Six-time champions AC Milan and four-time winners Ajax and Liverpool put themselves in a position to reach the group stage of the Champions League on Wednesday.
AC Milan edged Red Star Belgrade 1-0, Ajax won 2-1 at Copenhagen, and Liverpool beat Israeli club Maccabi Haifa 2-1 at Anfield.
They were three of 14 third-round, first-leg qualifying games played on Wednesday with the second legs in two weeks’ time. The survivors advance to the 32-team group stage, which begins on September 12 and 13. The final is on May 23 in Athens.
Filippo Inzaghi scored in the 22nd minute to give AC Milan a victory over Red Star.
AC Milan are playing in Europe’s most lucrative club tournament under a dirty cloud. The club was docked points for their part in a match-fixing scandal, and Uefa hesitated to let the club compete this season.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar got both goals for Ajax, putting the Dutch ahead in the 37th and then scoring the winner in the 83rd minute after Brede Hangeland’s first-half, injury-time goal.
Chilean Mark Gonzalez scored the winner for Liverpool in the 88th, finding the net from 8m. It was his first goal for the club, and he scored just minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Brazilian Gustavo Boccoli gave Maccabi Haifa a 1-0 lead in the 29th and Craig Bellamy got his first official goal for Liverpool, in the 33rd minute.
The second leg is likely to be played in Cyprus after Uefa ruled it was too dangerous to play in war-torn Israel.
On Tuesday, last season’s runners-up Arsenal beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 with two goals from Spaniard Cesc Fabregas. Benfica drew 1-1 at Austria Vienna.
In other games on Wednesday, Austrian team Salzburg upset Spain’s visiting Valencia on Karel Pitak’s 73rd-minute goal.
CSKA Moscow defeated Ruzomberok of Slovakia 3-0 with Ivica Olic scoring twice. Dynamo Kiev beat Turkey’s Fenerbahce 3-1 with two goals from Diogo Rincon. Serkan Balci of Fenerbahce was sent off in the 76th minute for his second yellow card.
Fellow Turkish club Galatasaray defeated Czech team Mlada Boleslav 5-2 with Arda Turan scoring twice. Czech team Liberec drew Spartak Moscow 0-0.
French club Lille defeated Rabotnicki of Macedonia 3-0. Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine defeated Legia Warsaw 1-0, and another eastern European team also won when Levski Sofia beat Italy’s Chievo 2-0.
Valeri Domovchiyski and Cedric Bardon scored for the Bulgarians.
Hamburg and Spain’s Osasuna drew 0-0, and Standard Liege of Belgium played to a 2-2 draw with former champions Steaua Bucharest.
Milan Rapaic scored both for Liege.
AEK Athens rallied to win 2-1 at Scottish team Hearts. Pantelis Kapetanos scored in the 89th to make it 1-1. The winner came in injury time on an own-goal by Christophe Berra. — Sapa-AP