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In the UEFA Cup tournament on Thursday, after playing 40 first-stage second leg matches, the participants of the group stage matches were determined. There were no shortage of sensations - the 2000 winner "Galatasaray" and the 2002 winner "Feyenoord" were eliminated from the tournament, as well as the famous teams "Auxerre" and "Bayer". Meanwhile, only the "Krylia Sovetov" team from Lithuania withdrew, failing to maintain a three-goal advantage, while "Halmstad" managed to score a goal in the final moments through T. Žvirgždauskas to force extra time and eventually defeat the "Sporting" team.
The Swedish vice-champion "Halmstad" had lost the first match at home to last year's UEFA Cup finalist "Sporting" with a score of 1-2, so in the second leg match in Lisbon the team needed a victory. The visitors took the lead in the first half, but the Portuguese team quickly equalized - it seemed that "Halmstad" would have to withdraw from the tournament.
However, in the third minute of injury time, a goal was scored by Lithuanian defender T. Žvirgždauskas, who saved his team. During extra time, the Lithuanian was on the verge of disappointment - in the first half, he scored an own goal. Nevertheless, "Halmstad" did not give up, scoring a third goal with five minutes left, and in highly dramatic match, snatched victory and progressed to the next stage due to more away goals scored.
Another thrilling match took place in Alkmaar, where "AZ" tried to overturn a two-goal deficit at home against Samara's "Krylia Sovetov", who were without the injured N. Barasa. In the 16th minute, "AZ" fell even further behind with a goal from B. Adamu, but at the end of the first half, the Dutch team's hopes were restored when B. Van Galen scored. In the second half, the same B. Adamu was sent off the pitch, and taking advantage of the numerical superiority, "AZ" scored two goals towards the end of the match, and thanks to more away goals scored, they advanced to the next round.
After A. Arshavin's goal in the 89th minute, Saint Petersburg's "Zenit" defeated Athens's "AEK" away from home. Also advancing to the next stage were the titleholder Moscow's "CSKA" with D. Sember managing to recover and win against "Midtjylland" in Denmark. On the other hand, A. Skerba's "Brondby" lost to "Zurich", but having won the first leg with a bigger margin, they will also participate in the group stage.
A sensational result was recorded in Istanbul - little-known Norwegian team "Tromso" managed to resist "Galatasaray" and eliminated them from the tournament. Another surprise was the ticket to the next stage won by Petach Tikva's "Maccabi", defeating Belgrade's "Partizan" in Serbia with a crushing score of 5-2. Bucharest's "Rapid" unexpectedly defeated Rotterdam's "Feyenoord" at home by a minimal margin and won overall, while Leverkusen's crisis-stricken "Bayer" had to admit the superiority of Sofia's "CSKA" for the second time. "Auxerre" also lost to another Sofia club, "Levski".
Despite an unexpected setback in Slovakia, "Stuttgart" eliminated "Domzale" with an overall result, while "Bolton" narrowly avoided defeat against Plovdiv's "Lokomotiv". "Everton" failed to secure a victory against Bucharest's "Dinamo" with a minimal margin, while "Hamburger" snatched a victory against "Kobenhavn" in the last minute.
The draw for the UEFA Cup group stage matches will take place next Tuesday, on October 4th, with 40 clubs divided into eight groups of five each, and each team playing two matches at home and two away. The first group stage matches will be played on October 20th.
