Roma, Lazio and Hamburg face surprise defeats in Europa League

Basel players celebrate their after Carlitos (No 30) put them in the lead against AS Roma in a Europa League tie in Basel yesterday. pic/AFP

Roma, with Claudio Ranieri at the helm for his first European assignment at the club, went down 2-0 at Swiss side Basel in Group E, while German league leaders Hamburg were stunned 3-0 by Rapid Vienna in Group C.

An injury-time goal from Marc Janko earned Red Bull Salzburg a shock 2-1 comeback win at Roma's city rivals Lazio, enabling Villarreal to steal a march in Group G with a 1-0 home win over Levski Sofia.

Extra referees
European football's governing body UEFA is using the tournament to trial the deployment of extra referee assistants behind each goal-line and the officials were an eye-catching if uncontroversial presence on the night.

The extra officials are the brain-child of UEFA president Michel Platini, and the Frenchman was doubly assured of a place in the headlines after his namesake a Brazilian striker called Michel whose nickname is Platini scored the opening goal in CSKA Sofia's 1-1 draw against Fulham.

Saha sent off
Shakhtar Donetsk, who beat Werder Bremen in the last ever UEFA Cup final in May, began their defence with a 4-1 win at Club Brugge in Group C, while Everton trounced AEK Athens 4-0 in Group I but had Louis Saha sent off following an injury-time altercation with visiting defender Juanfran.

Genoa's Spanish midfielder Alberto Zapater had the honour of scoring the first ever goal in the tournament's group stage, and his fourth-minute strike set the current Serie A leaders on the way to a 2-0 victory at home to Slavia Prague in Group B.

Celtic stunned
Elsewhere, Scottish giants Celtic let a 1-0 lead slip in a 2-1 defeat at Hapoel Tel Aviv, while a late equaliser from Ivorian forward Gervinho earned French side Lille a 1-1 draw at home to 2004 champions Valencia.

"I think it was a fair result," said Valencia coach Unai Emery.

"We came up against a good team in Lille. Of course there's a bit of regret because we were leading and we were pegged back. It means we lose points but the overall performance was satisfying."

Brazil-born Portuguese international Liedson netted a hat-trick as Sporting Lisbon won 3-2 at Dutch side Heerenveen and there were also wins for Benfica, Athletic Bilbao, Turkish giants Galatasaray and Werder Bremen.

The Europa League is a re-named, streamlined version of the UEFA Cup, with 12 groups of four teams facing off in a round-robin format and the top two from each group qualifying for a place in the knockout phase alongside the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.

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