Europe is proving to be no respite for Atletico, which has
won just two in seven Spanish league games and is now three points behind
leader Udinese in Group I after conceding goals from Mehdi Benatia and Antonio
Floro.
But the 2010 Europa League winners are two points ahead of
Rennes and Celtic, who drew 1-1 in France.
Tottenham's season is back on track after a lackluster
start, with Roman Pavlyuchenko's fierce free kick against Rubin securing a
second straight Group A win to go two points clear of PAOK Salonika.
The Greek side dislodged Rubin from second place with a 2-1
victory over newcomer Shamrock Rovers.
Sporting Lisbon maintained its 100 percent record, opening
up a seven-point lead over all three Group D rivals by beating 10-man Vaslui
2-0. Santos Evaldo and Matias Fernandez scored after Lopes Wesley's red card.
Lazio was held 1-1 by FC Zurich after Giuseppe Sculli's goal was quickly
canceled out by Nikci Adrian.
PSV Eindhoven strengthened its grip on first place in Group
C after Georgino Wijnaldum's penalty kick earned a 1-0 win at Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Legia Warsaw went second after Miroslav Radovic headed the
Romanian side to a 1-0 win over Rapid Bucharest.
Goals from Guillaume Gillet and Matias Suarez kept unbeaten
Anderlecht top of Group L with a 2-0 win over Sturm Graz, which had defender
Thomas Burgstaller sent off. Dmitri Sychev's double lifted Lokomotiv Moscow to
a 3-1 victory over pointless AEK Athens and into second place.
Group F is still topped by unbeaten Athletic Bilbao after
Fernando Llorente's pair of second-half penalties salvaged a 2-2 draw against
Salzburg.
Paris St. Germain was reduced to nine men on a frustrating
night at Slovan Bratislava that ended in a 0-0 draw, leaving the French side
third.
Premier League side Stoke is the surprise leader in Group E
after headers from Kenwyne Jones and Cameron Jerome and Ryan Shotton's strike
secured a 3-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv that saw two red cards.
Jerome collected a second yellow card in the 43rd minute
after elbowing Yoav Ziv, who was shown red in a bizarre incident early in the
second half.
Frustrated that no free kick had been awarded when he was
tackled by Shotton, Ziv kicked out and managed to fire his boot, which had come
loose in the challenge, flying into the assistant referee.
Dynamo Kiev went second, two points behind Stoke, after
Denys Garmash's stoppage time goal clinched a 1-0 victory over Besiktas.
Stoke's surprising run in Europe is being matched by
Birmingham, which was relegated from the Premier League last season after
winning the League Cup.
Chris Wood scored in the 10th minute of stoppage time to
secure a 2-1 win at Club Brugge, joining the Belgian side on six points at the
top of Group H, which also saw third-place Braga was held to a 1-1 draw by
Maribor.
Fulham was the only English side to lose in Europe this
week, going down 1-0 at Wisla Krakow as Moussa Dembele saw red. But Fulham is
only a point behind Group K leader FC Twente, which thrashed Odense BK 4-1 in
Denmark.
In Group J there were 5-0 routs for leader Schalke over
bottom-place AEK Larnaca and second-place Maccabi Haifa over Steaua Bucharest,
which had two players sent off.
In Group G, Metalist Kharkiv overcame the first-half
dismissal of Jonathan Cristaldo to beat Malmo 4-1 and go two points clear of AZ
Alkmaar, which drew 2-2 with Austria Vienna.
Vorskla Poltava secured its first point in Group B by
holding leader Standard Liege to a 0-0 draw.
Hannover did not take advantage of Liege's slip-up, joining
them on five points by being held to a 2-2 draw by FC Copenhagen, which scored
a last-minute leveler.
