© EuroFootball.com
On Thursday, in the first UEFA Europa League round of 16 matches, English clubs experienced some unexpected losses away from home.
Playing without team captain Steven Gerrard, the "Liverpool" footballers suffered a minimal 0-1 defeat to "Braga". The only goal of the match was scored by Alan after Sotirios Kyrgiakos's foul in the penalty area from the 11-meter mark.
Meanwhile, "Man City" failed against Kiev's "Dynamo" team, so the 'citizens' will have to try to overturn the solid Ukrainian lead of 2-0 in the return leg at the "Eastlands" stadium.
Russian teams also had a tough time - Moscow's CSKA, with Lithuanian national team defender Deividas Šemberas playing the full 90 minutes, had to admit defeat at home with a score of 0-1 against "Porto", while St. Petersburg's "Zenit" was crushed 3-0 away by Enschede's "Twente".
The only Moscow team that managed to achieve victory was "Spartak" - Valery Karpin's players defeated Amsterdam's "Ajax" team 1-0 away.
Before the return matches taking place next week, "Villarreal" and Lisbon's "Benfica" also gained advantages, while Eindhoven's PSV and Glasgow's "Rangers" drew without goals.
Results:
Leverkusen "Bayer" 2 - 3 "Villarreal" 33' [1 - 0] M. Kadlec 42' [1 - 1] G. Rossi 70' [1 - 2] Nilmar 72' [2 - 2] G. Castro 90' [2 - 3] Nilmar
"Braga" 1 - 0 "Liverpool" 18' [1 - 0] Alan (from 11 m penalty)
Moscow CSKA 0 - 1 "Porto" 70' [0 - 1] F. Guarin
Eindhoven PSV 0 - 0 Glasgow "Rangers"
Amsterdam "Ajax" 0 - 1 Moscow "Spartak" 57' [0 - 1] Alex
Lisbon "Benfica" 2 - 1 PSG 14' [0 - 1] P. Luyindula 42' [1 - 1] M. Pereira 81' [2 - 1] F. Jara
Kiev "Dynamo" 2 - 0 "Man City" 25' [1 - 0] A. Shevchenko 77' [2 - 0] O. Gusev
Enschede "Twente" 3 - 0 St. Petersburg "Zenit" 25' [1 - 0] L.d. Jong 56' [2 - 0] D. Landzaat 90' [3 - 0] L.d. Jong
