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On Thursday, fifteen group stage matches were played in the UEFA Cup, featuring plenty of goals scored in the last minutes of the game - dramatic victories were achieved by "Marseille", "Stuttgart", and "Rapid" as the competition approaches its conclusion, while "Bolton" and "Espanyol" managed to secure draws. Apart from "Marseille", the first clubs to secure their spots in the next stage were "Middlesbrough" and "Strasbourg". In the only Thursday match, Moscow's "Lokomotiv" faced the strongest Danish club "Brondby", still featuring Lithuanian player A. Skarbalius. In a match held in the Russian capital, the visitors led 2-0 after the first half, but thanks to the efforts of team captain D. Loskov, who scored three goals in over 25 minutes in the second half, they managed to come back and win 4-2. In the second match of Group B on Thursday, "Palermo" took an early lead against Barcelona's "Espanyol" thanks to M. Gonzalez's goal, holding the advantage for most of the match until H. Moises equalized with a header in the final minute. Despite this, "Palermo" remained in first place in the group, one point ahead of "Lokomotiv" and "Espanyol", and two points ahead of "Brondby". Returning to the path of victories was the defending champion of the cup, Moscow's "CSKA" with D. Semberas, who defeated Sofia's "Levski" at home thanks to two goals from V. Love and achieving their first win in this stage. Also securing their second win in Group F and their place in the knockout stage was "Marseille", breaking the resistance of "Heerenveen" thanks to T. Taiwo's last-minute penalty goal. In the very tight Group C, hopes to advance further are no longer held by "Halmstad", who failed to maintain a goal lead at home and lost 1-3 to Genoa's "Sampdoria". With the other group match between Berlin's "Hertha" and "Lens" ending goalless, four teams now have four points each and similar chances to advance to the next stage - it will be tougher for "Lens", who have played one more match than their rivals. In a crucial victory, the leader of Group H became St. Petersburg's "Zenit" where R. Poskus played, as they defeated Sevilla at home. The hosts took an early lead after A. Kerzhakov's goal, and the Russian national team striker doubled the score as J. Saviola's goal in the last minute did not change the outcome. A surprise was narrowly avoided by Guimaraes' "Vitoria", who had taken the lead against "Bolton" with five minutes to go, only for the Portuguese R. Vaz Te to equalize. A real drama unfolded in Group G, where the away teams simply "stole" three points at the end of the matches: Donetsk's "Shakhtar" dominated the entire match at home against Rapid, but failing to convert numerous chances was punished when the ball ricocheted into the Ukrainian net after a shot by Romanian M. Maldarasanu in the 87th minute, while in Thessaloniki, the local "PAOK" led against "Stuttgart" from the beginning of the second half, only for the Serbian D. Ljuboja to equalize in the last five minutes with a long-range shot and then snatch the victory by converting a penalty in extra time. Despite the draws in the away matches, "Middlesbrough" and "Strasbourg", who lead Groups D and E respectively with seven points each, secured their places in the next stage - the English team played a goalless draw with Alkmaar's "AZ", while the French team earned a point away against Roma. In the second match of Group D, Lovech's "Litex" defeated Dnipro, who played with ten men, while in Group E, the surprise of the tournament "Tromso" won at home against Belgrade's "Crvena Zvezda". In the most fluctuating match of the day in Group A, Stavanger's "Viking" failed to maintain a lead against Prague's "Slavia" and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. Meanwhile, "Monaco" recovered from a poor start to the tournament and defeated the group leader "Hamburger" at home, claiming their first victory and strengthening their hopes of competing for a place in the round of 16.
