Europa League review: Kenny Dalglish's first European tie as Liverpool manager ended in a disappointing stalemate against Sparta Prague at the Generali Arena in the Czech capital, while Rangers conceded a late equaliser at Ibrox against Sporting Lisbon.
A weakened Liverpool team began brightly in the first leg of their Europa League round of 32 tie but ceded possession later in the half and were indebted to goalkeeper Pepe Reina and a last ditch block from Sotirios Kyrgiakos when going in level at the break.
Without Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez, Dalglish opted to start Fabio Aurelio in midfield and David Ngog up front, while he gave a start to Danny Wilson at left full-back as he reverted to a four man defence.
Right back Glen Johnson went closest after the break when he poked his effort wide of the upright but Liverpool were ragged and disjointed throughout and deserved nothing more than they got.
Rangers were dealt a blow when Matias Fernandez grabbed a late leveller to secure a 1-1 draw for Sporting Lisbon.
Steven Whittaker - who netted a superb goal against the same team en-route to the UEFA Cup final three years ago - was on the scoresheet again at Ibrox but it was not enough to claim victory.
The tie now hangs in the balance ahead of next week's second leg in Lisbon.
Mounir El Hamdaoui's 68th-minute strike rounded off a stunning 3-0 first leg win for Ajax in their Europa League round of 32 clash away at Belgian Jupiler League leaders Anderlecht.
El Hamdaoui's effort added to Toby Alderweireld's 32nd-minute opener and a second from Christian Eriksen just before the hour, which should make the second leg in Amsterdam a formality.
On a fine night for Dutch teams, champions FC Twente also claimed the advantage over Rubin Kazan after late goals from Luuk de Jong and captain Peter Wisgerhof earned a 2-0 win in Russia.
Rubin were largely dominant until 13 minutes from time when Theo Janssen crossed for De Jong to head home. Two minutes from time another set-piece saw Wisgerhof pounce to prod home in a crowded box.
Benfica came from behind to beat Stuttgart 2-1 in a tight game in Portugal.
Martin Harnik gave the German side the half-time advantage but late goals from Oscar Cardozo and Franco Jara turned the tie Benfica's way.
Dynamo Kiev put a foot in the last 16 as they claimed a comfortable 4-1 win in the first leg of their tie against crisis club Besiktas.
The Turkish side, who cancelled captain Ibrahim Uzulmez's contract this week following a spat with team-mate Ibrahim Toraman, seemed to be putting their off-field problems behind them as they had the best of a first half which saw Ricardo Quaresma level after Ognjen Vukojevic had put the visitors ahead against the run of play.
But the Ukrainians dominated after the break, with goals from Andriy Shevchenko and Ayila Yussuf, as well as a last-minute penalty from Oleg Gusev, all but ending the tie.
To make matters worse for Besiktas, they had Quaresma sent off on the final whistle for violent conduct.
Sidney Sam's two goals at the death secured a commanding 4-0 win for Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 clash at FC Metalist Kharkiv.
Eren Derdiyok put them ahead at half-time and Gonzalo Castro made it 2-0, but the home side remained in the game after an improved second-half showing.
But Sam had other ideas and left the Ukrainians with a mountain to climb next week.
An 89th-minute strike from Peguy Luyindula denied BATE Borisov a famous win in Minsk and rescued a 2-2 draw for Paris St Germain.
Renan Bressan had opened the scoring for the Belarusian club, but Mevlut Erdinc cancelled that out at Dinamo Stadion only for Mikhail Gordeychuk to restore BATE's lead nine minutes from time.
That looked to have won the match for the hosts until Luyindula's header.
Artoms Rudnevs gave Lech Poznan a slender 1-0 advantage over Braga in Poland, while Napoli and Villarreal ground out a goalless draw in Italy, with Napoli's Salvatore Aronica sent off in the last minute.
