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On Thursday, the second round matches of the UEFA Cup were held in eight groups, with 16 pairs competing. One team from each group did not play.
In Group A, Edinburgh's "Hearts," whose co-owner is Lithuanian businessman V. Romanovas, narrowly lost to Gelzenkirchen's "Schalke," while Rotterdam's "Feyenoord" surprisingly failed to beat the "Ferencvaros" club.
There were surprises in Group B as well. Here, Istanbul's "Besiktas" unexpectedly defeated Spanish "Athletic" 3-1. In other matches of this group struggling through tough times, "Parma" managed to defeat Bucharest's "Steaua."
Another unexpected result was recorded in Group C - Spain's "La Liga" Zaragoza team lost to the Austrian club. Meanwhile, the "Dnipro" club, who defeated Belgium's "Brugge" in the previous round, continued their winning streak - this time beating the Utrecht team away.
There were no surprises in Group D, where "Newcastle" and "Sporting" won at home against Tbilisi's "Dinamo" and Greek "Panionios," respectively.
In Group E, Rome's "Lazio" continued without victories. After a draw in the first round with "Villarreal," this time the eternal city team had to acknowledge the superiority of English "Middlesbrough" with a 2-0 result. In the next match of the group, Belgrade's "Partizan" easily crushed the "Egaleo" team 4-0.
A surprise was also recorded in Group F, where one of the strongest "Ligue 1" teams "Auxerre" had to admit the superiority of "AZ" after two goals from Steino Huysegems. The victory in this group was celebrated by the home team as well - "GAK" defeated "Amica" 3-1.
For the second round in a row, the most efficient teams play in Group G. This time, "Stuttgart" surprisingly defeated Lisbon's "Benfica" 3-0, while Zagreb's "Dinamo" beat Belgium's "Beveren" 6-1.
In the last group, the favorites "Lille" and "Sevilla" defeated St. Petersburg's "Zenit" and the German second league team "Aachen," respectively.
Second round results:
Group A "Hearts" 0 - 1 "Shalke" "Ferencvaros" 1 - 1 "Feyenoord" Group B "Parma" 1 - 0 "Steaua" "Besiktas" 3 - 1 "Athletic" Group C "Utrecht" 1 - 2 "Dnipro" "Austria" 1 - 0 "Zaragosa" Group D "Newcastle" 2 - 0 "Dinamo Tbilisi" "Sporting" 4 - 1 "Panionios" Group E "Partizan" 4 - 0 "Egaleo" "Middlesbrough" 2 - 0 "Lazio" Group F "GAK" 3 - 1 "Amica" "AZ" 2 - 0 "Auxerre" Group G "Stuttgart" 3 - 0 "Benfica" "Dinamo Zagreb" 6 - 1 "Beveren" Group H "Lille" 2 - 1 "Zenit" "Sevilla" 2 - 0 "Aachen"
