UEFA Cup: Valencia beat Steaua 2-0

London:

Valencia took another big step toward holding on to its UEFA Cup title with a 2-0 victory over Steaua Bucharest. Goals either side of halftime by Italian forward Marco Di Vaio and Argentina's Pablo Aimar earned Valencia a first-leg lead over the Romanians with the second leg to come next week. Joint top scorer in the Portuguese league, Brazilian striker Liedson scored Sporting Lisbon's winner in a 2-1 victory over Feyenoord, which had taken a sixth-minute lead through Bart Goor. Meanwhile, Brazilian defender Andrade Maxwell scored in the first half to help four-time European Cup winner Ajax Amsterdam edge Auxerre 1-0 at home and take a slender lead to France in the return Thursday of next week. An equalizer by Brandao four minutes from the end salvaged a 1-1 draw for Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk against Schalke 04 after fellow Brazilian Ailton put the German club ahead. Ukraine's bid to qualify an unprecedented three teams for the last eight had mixed results. With the three guaranteed to avoid each other in the next round, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev are looking to achieve rare European glory for the former Soviet republic, which also leads its World Cup qualifying group. (AP)