Start of the UEFA Cup group stage - French stumbles © EuroFootball.com

On Thursday, the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage began with matches in eight groups. The defending champions "Sevilla" and French clubs did not start the stage very successfully - "Auxerre" lost to Tel Aviv and "P.S.G." failed to win in Bucharest.

Italians and Brits fared better - "Parma," "Palermo," and "Blackburn" clubs managed to win after conceding goals, while "Newcastle" and "Tottenham" earned their first points. "Livorno" with T. Danilevičius and "Rangers" won as guests in their duel. The first round of winners also included the Belgian "Zulte Waregem," Spanish "Espanyol," Greek "Panathinaikos," and Dutch "AZ," while two more matches ended in draws.

Statistics of the first round of group stage:

Group A

"Livorno" 2 - 3 Glasgow "Rangers"

27' [0 - 1] Charlie Adam

30' [0 - 2] Kris Boyd

34' [1 - 2] Cristiano Lucarelli (pen.)

36' [1 - 3] Nacho Novo

90' [2 - 3] Cristiano Lucarelli

T. Danilevičius ("Livorno") played the entire match

Maccabi Haifa 3 - 1 "Auxerre"

13' [1 - 0] Alain Masudi

29' [1 - 1] Daniel Gheorghe Niculae

56' [2 - 1] Gustavo Bokoli

58' [3 - 1] Roberto Damian Colautti

65' Stephane Grichting ("Auxerre") sent off

Group B

Besiktas 0 - 2 Tottenham

32' [0 - 1] Hossam Ghaly

63' [0 - 2] Dimitar Berbatov

Club Brugge 1 - 1 Bayer Leverkusen

35' [0 - 1] Bernd Schneider

46' [1 - 1] Philippe Clement

Group C

AZ Alkmaar 3 - 0 "Braga"

36' [1 - 0] Shota Arveladze

74' [2 - 0] Danny Koevermans

79' [3 - 0] Stijn Schaars

Slovan Liberec 0 - 0 Sevilla

Group D

Osasuna 0 - 0 Heerenveen

87' Lasse Nilsson ("Heerenveen") sent off

OB 1 - 2 Parma

7' [1 - 0] Esben Hansen

40' [1 - 1] Daniele Dessena

50' [1 - 2] Igor Budan

Group E

Wisla Krakow 1 - 2 Blackburn

28' [1 - 0] Roberto Mauro Cantoro

56' [1 - 1] Robbie Savage

89' [1 - 2] David Bentley

Basel 1 - 1 Feyenoord

60' [1 - 0] Eduardo Da Silva

76' [1 - 1] Stein Huysegems

Group F

Austria Vienna 1 - 4 Zulte Waregem

22' [1 - 0] Andreas Lasnik

33' [1 - 1] Tim Matthys

56' [1 - 2] Tim Matthys

68' [1 - 3] Tim Matthys

90' [1 - 4] Wouter Vandendriessche

Sparta Prague 0 - 2 Espanyol

17' [0 - 1] Raul Tamudo

85' [0 - 2] Albert Riera

Group G

Panathinaikos 2 - 0 Hapoel Tel Aviv

46' [1 - 0] Tal Chen (own goal)

63' [2 - 0] Sebastian Ariel Romero

Rapid Bucharest 0 - 0 PSG

Group H

Eintracht Frankfurt 1 - 2 Palermo

45' [1 - 0] Ioannis Amanatidis

49' [1 - 1] Francesco Parravicini

87' [1 - 2] Cristian Zaccardo

Newcastle 1 - 0 Fenerbahce Istanbul

79' [1 - 0] Antoine Sibierski