Dutch duo Boudewijn Zenden and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored the goals to give Middlesbrough a 2-2 draw at GAK in Graz on Thursday and put the English side in sight of the last 16 of the Uefa Cup.
The Austrians were playing their first match in two months because of their winter break but their rustiness didn’t show in the early stages as they wasted two good chances to open the scoring before the interval.
Anton Ehmann and Imants Bleidelis failed to hit the target with only goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to beat, and they were eventually made to pay when Zenden opened the scoring after 51 minutes.
The midfielder, set up by Franck Queudrue and Jonathan Downing, beat three defenders before slotting the ball home.
The lead lasted until the 64th minute when Croatian Mario Bazina levelled but Hasselbaink restored the advantage straight from the restart with a header from a Downing cross.
GAK clawed their way back into the tie when Roland Kollmann scored from a free kick. However, the striker was then sent off for a second bookable offence when he was booked for diving.
Boro will be favourites to progress when the second leg is held at the Riverside next week.
Spanish side Villarreal also have the upper hand in their tie with Dynamo Kiev after battling out a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Ukraine on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Ajax beat French side Auxerre 1-0, with Brazilian international Maxwell on target, but their win was marred by a racist banner that greeted the visitors’ Côte d’Ivoire striker Bonaventure Kalou.
Kalou, who used to play for Ajax’s bitter rivals Feyenoord, ran out on to the pitch to see a banner saying ”Kalou is invited to a banana tree”.
Feyenoord came away with just a 2-1 defeat away at Sporting Lisbon, though the hosts played the last 25 minutes with 10 men after Portuguese midfielder Custodio was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Elsewhere, German sides enjoyed a relatively successful evening as both VfB Stuttgart and Schalke 04 clinched away draws.
Stuttgart drew 0-0 with two-time Uefa Cup champions Parma while Schalke 04 drew 1-1 with Shakhtar Donetsk, with the German side’s Brazilian marksman Ailton scoring their goal before allowing the hosts get a late equaliser.
Greek champions Panathinaikos enjoyed a 1-0 victory over highflying Spanish side Sevilla while defending Uefa Cup champions Valencia won 2-0 at home to Romanian outfit Steaua Bucharest with goals from Ranieri’s Italian compatriot Marco di Vaio and Argentinian ace Pablo Aimar. — Sapa-AFP