Hamburg signal their intentions

Hamburger SV completed a successful weekend for Germany’s UEFA Intertoto Cup representatives as they advanced to the third round on Sunday with a comfortable 4-1 victory against F.Y.R. Macedonian side FK Pobeda.

Pobeda woe
VfL Wolfsburg had qualified for the third round with victory away to SK Sturm Graz on Saturday and they were joined there by Hamburg who repeated their 4-1 first-leg scoreline last week with another strong performance at the Gradski stadium in Skopje.

Ristovski opener
Hamburg fell behind to Dejan Ristovski's 32nd-minute strike, but Emile Mpenza drew the visiting side level just six minutes later. As in the first leg last Saturday, Hamburg upped the tempo after the restart and were rewarded with second-half goals from Stefan Beinlich, Markus Karl and Benjamin Lauth as Thomas Doll’s team set up a meeting with Portugal's UD Leiria next week.

Van der Vaart start
Rafael van der Vaart was the focus of attention as he made his debut following his €5.5m move from AFC Ajax and he successfully came through his first 64 minutes in a Hamburg shirt before being replaced by Piotr Trochowski.

Musa conversion
Croatian First League side NK Slaven Koprivnica will play RC Deportivo La Coruña in the third round after overcoming FC Gloria 1922 Bistrita 1-0 on Sunday. A penalty from midfield player Igor Musa was enough to ensure victory in Romania as Slaven secured a 4-2 aggregate victory.

Marseille mission
BSC Young Boys defeated KSC Lokoren OV of Belgium 2-1 in Sunday's second leg to advance 6-2 on aggregate. Runar Kristinsson opened the scoring from the penalty spot, but Gretar Steinsson and Gürkan Sermeter replied late on for the Swiss club who play Olympique de Marseille in the third round.

Liberec joy
Czech Republic side FC Slovan Liberec will travel to the Netherlands to play Roda JC next week, after eliminating Beitar Jerusalem FC with a 2-1 win in Israel. Filip Dort opened the scoring for the visiting side in the second half before Amit Ben Shoshan leveled the second-leg score. Jan Holenda’s late goal made sure of victory for Liberec who sealed a 7-2 aggregate win.

Mohorovic winner
Dominik Mohorovic's last-minute equaliser took NK Varteks through at the expense of FC International Turku after the two sides drew 2-2 at the Veritas stadium in Turku. Serge N'Gal put Inter ahead only for Ivan Jolic to equalise on the half-hour mark. Varteks then had Nikola Safaric sent off and, minutes later, N'Gal struck again to put Inter back in front. Their numerical advantage disappeared, however, when Diego Corpache was dismissed with two minutes to go.

Lens advance
The visiting side took full advantage of Corpache's late sending off when 22-year-old forward Mohorovic struck in injury time to send Varteks through 6-5 on aggregate. The Croatian side will now play France's RC Lens who defeated Lech Poznan 1-0 to record a 3-1 aggregate win.

Saint-Etienne success
Lens are one of two French sides through to the third round after AS Saint-Etienne saw off Neuchâtel Xamax FC 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-1 win in Switzerland. Also on Sunday, KAA Gent’s goalless draw at Czech side FC Zlín took them through 1-0 on aggregate. Third-round first-leg ties will be played next weekend, 16 and 17 July.