LONDON, 19 February 2005 — Former England striker Alan Shearer netted his sixth UEFA Cup goal in four games as last season’s semifinalists came from a goal down to beat Heerenveen 2-1 in the first leg of their last 32 tie on Thursday.
Real Zaragoza also won away from home, 1-0 at Fenerbahce, while CSKA Moscow produced the most impressive performance of the night to defeat Benfica 2-0 in a ‘home’ match played in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. Newcastle, despite indifferent domestic form which has put pressure on coach Graeme Souness, had eased through the group stage of this season’s competition and could be set for another good run after a battling performance in the Netherlands.
After Klaas-Jan Huntellar had given the home side a deserved first-half lead, Shearer struck in the 69th minute and Lee Bowyer got the winner in the 82nd, before being sent off five minutes later.
Nicolas Anelka’s European debut for Fenerbahce ended in disappointment as the Turkish league leaders lost in Istanbul to Zaragoza, who lifted the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup in 1995.
French striker Anelka, who joined in a seven million pounds ($13.22 million) move from Manchester City in the January transfer window, made no impact as the Spanish side seized the advantage in the tie.
Center back Alvaro netted the only goal 18 minutes from the end after being given time to pick his spot from inside the box.
CSKA Moscow were forced to move their home tie against Portuguese league leaders Benfica 2000 km from the Russian capital to guarantee a decent playing surface.
Middlesbrough, enjoying a fine first season in European competition, twice led against Austrian champions Graz AK but the home side pegged them back for a 2-2 draw at the Arnold Schwarzenegger stadium.
Graz had striker Roland Kollmann sent off barely a minute after he had curled in a free kick 12 minutes from time for the second equalizer.
The Austrian international, who will miss the return leg, was shown a second yellow card for diving in the Boro penalty area.
The English side went in front after 52 minutes through Netherlands winger Boudewijn Zenden before Kollmann played in Croatian striker Mario Bazina for the equaliser.
Heerenveen were level for less than 60 seconds, though, as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink met Stewart Downing’s cross from point blank range to put Boro ahead again.
Olympiakos Piraeus ground out a 1-0 win over France’s Sochaux in Athens but could rue only having a Yiannis Okkas strike to show for their dominance.
Spyros Vallas rifled against the bar after three minutes and Pantelis Kafes was centimeters away from sliding in a Rivaldo free kick before the Greek side went ahead after 29 minutes. Okkas, picking up a perfectly timed through ball from Rivaldo, stepped inside one defender to fire the ball just inside the near post.
Goals were non-existent in the night’s other ties.
Last season’s semi-finalists Villarreal produced a resolute defensive performance to secure a 0-0 draw at Dynamo Kiev.The Ukraine side had most of the pressure but wasted numerous chances on a dreadful pitch made worse by falling snow throughout the match.
Dutch title challengers AZ Alkmaar were held goalless at German second division side Alemannia Aachen while Switzerland’s Basel could not find a way through the visiting Lille defense.
