August 17, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 3, 1428

MILAN, Aug 16: Slavia Prague produced the standout result on Wednesday with a 1-0 win at Ajax Amsterdam in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie but most other matches went to form.

Hot weather made conditions tough in the early games where Andriy Voronin gave last season's runners-up Liverpool a 1-0 win at Toulouse and Celtic managed a 1-1 draw at Spartak Moscow.

Sevilla, looking for a first ever place in the group phase, produced a classy 2-0 win at home to AEK Athens in a later clash with young winger Jesus Navas setting up strikers Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute in the second half with 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 2-0 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 25-metre drive.

Liverpool lost captain Steven Gerrard to a foot injury in their first European tie of the campaign.

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.

Dynamo Kiev were also away winners with a 1-0 victory at Sarajevo but big-spending Ukrainian compatriots Shakhtar Donetsk went down 1-0 at Giovanni Trapattoni's Salzburg.

Turkish title holders 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 on Tuesday.

In Tuesday'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 two weeks' time.

Results:

Third qualifying round, first leg:

Played on Wednesday:

Toulouse 0 Liverpool 1

Spartak Moscow 1 Celtic 1

Tampere United 0 Rosenborg Trondheim 3

BATE Borisov 2 Steaua Bucharest 2

Fenerbahce 1 Anderlecht 0

Sarajevo 0 Dynamo Kiev 1

FC Zurich 1 Besiktas 1

Ajax Amsterdam 0 Slavia Prague 1

Salzburg 1 Shakhtar Donetsk 0

Werder Bremen 2 Dynamo Zagreb 1

Sevilla 2 AEK Athens 0

Sparta Prague 0 Arsenal 1

Played on Tuesday:

Lazio 1 Dinamo Bucharest 1

Rangers 1 Red Star Belgrade 0

Benfica 2 FC Copenhagen 1

Valencia 3 Elfsborg Boras 0

—Reuters