Love can't save CSKA

Marseille had returning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez to thank for all three points, after he repelled a Sergei Ignashevic penalty after Sergei Samodin was brought down in the area by Taye Taiwo.

CSKA pressured the Marseille goal for the rest of the second half, and were given hope after 80 minutes when Brazilian Love converted fellow substitute Alexander Salugin's inch perfect cross following good build up work involving Rolan Gusev down the right.

But it was Marseille's night, and despite the return from injury from Love and a promising appearance from 16-year-old Salugin, it was not to be for the Russians.

Marseille were well worth their two-nil lead going in at the break, having held their own in the first half, soaking up the pressure CSKA put on them in the first twenty minutes before hitting on the break through veteran midfielder Lamouchi.

The goal was simple in its conception, and beautifully finished at the end. Franck Ribery started the move as he found himself out wide on the left. The young French hopeful played the ball back to Taiwo who delivered a first time ball into the box to find the head of Lamouchi.

It was a classic goalscoring midfielder's goal, as Lamouchi made his run late, catching the CSKA defence unawares.

Marseille took confidence from the opener and began to play the ball around confidently, until Niang doubled the visitor's lead after 38 minutes.

The visitors were able to capitalise on poor passing in the Russian defence. Wilson Oruma picked up the ball before dinking through to Niang. The Senegalese striker controlled beautifully before unleashing a cracking strike past Igor Akinyeev in the CSKA goal.

It proved to be the decisive goal, as despite the late pressure from the hosts, Marseille clung on to head back to the south coast of France with all three points.

Two goals in the final three minutes gave Stuttgart a hard-fought 2-0 win over Rennes in Group G as the French side were left to rue wasteful finishing, with John Utaka the main culprit.

After having struggling to overcome their hard-working Ligue 1 opponents - for whom youthful keeper Simon Pouplin excelled - Giovanni Trapattoni's team grabbed a fortuitous 87th-minute lead as Mario Carevic's acrobatic effort looped in off Jon Dahl Tomasson.

And just three minutes later, Danijel Ljuboja sealed the three points as he swept home a penalty after Christian Tiffert's jinking run had been clumsily halted by Erik Edman.

Earlier, in Israel, a fantastic second-half volley from Palermo defender Cristian Terlizzi sealed a deserved 2-1 win against Maccabi Petah-Tikva.

The Italians had much the better of the early exchanges and took the lead in the 12th minute when Paul Codrea raced onto a long ball and coolly slotted home.

Palermo went on to dominate the rest of the half and when Maccabi equalised it was somewhat against the run of play, Omer Golan breaking clear to tuck the ball under the advancing keeper.

Palermo continued to make the running in the second half and finally scored the winner in the 78th minute when Cristian Terlizzi picked up Murad Magomedov's weak clearance and volleyed home in spectacular fashion to seal the victory.

Strasbourg claimed a comfortable 2-0 victory over 10-man Basel thanks to two early first-half goals from Amara Diane and Arthur Boka. A job made easier by the sending off of Basle defender Patrick Muller after half an hour.

Good finishing from Diane and Boka in the 15th and 25th minute respectively already had the visitors ahead when Patrick Muller bought down Diane. He was adjudged to have been the last man and the officials had no choice but to leave Basel a man short with just 31 minutes gone.

There was no way back into the game after that for Christian Gross's charges, and Strasbourg were able to cruise the rest of the game.

In truth, the score flattered Basel in the end, but some profligate finishing from Diane in particular saved their blushes in front of their home fans.

Over in Norway, Tromso will feel hard done by after their clash with Italian outfit Roma ended in a 2-1 defeat.

On a bog like pitch which didn't suit the Serie A team at all, Tromso were by far the brighter team in the opening half an hour. But it was the Italians who took the lead through a towering Samuel Kuffour header from a header.

Tromso deserved their equaliser, which came from Ole Martin Aarst just before the break, and could have been even further ahead as numerous chances came their way.

Roma stole the three points with only five minutes remaining, as substitute Leandro Cufré was strong enough to hold off the Tromso defence to slot past the advancing keeper.

Bolton recovered from conceding an early goal in Istanbul to earn a 1-1 draw against Besiktas in Group H.

Ailton punished slack defending from Sam Allardyce's normally well-drilled side to thump a shot into Ian Walker's top corner just seven minutes in.

But Jared Borgetti grabbed a leveller on the half hour, cracking home a first-time shot after fine work from El Hadji Diouf.

In other games, Viking Stavanger shocked Monaco with a 1-0 win in Norway thanks to an 18th minute strike from South African striker Nkosinathi Nhleko.

In the Ukraine, Shakhtar Donetsk overcame their Greek opponents POAK Salonika 1-0 due to a 68th minute penalty from Brazilian Brandao. However, Dnipro were unable to repeat the result of their countrymen, going down 2-1 to Dutch team AZ Alkmaar.

Zenit St Petersburg delighted the home fans with victory over Portugese outfit Guimaraes. Andrei Arshavin added a second-half goal to Olexandr Spivak's first-half penalty to complete a 2-1 Group H win.

In Romania, Steaua Bucharest put Lens to the sword with a stunning 4-0 win, highlighted by a brace from midfielder Nicholae Dica.

His goals added gloss to an already shining performance after earlier goals courtesy of Constantin Iacob and Lucian Goian.

Hamburg got off to a winning start with a 1-0 away win over CSKA Sofia thanks to a 57th minute goal from Dutch playmaker Rafael van der Vaart. Whilst in the early kick-off, a second-half goal from Andreas Neuendorf was enough for Hertha Berlin to win in Halmstad.

Dinamo Bucharest were unable to unlock Heerenveen, their Dutch visitors, as they fought out a 0-0 draw.

In Zurich, a first half Jimmy Hasselbaink strike gave Middlesbrough a deserved 1-0 victory over Grasshoppers. Brazilian Doriva was aware enough to play in the Dutchman after only nine minutes, and Hasselbaink finished cooly to the keeper's right.