Holders stunned by Marseille
Defending UEFA Cup champions CSKA Moscow suffered a surprise home 2-1 defeat to Marseille in their opening Group F clash, despite a second-half fightback which almost saw them salvage a point.
Sabri Lamouchi and Mamadou Niang handed Jean Fernandez’s men a deserved half-time lead but the home side came back into it after the interval with Vagner Love pulling one back.
CSKA also missed a penalty when former Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez saved from Sergei Ignashevich.
In Group B, Christian Terlizzi scored the winning goal as Palermo earned maximum points with a 2-1 win at Maccabi Petach Tikva.
The defender, his team’s top scorer in Serie A, fired home a 77th-minute volley to give the Sicilian giants the victory after Omer Golan’s strike just before half-time had cancelled out Palermo midfielder Franco Brienza’s 11th-minute goal.
A second-half strike from Andreas Neuendorf was enough to give Hertha Berlin a 1-0 win in their Group C encounter with Halmstad.
