Hamburg  - Everton were held to a disappointing 2-2 draw at home by Standard Liege Thursday in an UEFA Cup first round match, while former Champions League winners Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-0 defeat at home against Udinese.

In Liverpool, Dieumerci Mbokani gave the Belgian side a 9th minute lead against Everton, which Nigerian Aiyegbeni Yakubu equalized midway through the first half.

A Joseph Yobo own goal in the 35th minute again gave the visitors the lead, but Segundo Castillo pulled the Premier League side level just three minutes later.

In Dortmund, Floro Flores opened the scoring for Udinese in the 7th minute with a shot from 15 metres. Swiss international Gokhan Inler added a second on the half hour, which makes Dortmund's continued participation in the UEFA Cup very unlikely past the first round.

Another former Champions League winner AC Milan beat Zurich 3-1 at home, while former UEFA Cup winners Galatasary won 4-3 at Bellinzona.

There were also good victories for Sampdoria, who beat Kaunas 5-0; Ajax Amsterdam, 4-1 winners at FK Boruc; and Rosenborg, who won 2-1 at Brondby.

In earlier matches, Premier League sides Aston Villa and Manchester City both came from behind to secure victories, while German Bundesliga clubs VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg also enjoyed wins.

Brazilian Jo was the hero for City, scoring twice to secure an away win against Omonia in the first leg of their first-round tie.

Klodian Duro put the Cypriots ahead with a free-kick after half- time, but Jo levelled matters, tapping home Shaun Wright-Phillips' pass, before going on to net the winner.

"Jo worked really hard for the team and I am delighted he got his reward," said City boss Mark Hughes. "It is important for a striker at a new club to get off the mark and make an impression and he did that."

Villa beat a nine-man Litex Lovech side 3-1 despite the home side scoring first through Ivelin Popov in the 10th minute with a free- kick.

Nigel Reo-Coker scored just before the break, and on the hour the home side were reduced to 10 men when Cedric Cambon was sent off for a second bookable offence. Then 12 minutes later they had Mihail Venkov red carded for a handball on the line.

Barry scored from the resultant spot kick, and Villa scored a third in the final minute through Bulgarian Stiliyan Petrov.

Stuttgart came from behind to beat another Bulgarian club, Cherno More Varna.

The Germans fell behind three minutes from the break when Tanko Dyakov scored with a header from a Yordan Yurukov header, but a second-half brace from German international Mario Gomez sealed a 2-1 win.

However, Bundesliga leaders SV Hamburg could only manage a 0-0 draw at home to Romanian side Unirea Urziceni with Martin Jol's side failing to score for the first time this season.

"Now we are back on the ground," said Jol. "We have seen that we still have a lot of work to do. We have to play more intelligently."

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, celebrated a 1-0 at home to Rapid Bucharest thanks to a penalty from Brazilian Grafite. Dutch side NEC Nijmegen also enjoyed a 1-0 win over Dinamo Bucharest.

French side Saint-Etienne won 2-1 away to Hapoel Tel Aviv. CSKA Moscow defeated NK Slaven 2-1, while Spartak Moscow beat Ostrava 1-0.

Spain's Deportivo La Coruna have it all to do after going down 2-0 to Brann Bergen as do Feyenoord Rotterdam, who lost 1-0 at home to Kalmar.

Nancy won by the same scoreline at home to Scottish side Motherwell, while Racing Santander also beat Honka 1-0, and Paris Saint-Germain celebrated a 2-1 victory away to Kayserispor of Turkey.

FC Copenhagen scored a goal in the dying moments of the game to beat FC Moscow 2-1 in Russia.

Morten Nordstrand opened the scoring for the visitors three minutes into injury time in the first half with a converted penalty after being fouled in the area by Mariusz Jop.

Aleksandr Samedov thought he had scored a late equalizer for Moscow two minutes into second half injury time, but substitute Libor Sionko found an unlikely winner for his side three minutes later.

English FA Cup holders Portsmouth enjoyed a winning start on their European debut as goals from Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe secured a 2-0 win at home to Portuguese side Guimaraes, for whom Fajardo missed a penalty after Roberto was fouled in the area.

Defoe also missed for the spot leaving Pompey coach Harry Redknapp having to be satisfied with a two-goal cushion for the second leg.

Austria Vienna beat Polish side Lech Poznan 2-1, Besiktas prevailed 1-0 against FC Kharkiv, Zilina and Levski Sofia drew 1-1, while Poli Timisoara went down 2-1 at home to Partizan Belgrade.

The winners of the two-legged ties advance to the group phase of the competition. (dpa)