AC Milan 2 - 2 Wolfsburg

VfL Wolfsburg twice came from behind to earn a draw against AC Milan and seal top spot in UEFA Cup Group E. As group's top side, Wolfsburg are now guaranteed a tie against a third-placed side from another group in Friday's last 32 draw while seven-times European champions Milan must face a third-place finisher from the UEFA Champions

The Bundesliga club started the game with three wins from as many matches in the section yet they were soon behind when Massimo Ambrosini headed in a corner from Clarence Seedorf. The teams then traded goals early in the second half as Italian international Cristian Zaccardo levelled, only for Pato to restore the Rossoneri's lead 49 seconds later. Wolfsburg's efforts were rewarded, though, nine minutes from time when a shot from Jacek Krzynówek was deflected in by fellow substitute Mahir Sağlık to consign Milan to second place in the section.

Milan suffered an early setback when the injured Philippe Senderos was replaced by Kakha Kaladze after nine minutes and shortly after, Christian Gentner had a shot blocked by Dida. At the other end, Gianluca Zambrotta's effort was saved by Diego Benaglio though Milan soon forged ahead when Ambrosini headed powerfully in after 17 minutes.

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Portsmouth 3 - 0 SC Heerenveen

Portsmouth FC vented their frustration at missing out on a Round of 32 place on SC Heerenveen, with Peter Crouch striking twice in a comfortable 3-0 home win.

On Wednesday, Portsmouth should have taken the lead after Armand Traoré's storming run from halfway but Crouch stabbed his first-time shot across the goal and wide of the far post. The England striker then contrived to hit the crossbar after Mark Wilson had picked him out in the box with a brilliant cross-field pass. The ball bounced up invitingly for Crouch but he could only poke it onto the woodwork.

Portsmouth were looking slick in attack but the number of wasted chances was beginning to cause concern before Crouch finally reaped the dividends. Arnold Mvuemba cut the ball back to Wilson, who floated another cross towards the far post and this time Crouch connected well with his downward header to put Portsmouth 1-0 up in the 40th minute.

Two minutes later, it was 2-0, with Nwankwo Kanu tricking his way into the box with a mazy run and Crouch pouncing to finish after the Nigerian's shot was saved. The game petered out as a contest in the second half, but Portsmouth added a third at the very end after Nadir Belhadj was fouled and Hreidarsson headed home Glen Little's free-kick.


Hamburger SV 3 - 1 Aston Villa

Hamburger SV guaranteed themselves a tie against one of the third-placed sides from the other UEFA Cup groups in the Round of 32 draw as they took an inexperienced Aston Villa FC side apart, with Ivica Olić on target twice.

Only three of the players who started Villa's 4-2 win against Bolton Wanderers FC on Saturday - Luke Young, Carlos Cuéllar and Steven Sidwell - kicked off in Germany, but while Martin O'Neill's stand-ins defended steadily in numbers, they were undone on the break after 18 minutes. Bastian Reinhardt's long diagonal ball found Petrić, and the Croatian brought the ball down before sending a sweet swerving drive across Bradley Guzan and into the net.

Hamburg were 2-0 up 12 minutes later, Olić squirming past his marker to head in off the post following a fine Dennis Aogo cross, and Piotr Trochowski tested Guzan with another shot four minutes later before Craig Gardner fired just over with Villa's first meaningful effort of the game. However, the English team were relieved to go in just 2-0 down at the break as Marcell Jansen cracked an effort against the bar.

Undeterred, Hamburg made it 3-0 on 57 minutes, with Joris Mathijsen's ball from inside his own area turning Olić loose to scamper beyond the covering defenders and drive brilliantly past Guzan. Villa looked finished, but got a goal in bizarre style late on, with Moustapha Salifou's wildly miscued shot redirected in by Nathan Delfouneso. However, their joy was short-lived, with Sidwell dismissed for a second bookable offence soon after.


