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On Thursday, the penultimate round of group stage matches in the UEFA Cup was played, which didn't lack surprising results. Six more teams advanced to the round of sixteen - securing their spots in the next stage were three G group teams "Rapid", "Shakhtar", and "Stuttgart", two H group clubs "Zenit", "Sevilla", and "Levski", as well as the F group team "Levski" which pushed the defending champions "CSKA" to the brink of elimination.
Last season's champion, Moscow's "CSKA", could have secured a place in the round of sixteen with a victory, but in a tough match in Bucharest, they had to concede to the local team "Dinamo". The only goal in the match was scored by V.Munteanu with a shot into the empty net after the ball rebounded off the crossbar. Within the losing team, D.Šemberas played until the 75th minute.
Another surprise occurred in the F group match, where Sofia's "Levski" defeated Marseille at home. The winning goal that secured a spot in the next stage for the team was scored by H.Yovov in the second half. This sets up the final round to determine the third-place team in the group - "Dinamo" avoiding defeat against Marseille and "Heerenveen" winning against "Levski" has already played their match, leaving the fate of "CSKA" dependent on the results of the next matches.
The matches in Group E played out in an interesting, high-scoring, and action-packed manner. Belgrade's "Roma" initially led against the local team "Crvena Zvezda" after a goal from S.Nonda, but later the score was equalized by N.Žigičius, and as the match neared the end, the hosts were brought ahead by M.Purovičius, with the victory confirmed for the Serbians by the same N.Žigičius. The difference could have been narrowed in the last minute by the Italian A.Cassano, but in a clever attempt to convert a penalty kick, he simply gifted the ball to the goalkeeper.
In Group H, the leader became St. Petersburg's "Zenit", managing to withstand the pressure against "Besiktas" in Istanbul to play to a 1-1 draw. The hosts initially led with a goal from I.Akin in the 25th minute, but O.Gorškovas equalized the score five minutes later, and the Turks were unable to score for the remainder of the match. Along with "Zenit", "Sevilla" also advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Gimarajesho's "Vitoria" team 3-1 at home. J.Saviola scored twice for the Spanish team, with A.Correia adding another goal, and S.Benachouras scoring a consolation goal for the Portuguese. In the final round, for the "Besiktas" club to avoid elimination, they need not only to win against "Vitoria" but also hope for "Bolton" to be unsuccessful in their match against "Sevilla".
Thursday's match statistics:
Group E:
Belgrade "Crvena Zvezda" 3 - 1 "Roma" 23` [0 - 1] Shabani Nonda 39` [1 - 1] Nikola Zigic 77` [2 - 1] Milan Purovic 86` [3 - 1] Nikola Zigic
"Basel" 4 - 3 "Tromso" 2` [0 - 1] Lars Iver Strand 17` [1 - 1] Mladen Petric 19` [1 - 2] Ole Martin Arst 29` [1 - 3] Lars Iver Strand 61` [2 - 3] Matias Emilio Delgado 67` [3 - 3] Scott Chipperfield 75` [4 - 3] David Degen
