PARIS, Sept 25: Michael Owen’s record-breaking equaliser saved Liverpool’s blushes against Slovenian side Olimpia Ljubljana on a mixed night for English sides in the first round, first leg of the UEFA Cup on Wednesday.
Only Newcastle were totally convincing, thrashing Dutch side NAC Breda 5-0 at St James’ Park but Blackburn, Southampton and Manchester City face daunting tasks in the second leg matches in two weeks’ time.
Owen’s header in the 78th minute broke Ian Rush’s club record of 20 goals in European competition and brought 2001 UEFA Cup winners Liverpool level at 1-1 on a rough pitch in Slovenia.
Liverpool will be confident of dominating the second leg at Anfield on October 15, but goals from two of the club’s former strikers, Robbie Fowler and Nicolas Anelka, might not be enough to guarantee Manchester City a place in the second round.
City beat Lokeren 3-2 in a match featuring a David Seaman blunder that gifted the Belgian side their first goal, although a lucky rebound off Fowler’s shin and Anelka’s 80th minute penalty proved enough to pull Kevin Keegan’s side back from 2-1 down.
However, the valuable two away goals mean Lokeren will progress if they win 1-0 or 2-1 in Belgium in two weeks’ time.
And Graeme Souness’ Blackburn have it all to do at Ewood Park after going down 3-1 to Genclerbirligi in Turkey.
Souleymane Youla, the leading scorer in the Turkish league this season, was on target twice and Josip Skoko grabbed the other goal.
Only a second half reply by Australian Brett Emerton gave Rovers some hope.
Southampton’s return to European competition after a 19-year absence could be also short-lived after they were held 1-1 at home by Steaua Bucharest.
Claudiu Raducanu gave the 1986 European Cup winners the lead after 20 minutes before Kevin Phillips levelled.
Newcastle banished memories of their poor start to the Premiership season by destroying Breda, with Craig Bellamy scoring twice in the Magpies first home win of the season.
Titus Bramble, Alan Shearer and substitute Darren Ambrose added to Bellamy’s first half double as Bobby Robson’s side gave the Newcastle fans something to cheer at last.
European big guns AS Roma, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Valencia will all expect to sail into the next round.
Roma rested five first-team regulars and still thrashed Vardar Skopje of Macedonia 4-0 at the Olympic Stadium.
Barcelona had to battle for a 1-1 draw at Slovak side Puchov, Patrick Kluivert’s second-half goal being equalised in the final minutes, while 1997 European champions Dortmund beat Austria Vienna 2-1 away with goals from Otto Addo and Lars Ricken.
Valencia scored a 1-0 away win over AIK Solna of Sweden.
Results
Villarreal 0 Trabzonspor 0
Sporting Lisbon 2 Malmo 0
Union Leiria 1 Molde 0
Southampton 1 Steaua Bucharest
Newcastle 5 NAC Breda 0
Hearts 2 Zeljeznicar Sarajevo 0
AS Roma 4 Vardar Skopje 0
Manchester City 3 Lokeren 2
Auxerre 1 Neufchatel Xamax 0
AIK Solna 0 Valencia 1
Austria Vienna 1 Borussia Dortmund 2
PAOK Salonika 0 Lyn Oslo 1
Maccabi Haifa 2 CMC Publikum 1
Odense 2 Red Star Belgrade 2
Dundee 1 Perugia 2
Varteks 1 Debrecen 3
Ferencvaros 1 FC Copenhagen 1
Grasshopper 1 Hajduk Split 1
Olimpia Ljubljana 1 Liverpool 1
Ventspils 1 Rosenborg 4
Valerengen 0 AK Graz 0
La Louviere 1 Benfica 1
Brondby 1 Viktoria Zizkov 0
Puchov 1 Barcelona 1
Gaziantepspor 1 Hapoel Tel Aviv 0
Myllykosken Pallo 0 Sochaux 1
Cementarnica 55 0 Lens 1
Apoel Nicosia 1 Real Mallorca 2
Dinamo Bucharest 2 Shakhtar Donetsk 0
Malatyaspor 0 FC Basel 2
FK Sartid 1 Slavia Prague 2
Panionios 2 FC Nordsjaelland 1
Salzburg 0 Udinese 1
FC Utrecht 2 MSK Zilina 0
Hertha Berlin 0 Groclin Grodzisk 0
Dinamo Zagreb 3 MTK Budapest 1
Genclerbirligi 3 Blackburn 1
Hapoel Ramat-Gan 0 Levski Sofia 1
CSKA Sofia 1 Torpedo Moscow 1
Zimbru Chisinau 1 Aris Salonika 1
Kaiserslautern 1 FK Teplice 2
Metalurg Donetsk 1 Parma 1
Spartak Moscow 2 Esbjerg 0.—AFP