Uefa Cup review: Bolton head to Marseille next week with their Uefa Cup hopes in the balance following a goalless and bad tempered first-leg draw at the Reebok.
The French side had five men booked, including former Manchester United keeper Fabien Barthez, as they threatened to lose their composure.
But, while Trotters chief Sam Allardyce could rightly point to a couple of
plausible penalty appeals which were rejected, it was Jussi Jaaskelainen who
made the best save of the night, flying out to rob danger-man Mamadou Niang, who had burst clean through.
Udinese, who sacked coach Serse Cosmi last week, have one foot in the last 16 after beating Lens 3-0 at the Stadio Friuli. Antonio di Natale gave the Italians a 36th-minute lead and Paulo Barreto added a second-half brace to put them firmly in command of the tie.
Fellow Serie A side Roma won 2-1 away to Club Brugge, edging ahead when Gunther Vanaudenaerde headed past his own goalkeeper. Spanish striker Javier Portillo equalised with a long-range strike for the Belgians but Simone Perrotta gave the Giallorossi the edge.
Russian side Zenit St Petersburg, who qualified from the same group as Bolton to reach the last 32, look set to make further progress after overcoming Rosenborg 2-0 in Norway.
Andrei Arshavin opened the scoring midway through the first half and Slovakian Alexander Kerzhakov added to their advantage in the second period.
Schalke came from a goal down to beat Espanyol 2-1 in Gelsenkirchen. Luis Garcia put the Catalans in front after 33 minutes with a good finish from a tight angle, but the German team rallied in the second half.
Marcelo Bordon equalised with a header (67) and Germany midfielder Fabian Ernst volleyed in a winner two minutes from time to give the Bundesliga side a narrow advantage to take into the second leg.
Celtic’s Champions League conquerors Artmedia Bratislava could be on the way out of Europe themselves after a surprise home defeat to Levski Sofia.
The Bulgarians took a surprise ninth-minute lead in the first leg through Emil Angelov with a low, angled drive and held on to win against the Slovakian side who famously thrashed Celtic 5-0 at home in the Champions League preliminaries and gave Rangers, Inter Milan and Porto a tough time in the group stages before dropping down to the UEFA Cup.
Two late goals for Shakhtar Donetsk have made life tough for French side Lille, who finished third in Champions League Group D above Manchester United.
The men who held United goalless away and beat them at the Stade de France opened up a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Nicolas Fauvergue (19), Geoffrey Dernis (57) and Peter Odemwingie (77), but their Ukrainian opponents hit back through Brandao in the 89th minute and cut the deficit to one when Ciprian Marica scored in the first minute of stoppage time.
Spanish side Sevilla emerged victorious from their trip to sub-zero Moscow, beating Lokomotiv 1-0 thanks to a 75th-minute goal from Jordi, which gives them the edge for the second leg.
Rapid Bucharest ensured Hertha Berlin’s winless run continued by securing a 1-0 victory in the German capital. Hertha have not won a game so far this year and Valentin Negru scored the only goal from the penalty spot midway through the second half after Daniel Niculae was tripped in the box by Alexander Madlung.
It was a good night for the competition’s Romanian representatives as Steaua won 3-1 away to Dutch side Heerenveen after falling behind. Swiss side Basle hold a single-goal advantage to take to Monaco in the second leg of their tie after David Degen scored the only goal of the night in the 78th minute.
Strasbourg look set to advance after a comfortable 2-0 victory away to Bulgarian side Litex Lovech. The French Ligue 1 side forged ahead in the second minute when Ulrich Le Pen turned in Guillaume Lacour’s cross from the right and Amara Diane wrapped up the win eight minutes from time.
