KEY POINTS:
MILAN - Slavia Prague produced the standout result today with a 1-0 win at Ajax Amsterdam in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round soccer tie but most other matches went to form.
Hot weather made conditions tough in the early games where Andriy Voronin
gave last season's runnersup Liverpool a 1-0 win at Toulouse and Celtic managed a 1-1 draw at Spartak Moscow.
Sevilla, looking for a place in the group phase for the first time, produced a classy 2-0 win at home to AEK Athens, with winger Jesus Navas setting up strikers Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute in the second half after blistering runs.
It was a tale of two penalties in Amsterdam with Slavia's David Kalivoda converting a 76th-minute spot kick to seal their 1-0 win at Ajax, who missed a penalty on the hour when Klaas Jan Huntelaar's effort was saved by Martin Vaniak.
Sparta Prague failed to match the performance of their neighbours and went down 0-2 at home to 2006 finalists Arsenal, who scored through Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb's injury time goal.
In the heat of southwest France, Voronin scored his first competitive goal for Liverpool at last season's surprise French package Toulouse.
The former Bayer Leverkusen player, who joined the 2005 champions as a free agent in July, struck just before halftime with a clinical 25m drive.
"He brings different movements, he has a lot of qualities," said Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, who lost captain Steven Gerrard to a foot injury in their first European match of the campaign.
"It was a difficult day to play football because of the heat and the pitch, which was not in the best condition. But we've done a professional job."
Scottish champions Celtic also had to battle through steamy temperatures but hung on in Moscow with Paul Hartley's header midway through the first half being cancelled out by a Roman Pavlyuchenko goal before the break.
Daniel Jensen's long range strike 4min from fulltime gave Werder Bremen a 2-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb at the Weserstadion.
Bosko Balaban put the Croatian champions deservedly in front at the end of the first half but the Germans sprang into action after the break with substitute Hugo Almeida scoring on the rebound to equalise before the Dane grabbed the winner.
Burkino Faso striker Yssouf Kone, who scored four in Rosenborg's 10-2 aggregate demolition of Kazakhstan's Astana in the last round, grabbed a double to give the Norwegian champions a 3-0 away win over Finland's Tampere United.
Dynamo Kiev were also away winners with a 1-0 victory at Sarajevo but big-spending Ukrainian compatriots Shakhtar Donetsk went down 0-1 at Giovanni Trapattoni's Salzburg.
Turkish titleholders Fenerbahce lead 1-0 after their home leg with Belgian champions Anderlecht while Istanbul's other representatives Besiktas drew 1-1 at FC Zurich.
Steaua Bucharest conceded in the last minute to draw 2-2 at BATE Borisov of Belarus but the Romanians have a good chance of progressing to the group stage alongside Dinamo Bucharest, who drew 1-1 at nine-man Lazio yesterday.
In yesterday's other first leg matches, Celtic's Glasgow rivals Rangers won 1-0 at home to Red Star Belgrade, Valencia beat Elfsborg 3-0 and Rui Costa grabbed both goals as Benfica took a 2-1 advantage over FC Copenhagen.
The second legs take place in a fortnight.
- REUTERS
