HAMBURG, 28 February 2004 — It was a dark night for Italian clubs in Europe Thursday as AS Roma, Perugia, Parma and Inter Milan all failed to secure wins in UEFA Cup third round first leg ties.

Parma appear to have the toughest task of making the round of 16 after going down 1-0 at home to Turkish side Genclerbirligi with Josip Skoko getting the vital away goal on the hour mark.

Fabio Capello’s Roma are also up against it after the second-placed team in Serie A surprisingly went down 1-0 away to another Turkish side, Gaziantepspor. Yusuf Simsek got the only goal of the game on 19 minutes for the Turks after a fine first-time pass from Ziad Jaziri.

Inter twice led against French side Sochaux thanks to goals from Christian Vieri and Alvaro Recoba but a brace from Pierre Alain Frau meant that Alberto Zaccheroni’s side had to settle for a 2-2 draw and the prospect of a finely balanced return leg at the San Siro. The other Italian team in action, Perugia, played out a scoreless home draw with PSV Eindhoven.

Last year’s beaten finalists Celtic overcame Czech side Teplice 3- 0 with prolific Swedish striker Henrik Larsson scoring twice.

Larsson gave Celtic the lead after only three minutes when he fired home from 16 meters. Chris Sutton made it 2-0 eight minutes later with Larsson completing the scoring with a near-post header in the last minute of normal time.

Meanwhile, Barcelona overcame Danish side Brondby 1-0 with a great goal from Brazilian Ronaldinho who hit the bar with a free kick on 63 minutes but was on hand to rifle home the rebound.

Valencia twice came from behind at home to Besiktas but eventually secured a 3-2 win thanks to a last-minute winner from David Navarro. Mohamed Lamine Sissoko and Nestor Fabian Canobbio got the other goals for the Spaniards while Daniel Pancu got both goals for the Istanbul side.

In other action, second half goals from Steven Gerrard and Harry Kewell helped Liverpool to a 2-0 win over Levski Sofia at Anfield while a goal from Rune Lange helped Club Brugge of Belgium to a 1-0 win over Hungarian side Debrecen. Benfica also managed a 1-0 win over Norwegian side Rosenborg in Lisbon thanks to a goal from Slovenian striker Zlatko Zahovic.

In the comeback of the night, Galatasaray came from two goals down at home to Villarreal to salvage a 2-2 draw.

Sonny Anderson put Villarreal in front on seven minutes with Juan Roman Riquelme making it 2-0 in the 22nd minute. However, goals from Erdoga Murat in the 26th and Cesar Prates in the 50th minute ensured that the Turks have something to play for in Spain.

Villareal completed the last half-hour with ten men after the dismissal of Sergio Ballesteros for a second bookable offense.

Earlier, French side Bordeaux defeated Polish side Groclin 1-0 thanks to a last-minute goal from Marouane Chamakh, despite having to play for over an hour with 10-men after the dismissal of Eduardo Costa.

Another French side, Marseille needed a penalty from Didier Drogba on 54 minutes to overcome tough Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk while Auxerre could only manage a scoreless draw at home to Greek side Panathinaikos.

English Premier League side Newcastle United will be disappointed at drawing 1-1 away to Valerenga. Craig Bellamy put Newcastle ahead seven minutes before the break but Runar Norman equalized for the Norwegians after 54 minutes.

However, Mallorca are virtually guaranteed a place in the round of 16 after securing a 3-0 away win over Spartak Moscow.

Cameroon international Samuel Eto’o opened the scoring after 67 minutes, Gonzalez Rodriguez made it 2-0 on 81 minutes and Jesus Perera completed the scoring four minutes later.