Saint-Etienne 2 - 2 Valencia

AS Saint-Etienne held on to top spot in Group G after playing out an exciting 2-2 draw with second-placed Valencia CF in testing conditions at a snow-covered Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

Brazilian forward Ilan gave St Etienne the lead twice, with contrasting first-half goals, but Valencia fought back on each occasion thanks to strikes from Fernando Morientes and substitute Nikola Žigić. The result kept the French Ligue 1 strugglers two points clear of their nearest rivals at the group summit, and might have been even better for a home team who created several good chances to win.

Valencia carved out the first opportunity of the night when David Albelda side-footed the ball wide, yet the first goal fell to Alain Perrin's men close to the half-hour. Ilan latched on to Dimitri Payet's pass through the heart of the Valencia back line and raced into the visitors' penalty area before cleverly scooping the ball over goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. The Spanish side took just four minutes to get their retaliation in, however, as the experienced Morientes pounced to turn in a low Joaquín cross from close range.

Unai Emery's charges were not off the hook so easily, though, and Ilan struck again after 44 minutes, by which time he had already had another goal ruled out. The Brazilian finished comfortably after Guaita spilled a harmless-looking centre from Geoffrey Dernis. The keeper made amends for that mistake with crucial saves early in the second half from Dernis and Kevin Mirallas, at a time when St Etienne were rampant. Guaita caught the eye in particular with a one-handed stop from Dernis, shortly after which Payet rounded the keeper but shot against the woodwork. Valencia eventually made the hosts pay for their profligacy with 18 minutes left. Substitute Miguel delivered a deep cross from the right which Asier del Horno headed back into the six-metre box where the lurking Žigić ducked to nod in the second equaliser.

Current results;

Group E
AC Milan 2 - 2 Wolfsburg
Portsmouth 3 - 0 SC Heerenveen

Group F
Ajax Amsterdam 2 - 2 Slavia Prague
Hamburger SV 3 - 1 Aston Villa

Group G
Club Brugge 0 - 1 FC Copenhagen
Saint-Etienne 2 - 2 Valencia

Group H
Deportivo La Coruna 1 - 0 Nancy
Feyenoord Rotterdam 0 - 1 Lech Poznan

uefa.com

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Arsenal's Croatian international striker Eduardo made a successful return to action after being out for ten months after suffering a broken left leg and dislocating his left ankle.

The 25-year-old Brazilian-born striker came through the first 45 minutes of a reserve game against Portsmouth and professed himself to be mightily relieved even to be playing after the tackle by Martin Taylor of Birmingham at the end of February had many fearing it had ended his career.

"I am feeling very happy to have started my first game in ten months," he said. "I hope I can do more and that next time will be better. I just felt something in my hamstring, but in two weeks I will be all right."

The injury cost both Arsenal and the player dear as they ended up trophyless, and Eduardo also missed the UEFA EURO 2008 championships where Croatia sparkled before bowing out to Turkey in the quarter-finals. He underwent an intensive rehabilitation programme that included spells in his native Brazil.

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An early goal from Teerasil Dangda was enough to hand Thailand a slim 1-0 win over Indonesia in the first leg AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal match at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium tonight. The lone scorer tonight was Teerasil Dangda who stunned the Indonesia defence when he nodded Thailand ahead just five minutes into the game.

Indonesia, seeking a good result ahead of the second leg in Bangkok on Dec 20, battled back relentlessly but failed to breach the Thai defence. The Indonesians will now have the difficult task of trying to overcome their opponents away from their fans. For the second match in succession, Indonesia conceded an early goal. In their last preliminary match against Singapore to determine the group champions, Indonesia were breached just minutes into the game. And tonight, in front of over 50,000 screaming fans, the hosts found themselves chasing the game from the fifth minute.

Thailand's Sutee Suksomkit crossed from the left and Teerasil Dangda leapt high and placed the ball into the top right corner, well beyond the reach of the lanky Markus Harison Rihihina. Indonesia had a nasty scare five minutes later when Sutee's freekick smashed through but just before the referee Vo Minh Tri had blown for an infringement. Thailand picked up a another freekick in the 29th minute but Sutee's superbly struck shot was punched away. Ismed Sofyan, to the relief of the Indonesian bench, cleared what would have been a goal off the line after when his keeper was beaten. About eight minutes after the re-start, Thai skipper Datsakorn Thonglao watched in despair as his strike hit the cross bar. Datsakorn was not done and in the 73rd minute, let loose a stinging shot which Markus saved.

