LONDON, Nov 29: Liverpool, winners of the UEFA Cup in 2001 and favourites to repeat that success after their Champions League elimination, secured a valuable 1-0 first leg win at Vitesse Arnhem Thursday.

The English side, among eight third-placed finishers in the Champions League first phase groups to join the competition at the third round stage, won with a Michael Owen strike.

AEK Athens crushed Maccabi Haifa 4-0 but other sides whose interest was ended in European football’s premier competition fared less well. Dynamo Kiev crashed to a 3-1 defeat at Turkish league leaders Besiktas while Club Bruges lost 2-1 at home to VfB Stuttgart.

France boast five teams in the UEFA Cup but it was a night to forget for four of those in action on Thursday. AJ Auxerre, RC Lens and Girondins Bordeaux all lost with only Olympique Lyon, who drew 0-0 away to Denizlispor, restoring a modicum of pride.

Scottish champions Celtic secured their eighth straight home victory in European competition, a Henrik Larsson goal giving them a narrow 1-0 advantage over Celta Vigo, while Leeds held Malaga to a 0-0 draw in Spain.

In Austria, up-for-sale Serie A club Lazio fielded a second-string side at Sturm Graz but eased to a 3-1 win, despite falling a goal behind.

Charles Amoah fired the home side ahead on the stroke of halftime but Simone Inzaghi struck twice for the 1998 finalists, the only Italian side left in the competition, after Enrico Chiesa had equalised.

Wisla Krakow 1 Schalke 04 1

Denizlispor 0 Olympique Lyon 0

Slovan Liberec 2 Panathinaikos 2

Besiktas 3 Dynamo Kiev 1

PAOK Salonika 1 Slavia Prague 0

Girondins Bordeaux 0 Anderlecht 2

AEK Athens 4 Maccabi Haifa 0

Sturm Graz 1 Lazio 3

Club Bruges 1 VfB Stuttgart 2

Vitesse Arnhem 0 Liverpool 1

Celtic 1 Celta Vigo

Real Betis 1 AJ Auxerre 0

Malaga 0 Leeds United 0

Porto 3 RC Lens 0.

—Reuters