaght Stadium after just three
minutes, and Christian Noboa made it 2-0 five minutes after the break before
Karadeniz capped a fine individual display with a sweetly-struck third on the
hour. Rubin striker Nelson Valdez had earlier seen a first-half penalty saved by Ryan
Thompson, and Sergei Ryzhikov matched his feat to keep out Stephen O’Donnell’s
64th-minute spot-kick.
Italian giants Lazio were fortunate to escape with a 2-2 draw against Romanian side Vaslui . Edy Reja’s men played the last half-hour with 10 men following the dismissal of defender Luciano Zauri and had to rely on Giuseppe Sculli’s 71st-minute strike to avoid deeper embarrassment. Djibril Cisse’s 35th-minute penalty had given the hosts the lead but a brace from Brazilian Wesley early in the second half gave Vaslui the scent of glory
before Sculli came to the rescue.
In the same pool, Sporting Lisbon made a more impressive start with a 2-0 win
over FC Zurich in Switzerland. Emiliano Insua opened the scoring after four
minutes and Ricky van Wolfswinkel added a second.
Club Brugge made a serene start with a completely dominant performance in a 2-0 win over Maribor. The Belgian side eased into a two-goal lead thanks to strikes by Vadis Odjidja in the seventh minute and Nabil Dirar in the 24th and were never troubled.
Former European champions PSV Eindhoven relied on a piece of magic from Dries
Mertens to nudge past visitors Legia Warsaw 1-0 in Group C. The Belgium winger lashed home the only goal of the game after 21 minutes.
Besiktas strolled to the top of Group E with a 5-1 triumph over Maccabi Tel-Aviv in a highly-charged atmosphere in Istanbul.
Paris St Germain got their Group F campaign off to a strong start with a 3-1
win over Salzburg while in the same group Athletic Bilbao grabbed a 2-1 victory
at Slovan Bratislava.
AZ Alkmaar cruised to an emphatic 4-1 victory over Malmo. The hosts had the points wrapped up by half-time thanks to goals from Jozy Altidore, Rasmus Elm (penalty) and Adam Maher, and Brett Holman put the icing on the cake with the fourth goal four minutes into the second half. Daniel Larsson got Malmo on the scoresheet with a 72nd-minute penalty but it was too little too late to affect the outcome. While Metalist Kharkiv battled back from a goal down to post an impressive 2-1 win on the road at Austria Vienna.
Late goals from Peter Utaka and Rasmus Falk Jensen ensured Odense started with an impressive 3-1 victory at Polish champions Wisla Krakow. Andraz Kirm looked to have earned the hosts a point in the 54th minute when he cancelled out Andreas Johansson’s opener. However, the visitors had other ideas, Utaka tapping home Hans Henrik Andreasen’s 80th-minute free-kick and then Jensen putting the result beyond doubt in stoppage time.
Mohammed Gadir’s second-half goal earned Maccabi Haifa the three points with a 1-0 win against AEK Larnaca. Gadir struck in the 54th minute for the only goal of the game as Maccabi put aside their poor recent form with a morale-boosting victory.
Schalke could not break through a resolute
Steaua Bucharest defence and had to settle for a goalless draw in Group J, while
Hannover and Standard Liege played out a painfully uninspiring goalless draw in
their Group B opener in Germany.
Morten Nordstrand’s second-half penalty
settled a low-key encounter in FC Copenhagen‘s favour as they edged Ukrainian
side Vorskla 1-0 in Denmark, while Lokomotiv Moscow landed a 2-1 win over Sturm Graz after a delayed start due to floodlight failure. Imre Szabics opened the scoring, but Victor Obinna and Dmitri Sychev won the game with two quick goals.
Matias Suarez struck a hat-trick as Anderlecht picked up a 4-1 home victory over 10-man AEK Athens. Four of the five goals came in the first half with Suarez and Milan Jovanovic putting Anderlecht 2-0 up before AEK pulled one back through Leonardo.