With time quickly running out, Indonesia began to intensify their attacks. Benny replaced Bambang Irsyad Aras for Talaohu Abdulmushafry and Arif Suyono. Arif especially was a danger and soon after coming on, almost set up the equaliser but Nataporn Phanrit just narrowly managed to turn the ball away. In the dying minutes, Arif raced in from the left and sent in a low cross into the box but Budi Sudarsono failed to control it. suzukicup.com

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Paul Ince, the former England captain, has been sacked as manager of Blackburn Rovers after just 21 games and less than six months at Ewood Park.

Blackburn are currently second from bottom of the Premier League table and it was decided to relieve Ince of his duties at a meeting of the club's board on Monday. It followed a run of six consecutive league defeats for the former Macclesfield and MK Dons manager.

"It is with great sadness the board announce that Paul Ince is to leave the club," a club statement read. "After a board meeting yesterday it was decided to relieve Paul of his duties.

Ince was appointed in June on a three-year contract and, despite a promising start to the campaign, saw performances and results begin to deteriorate. The club have not won since September 27 at Newcastle United and reports of dressing-room unrest began to emerge.

Graeme Souness, the former Blackburn manager, is the early favourite to succeed Ince, with veteran midfielder Tugay possibly taking up a player-coach role. Sam Allardyce, the former Bolton and Newcastle manager, appeared to rule himself out of the running at the weekend, while Alan Curbishley has also been linked with the club.

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Yasuhito Endo's 23rd minute goal proved to be the difference between Gamba Osaka and Adelaide United at the Toyota Stadium in Toyota City on Sunday evening, handing the Japanese side a dream fixture against Manchester United in Yokohama on Thursday.

Although Gamba had beaten their Australian rivals 5-0 over two legs in the AFC Champions League final in November, this encounter was as close as the scoreline suggests, with Adelaide going close on a number of occasions. Possibly due to their game against Waitakere on Thursday evening, Adelaide United looked the sharper of the two sides in the early stages and created the game's first real chance in the 15th minute when skipper Travis Dodd broke clear of the Gamba defence and fired a shot just wide of the post.

That seemed to spur the Japanese side into action and prompted by the brilliance of Yasuhito Endo, they look the lead midway through the first half. The No7 started and finished a move which saw him feed Takahiro Futugawa, who in turn played a high ball to Ryuji Bando, who flicked it into the path of Endo, who clipped the ball through the legs of the onrushing Eugene Galekovic. At 1-0 down, Adelaide were not out of it and Dodd's volley to the far post seemed almost certain to be headed home by Cassio, until Akira Kaji made a timely intervention. Three minutes before half-time, Scott Jamieson's wonderful ball inside the box was met by the head of Dodd, who saw the crossbar rattle rather than the net ripple.

Although it was the Australians who needed a goal, in the second half it looked as though Gamba were more likely to score. After a turgid opening to the second half, the game came to life again in the 72nd minute when Lucas's defensive header from an Adelaide corner saw the Japanese break quickly. The ball broke wto Bando who fired a goalbound effort, but it took a crucial deflection of Robert Cornthwaite and went out for a corner. The defender went from hero to villain three minutes later when he passed straight to Endo, who found Lucas surging forward. The Brazilian carried the ball to the edge of the box and fired straight at the legs of Galekovic. Lucas went close twice in the latter stages, but was again denied by the goalkeeper and then saw a close-range shot go off target.

Those worries will be at the back of coach's Akira Nishino's mind at present as he and his players look forward to a semi-final clash with Manchester United. And on the evidence of this game, even if the aforementioned trio fail to recover in time, with players of the calibre of Endo, Lucas and wide man Michihiro Yasuda, they have the ability to cause the other United a fair few problems. FIFA Club World Cup

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