Milan strike late, Sevilla suffer loss

Ronaldinho struck deep into injury time to give favourites Milan a 1-0 UEFA Cup group stage win at home to Braga last night while twice winners Sevilla lost 1-0 at Standard Liege.

Brazilian Ronaldinho came off the bench just after the hour mark to help the Serie A leaders finally break the resistance of their Portuguese opponents with a sweetly struck shot from Gennaro Gattuso's pass.

In Belgium, Dieudonne Mbokani's first-half strike proved the undoing of 2006 and 2007 champions Sevilla as Standard followed up their fine first-round victory over Everton with an opening Group C win over the Spaniards.

On a good night for Serie A's top two, Udinese maintained their 100 per cent record after Italy striker Fabio Quagliarella scored twice in a 2-1 Group D victory at Spartak Moscow.

The Italy international put Udinese ahead in the 12th minute before Clemente Rodriguez levelled the score five minutes later.

Disaster struck for goalscorer Rodriguez on the hour mark, as the referee pointed to the spot after the defender had brought down Simone Pepe inside the area.

Quagliarella made no mistake from the resultant spot-kick to hand the Italians a vital win.

In a clash of former winners, Brazil striker Vagner Love notched his fourth and fifth goals of the competition as 2005 champions CSKA Moscow won 3-1 at Feyenoord to consign the twice winners to their second successive Group H defeat.

Mario Gomez also made it five goals in four games, striking twice late on in VfB Stuttgart's 2-0 win over Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade while fellow Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg were the big winners, thrashing Heerenveen 5-1.

After their Champions League sides failed to win midweek, it was a better night for English clubs.

Tottenham Hotspurs eased past Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 at White Hart Lane with Darren Bent notching a hat-trick for the London club.

Robinho produced a moment of magic as City got off to a winning start against Steve McClaren's FC Twente in Group A.

The record buy curled a superb shot over the goalkeeper in the 56th minute after being released by Stepehen Ireland.

Shaun Wright-Phillips and Benjani Mwaruwari were also on target but Twente proved to be fiesty opponents with goals coming from Eljero Elia and Robbie Wielaert.

Aston Villa took a giant step towards qualification by becoming the first team to beat Slavia Prague at their new Eden Stadion.

John Carew's lucky 26th-minute goal, when he deflected in a shot from Steve Sidwell, gave a much-changed Villa side a deserved lead at half-time.

The second half was a different story as Slavia saw chance after chance go begging, but Martin O'Neill's team held on to win 1-0 and make it six points from two games in Group F.

The top three teams from each of the eight groups progress to the first knockout round where they will be joined by the eight sides finishing third in their Champions League groups.

Results and fixtures

Group A

R. Santander vs Schalke 1-1; Man. City vs Twente 3-2.
Standings: Schalke 4; Man. City, Twente 3; R. Santander 1, PSG 0.
Nov. 27: Schalke vs Manchester City; PSG vs Racing Santander.

Group B

Metalist vs H. Berlin 0-0; Benfica vs Galatasaray 0-2.
Standings: Galatasaray 6; H. Berlin 2; Metalist, Benfica 1; Olympiakos 0.
Nov. 27: Galatasaray vs Metalist; Olympiakos vs Benfica.

Group C

Stuttgart vs Partizan 2-0; S. Liege vs Sevilla 1-0.
Standings: Sampdoria, Sevilla, S. Liege, Stuttgart 3; Partizan 0.
Nov. 27: Sampdoria vs Stuttgart; Partizan vs S. Liege.

Group D

S. Moscow vs Udinese 1-2; Tottenham vs D. Zagreb 4-0.
Standings: Udinese 6; Tottenham, D. Zagreb 3; Nijmegen, Spartak Moscow 0.
Nov. 27: Nijmegen vs Tottenham; D. Zagreb vs Spartak Moscow.

Group E

Wolfsburg vs Heerenveen 5-1; Milan vs Braga 1-0.
Standings: Milan 6; Wolfsburg, Braga 3; Portsmouth, Heerenveen 0.
Nov. 27: Portsmouth vs Milan; Braga vs Wolfsburg.

Group F

Ajax vs Zilina 1-0; S. Prague vs Aston Villa 0-1.
Standings: A. Villa 6; Hamburg, Ajax 3; S. Prague, Zilina 0.
Nov. 27: Zilina vs Slavia; Hamburg vs Ajax.

Group G

St Etienne vs Rosenborg 3-0; Valencia vs Copenhagen 1-1.
Standings: St Etienne 6; Valencia, Club Brugge, Copenhagen, Rosenborg 1.
Nov. 27: Club Brugge vs St Etienne; Rosenborg vs Valencia.

Group H

L. Poznan vs Nancy 2-2; Feyenoord vs CSKA Moscow 1-3.
Standings: CSKA Moscow 6; Nancy 4; L. Poznan1; Deportivo, Feyenoord 0.
Nov. 27: CSKA Moscow vs L. Poznan; Deportivo vs Feyenoord.