The Hindu : Sport / Football : Valencia wins; Brazilians weave their magic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 18, 2005

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Sport - Football

Valencia wins; Brazilians weave their magic

LONDON, FEB. 17. Valencia took another big step towards retaining its UEFA Cup title with a 2-0 victory over Steaua Bucharest while Brazilian stars made their mark on the competition, two of them scoring for opposing teams.

Goals on either side of half-time by Italian forward Marco di Vaio and Argentina's Pablo Aimar earned Valencia a first-leg lead over the Romanians on Wednesday, with the second leg to be played next week.

The joint top scorer in the Portuguese league, Brazilian striker Liedson netted Sporting Lisbon's match-winner in a 2-1 verdict against Feyenoord, which had taken a sixth-minute lead through Bart Goor.

Meanwhile, Brazilian defender Andrade Maxwell scored in the first half to help four-time European Cup winner Ajax Amsterdam edge Auxerre 1-0 at home and take a slender lead to France before the return match next week.

An equaliser by Brandao, four minutes from the end, salvaged a 1-1 draw for Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk against Schalke 04 after fellow Brazilian Ailton put the German club ahead.

Ukraine's bid to qualify an unprecedented three teams for the last eight had mixed results.

With the three guaranteed to avoid each other in the next round, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev are looking to achieve rare European glory for the former Soviet Republic, which also leads its World Cup qualifying group.

Dnipro twice rallied from a goal down to draw 2-2 at Partizan Belgrade in its second round, first-leg match.

The results (round of 32, first leg): Ajax bt Auxerre 1-0; Panathinaikos bt Sevilla 1-0; Parma drew with VfB Stuttgart 0-0; Partizan drew with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 2-2; Shakhtar Donetsk drew with Schalke 1-1; Sporting Lisbon bt Feyenoord 2-1; Valencia bt Steaua Bucharest 2-0. — AP

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