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On Thursday, 39 first-round matches were played in the UEFA Cup, with no major surprises. Unexpected results included the crushing defeat of Djurgardens to Utrecht, Grozny's Terek holding Basel to a draw at home, Zenit's easy win against Crvena Zvezda, as well as Panathinaikos and Rangers' failures against Alkmaar and Maritimo respectively. In the match between Ventspils and Amica, Latvian of Lithuanian descent Vitas Rimkus stood out, while another Latvian club, Metalurgs, was crushed by Schalke. Former Žalgiris' competitor Aalborg managed to draw with one of the strongest French teams, Auxerre, while Ekranas, who eliminated Odd in injury time, lost at home to Feyenoord. Results of the first matches: 1-1 Amica 1-0 Dnipro Wisla 4-3 Dinamo Tbilisi 4-0 Gorica 1-1 Feyenoord AaB 1-1 GAK 5-0 Steaua 2-1 Trabzonspor 3-2 Utrecht 4-0 Egaleo 1-0 Shelbourne 2-2 3-1 Dinamo Bucuresti 3-2 Maribor Panionios 3-1 1-2 Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 Chateauroux 4-0 Stabaek Ujpest 1-3 Standard 0-0 Banska Bystrica 0-3 1-1 Ferencvaros 2-0 H. Bnei Sakhnin Hearts 3-1 1-0 Legia 3-0 Banik Maritimo 1-0 2-3 Bodø 1-1 Sigma 2-0 Nacional 2-0 Rapid Hafnarfjördur 1-5 Aachen The second-leg matches will be played in two weeks, on September 30th.