All UEFA Cup first round results (Highlighted teams advanced to the group stage)
"Domzale" (Slovenia) 1 - 0 "Stuttgart" (Germany) (First leg 0-2, aggregate score 1-2) "CSKA" (Bulgaria) 1 - 0 "Bayer" (Germany) [1-0, 2-0] "Lokomotiv Plovdiv" (Bulgaria) 1 - 2 "Bolton" (England) [1-2, 2-4] "Anorthosis" (Cyprus) 0 - 4 "Palermo" (Italy) [1-2, 1-6] "MyPa" (Finland) 0 - 3 "Grasshoppers (Switzerland) [1-1, 1-4] "Willem II" (Netherlands) 1 - 3 "Monaco" (France) [0-2, 1-5] "Lokomotiv Moscow" (Russia) 3 - 2 "Brann" (Norway) [2-1, 5-3] "Metallurg Donetsk" (Ukraine) 2 - 2 "PAOK" (Greece) [1-1, 3-3] "Rapid" (Romania) 1 - 0 "Feyenoord" (Netherlands) [1-1, 2-1] "Strasbourg" (France) 5 - 0 "GAK" (Austria) [2-0, 7-0] "Cork City" (Ireland) 1 - 2 "Slavia" (Czech Republic) [0-2, 1-4] "Hertha" (Germany) 3 - 1 "APOEL" (Cyprus) [1-0, 4-1] "Levski" (Bulgaria) 1 - 0 "Auxerre" (France) [1-2, 2-2] "Groclin" (Poland) 2 - 4 "Lens" (France) [1-1, 3-5] "Galatasaray" (Turkey) 1 - 1 "Tromso" (Norway) [0-1, 1-2] "Steaua" (Romania) 3 - 1 "Valerenga" (Norway) [3-0, 6-1] "Partizan" (Serbia and Montenegro) 2 - 5 "Maccabi P.Tikva" (Israel) [2-0, 4-5] "Siroki Brijeg" (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 0 - 1 "Basel" (Switzerland) [0-5, 0-6] "Midtjylland" (Denmark) 1 - 3 "CSKA" (Russia) [1-3, 2-6] "Debrecen" (Hungary) 0 - 2 "Shakhtar" (Ukraine) [1-4, 1-6] "Xanthi" (Greece) 0 - 0 "Middlesbrough" (England) [0-2, 0-2]
"Dnipro" (Ukraine) 5 - 1 "Hibernian" (Scotland) [0-0, 5-1] "AZ" (Netherlands) 3 - 1 "Krylia Sovetov" (Russia) [3-5, 6-6] "Zurich" (Switzerland) 2 - 1 "Brondby" (Denmark) [1-2, 2-3] "Osasuna" (Spain) 0 - 0 "Rennes" (France) [1-3, 1-3] "Malmo FF" (Sweden) 1 - 4 "Besiktas" (Turkey) [1-0, 2-4] "Wisla" (Poland) 0 - 1 "Vitoria Guimaraes" (Portugal) [0-3, 0-4] "Braga" (Portugal) 1 - 1 "Crvena Zvezda" (Serbia and Montenegro) [0-0, 1-1] "Mainz" (Germany) 0 - 2 "Sevilla" (Spain) [0-0, 0-2] "Austria" (Austria) 2 - 1 "Viking" (Norway) [0-1, 2-2] "Genk" (Belgium) 0 - 1 "Litex" (Bulgaria) [2-2, 2-3] "AEK" (Greece) 0 - 1 "Zenit" (Russia) [0-0, 0-1] "Sampdoria" (Italy) 1 - 0 "Vitoria Setubal" (Portugal) [1-1, 2-1] "Aris" (Greece) 0 - 0 "Roma" (Italy) [1-5, 1-5] "Everton" (England) 1 - 0 "Dinamo Bucuresti" (Romania) [1-5, 2-5] "FC Kobenhavn" (Denmark) 0 - 1 "Hamburger" (Germany) [1-1, 1-2] "Marseille" (France) 0 - 0 "Germinal B." (Belgium) [0-0, 0-0, 11m. 4-1] "Heerenveen" (Netherlands) 5 - 0 "Ostrava" (Czech Republic) [0-2, 5-2] "Espanyol" (Spain) 2 - 0 "Teplice" (Czech Republic) [1-1, 3-1] "Sporting" (Portugal) 2 - 3 "Halmstad" (Sweden) after extra time [2-1, 4-4]
