Amauri brace gives Juventus edge in Amsterdam

Two headed goals from Brazilian striker Amauri earned Juventus a precious 2-1 lead over Ajax following the first leg of their Europa League round of 32 first-leg match in Amsterdam yesterday.

Juve have endured a season of negative headlines after crashing out of the Champions League at the group phase and struggling to stay in the Serie A title race.

The meeting with Ajax marked Alberto Zaccheroni's first European assignment with the club since he stepped in to replace the sacked Ciro Ferrara and he saw his side fall behind to a 16th-minute strike by Miralem Sulemanji, who capped a quick counter-attack with a low finish.

Amauri drew the visitors level in the 31st minute though, heading home emphatically after a cunning backheel by Alessandro Del Piero had given Paolo De Ceglie space to shape a cross from the left-hand side.

Del Piero was the creator of Juve's second as well, spiking a centre into the penalty area from the left wing that Amauri converted with his second header of the game.

"It's an important victory at an important time," said Zaccheroni.

"I said before the match that if we were going to be under pressure we would have to strike at the right moment. That's what happened."

Elsewhere, last season's beaten UEFA Cup finalists Werder Bremen lost 1-0 in the away leg of their tie with former England coach Steve McClaren's FC Twente, who prevailed through Theo Janssen's 39th-minute goal.

Fulham striker Bobby Zamora struck a brilliant winner to round off a miserable trip to London for Europa League champions Shakhtar Donetsk who went down 2-1.

Zoltan Gera marked his recovery from a knee injury by firing the opener after just two minutes, although Shakhtar will be unhappy with keeper Andriy Pyatov's handling in the goal.

Luiz Adriano pounced for the equaliser and a second seemed imminent as the Ukrainians dominated, but Fulham survived until half-time and then clawed back some of the initiative.

And Zamora struck the decisive blow in the 63rd minute, unleashing a thunderous 20-yard shot that rattled the crossbar and crashed home for his 14th goal of the season.

Striker David Ngog's goal nine minutes from time eventually broke the resistance of a determined Unirea Urziceni at Anfield.

With the visitors intent on soaking up plenty of pressure Rafael Benitez's side struggled to find the creativity to get past the massed Romanian ranks.

However, the Frenchman's close-range header meant the Reds have some breathing space as they head to Bucharest for next week's last-32 second leg.

Misfiring German champions Wolfsburg, 23 points off the pace in the defence of their Bundesliga title, drew 2-2 at Villarreal, while Belgian outfit Club Bruges secured a famous 1-0 victory against 10-man Valencia, who are currently third in the Spanish top flight.

Spain international midfielder David Silva saw red for the visitors after picking up a second yellow card shortly after half-time and Bruges took immediate advantage thanks to Dorge Kouemaha's 56th-minute winner.

Russian champions Rubin Kazan planted one foot in the last 16 after Aleksandr Bukharov scored a well-taken brace in a 3-0 win at home to Israel's Hapoel Tel-Aviv, with high-flying French side Lille edging Fenerbahce 2-1 in northern France.

Roma's 20-game unbeaten run in all competitions came to an end last night after they went down to Panathinaikos 3-2 in Greece. Former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse netted the winner for the Greeks a minute from time.

First legs

R. Kazan vs H. Tel Aviv 3-0; Ajax vs Juventus 1-2; Twente vs W. Bremen 1-0; S. Liege vs Salzburg 3-2; Bruges vs Valencia 1-0; Villarreal vs Wolfsburg 2-2; Lille vs Fenerbahce 2-1; A. Bilbao vs Anderlecht 1-1; A. Madrid vs Galatasaray 1-1; Liverpool vs U. Urziceni 1-0; Hamburg vs PSV 1-0; Panathinaikos vs Roma 3-2; H. Berlin vs Benfica 1-1; Copenhagen vs Marseille 1-3; Fulham vs S. Donetsk 2-1. Played on Tuesday: Everton vs Sporting 2-1.

Second legs: February 23-25.