Pasching power on

Austrian triumph
Pasching were in control from the start and took the lead after 36 minutes with a fine solo effort from Michael Horvath. Eduard Glieder's two goals put the home team further out of reach for Bremen, whose misery was then compounded by Angelos Charisteas's penalty miss on 73 minutes, and a late fourth goal for the underdogs from Michael Baur.

Wolfsburg win
VfL Wolfsburg were also comfortable first-leg winners, defeating HNK Cibalia 4-1 in Croatia. The German side were ahead as early as the 14th minute, through Diego Klimowicz, and while the hosts drew level through a Mario Lucic free-kick, their reprieve was only temporary. Martin Petrov restored the Wolfsburg advantage before half-time, while further goals from Klimowicz and Pablo Thiam added to it after the restart.

Schalke survive
A second German victory came in Gelsenkirchen, where FC Schalke 04 came from behind to beat FC Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic 2-1. Schalke needed two goals in the last ten minutes from Filip Trojan and Gerald Asamoah to overturn Václav Koloušek's 79th-minute strike. The home team had earlier missed a penalty through Hamit Altintop.

Spanish strike
There was disappointment for another Czech side as 1. FC Brno were held to a 1-1 home draw by Spanish outfit Villarreal CF. José Mari scored the vital away goal on the stroke of half-time, and while Libor Dosek levelled matters from long range on 53 minutes, the visitors looked the favourites to progress.

Perugia on top
Marco Di Loreto's solitary goal was the difference between Italy's AC Perugia and France's FC Nantes Atlantique at La Beaujoire. Di Loreto scored on the hour to give the visitors the advantage going into the second leg. Meanwhile, SC Heerenveen of the Netherlands enjoyed a 2-0 home victory against Slovenian club NK Koper, thanks to first-half goals from Gerald Sibon and Richard Knopper.