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