( dpa ) Everton were held to a disappointing 2-2 draw at home by Standard Liege Thursday in an UEFA Cup first round match, while former Champions League winners Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-0 defeat at home against Udinese.
In Liverpool, Dieumerci Mbokani gave the Belgian side a 9th minute lead against Everton, which Nigerian Aiyegbeni Yakubu equalized midway through the first half.
A Joseph Yobo own goal in the 35th minute again gave the visitors the lead, but Segundo Castillo pulled the Premier League side level just three minutes later.
In Dortmund, Floro Flores opened the scoring for Udinese in the 7th minute with a shot from 15 metres. Swiss international Gokhan Inler added a second on the half hour, which makes Dortmund's continued participation in the UEFA Cup very unlikely past the first round.
Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp was highly critical of his side's performance. "We had very little structure and at times we had none. I thought we were already in the next round.
"What we played in stages was a catastrophe. Udinese has not yet beaten us in Udine, but we certainly did not give enough to win this game," he said.
In London, David Bentley and Darren Bent scored the goals that gave Tottenham Hotspur a 2-1 victory against Wisla Krakow.
Tottenham manager Juande Ramos, who has seen his side slump to the bottom of the Premier League, said that he hoping for a bigger lead. "I wanted to get more than a one-goal advantage because now the tie is very evenly balanced.
"We were in a bad run of results and we needed a win to give confidence and calmness to the team. Let's hope this starts a positive run leading to better results."
Another former Champions League winner AC Milan beat Zurich 3-1 at home, while former UEFA Cup winners Galatasary won 4-3 at Bellinzona.
There were also good victories for Sampdoria, who beat Kaunas 5-0; Ajax Amsterdam, 4-1 winners at FK Boruc; and Rosenborg, who won 2-1 at Brondby.
Serie A side Napoli beat Benfica 3-2 at home, while Braga enjoyed a comfortable 4-0 victory against Petrzalka. Spanish club Valencia won 1-0 at Maritimo Funchal, while another Portuguese team, Vitoria Setubal, played to a 1-1 draw at home to Dutch club SC Heerenveen.
In earlier matches, Premier League sides Aston Villa and Manchester City both came from behind to secure victories, while German Bundesliga clubs VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg also enjoyed wins.
Brazilian Jo was the hero for City, scoring twice to secure an away win against Omonia in the first leg of their first-round tie.
Villa beat a nine-man Litex Lovech side 3-1 despite the home side scoring first through Ivelin Popov in the 10th minute with a free- kick.
Nigel Reo-Coker scored just before the break, and on the hour the home side were reduced to 10 men when Cedric Cambon was sent off for a second bookable offence. Then 12 minutes later they had Mihail Venkov red carded for a handball on the line.
Barry scored from the resultant spot kick, and Villa scored a third in the final minute through Bulgarian Stiliyan Petrov.
Stuttgart came from behind to beat another Bulgarian club, Cherno More Varna and won 2-1 through a second-half brace from German international Mario Gomez.
However, Bundesliga leaders SV Hamburg could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to Romanian side Unirea Urziceni with Martin Jol's side failing to score for the first time this season.
Wolfsburg, meanwhile, celebrated a 1-0 at home to Rapid Bucharest thanks to a penalty from Brazilian Grafite. Dutch side NEC Nijmegen also enjoyed a 1-0 win over Dinamo Bucharest.
French side Saint-Etienne won 2-1 away to Hapoel Tel Aviv. CSKA Moscow defeated NK Slaven 2-1, while Spartak Moscow beat Ostrava 1-0.
Spain's Deportivo La Coruna have it all to do after going down 2-0 to Brann Bergen as do Feyenoord Rotterdam, who lost 1-0 at home to Kalmar.
Nancy won by the same scoreline at home to Scottish side Motherwell, while Racing Santander also beat Honka 1-0, and Paris Saint-Germain celebrated a 2-1 victory away to Kayserispor of Turkey.
FC Copenhagen scored a goal in the dying moments of the game to beat FC Moscow 2- 1 in Russia.
Morten Nordstrand opened the scoring for the visitors three minutes into injury time in the first half with a converted penalty after being fouled in the area by Mariusz Jop.
Aleksandr Samedov thought he had scored a late equalizer for Moscow two minutes into second half injury time, but substitute Libor Sionko found an unlikely winner for his side three minutes later.
English FA Cup holders Portsmouth enjoyed a winning start on their European debut as goals from Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe secured a 2-0 win at home to Portuguese side Guimaraes, for whom Fajardo missed a penalty after Roberto was fouled in the area.
Defoe also missed for the spot leaving Pompey coach Harry Redknapp having to be satisfied with a two-goal cushion for the second leg.
Austria Vienna beat Polish side Lech Poznan 2-1, Besiktas prevailed 1-0 against FC Kharkiv, Zilina and Levski Sofia drew 1-1, while Poli Timisoara went down 2-1 at home to Partizan Belgrade.
The winners of the two-legged ties advance to the group phase of the competition.