Rivals savour hard-fought victories

AC Milan 3–1 AC Siena

Milan earned a comfortable win against Siena at the San Siro on Saturday evening in their second Serie A game of the season. Massimo Ambrosini broke the deadlock after 15 minutes, converting a fine pass from Andriy Shevchenko, who snatched a second himself 16 minutes later with a powerful long-distance effort. The visitors reduced arrears through Igor Tudor just before the break but substitute Kaká restored the two-goal gap with nine minutes to go.

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was without injured pair Filippo Inzaghi (knee) and Marek Jankulovski (leg) and suspended forward Christian Vieri. He surprisingly left Kaká out of the starting eleven to field Rui Costa behind the forwards. Captain Paolo Maldini played as central defender after recovering from a knee injury, moving to within one appearance of Dino Zoff's Serie A record tally of 570.

Shevchenko said: "We are very pleased after winning this game. We are glad to have cancelled out the memory of our draw at Ascoli [Calcio 1898]. The team are improving, we have changed during the summer but we are on the right track. I look forward to the Champions League starting."

Shevchenko was one of several Milan players in international action last week as Ukraine booked their place at the FIFA World Cup finals. Brazil also confirmed their place in Germany after Kaká and Dida helped the reigning champions to a 5-0 victory against Chile.

Fenerbahçe SK 2-1 BB Ankaraspor

Fenerbahçe came from behind to defeat Ankaraspor at Sükrü Saraçoglu stadium to maintain their unbeaten start to the season and stay second in the Turkish Superleague. With Tuncay Şanlı, Zafer Biryol, Servet Çetin and Rüştü Reçber all ruled out through injury, the home side struggled to find their shape and soon fell behind to Tita's well-executed chip over goalkeeper Volkan Demirel.

Volkan was one of three Fenerbahçe players in action for Turkey last week, but it was two of their foreign, and more specifically Brazilian, legion that earned the Istanbul outfit victory. Alex tapped in after Nicolas Anelka's shot had been parried into his path on 38 minutes and by half-time it was 2-1 when Marco Aurélio unleashed an unstoppable drive from outside the penalty box.

Coach Christoph Daum said: "Our first-half performance was the best we've played so far this season. There was a great ambition to win and the players have been united on the eve of the Milan match. We created lots of chances to score but just lacked a bit of finishing."

PSV Eindoven 1-0 FC Utrecht

Unbeaten PSV chose the visit of lowly Utrecht to field three recently-signed debutants - left-back Michael Ball, central defender Michael Reiziger and winger Arouna Koné. The latter marked his debut with the winning goal four minutes after the break, pouncing when visiting goalkeeper Franck Grandel dropped the ball, but the custodian did save Koné's 74th-minute penalty.

Defender Alex was taken off shortly afterwards, and coach Guus Hiddink said: "We will have a close look at it on Sunday, but I fear a serious knee injury. I am glad with the victory, as we brought in three new boys, and started well. After half-time we made some defensive mistakes, but besides the Alex injury I am satisfied." His team lie third, two points behind leaders AZ Alkmaar.

Ibrahim Afellay was suspended, having been booked in PSV's opening three Eredivisie matches, while Jefferson Farfán was on the bench after picking up a slight knock playing for Peru. John de Jong (knee) and Mika Väyrynen (ankle) are recovering from injuries, and not expected back until October.

Aside from Farfán, PSV had several players on international duty last week, with Phillip Cocu receiving a red card against for the Netherlands against Andorra having set up Rafael van der Vaart's opener in the 4-0 win. Theo Lucius also started while Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was brought on as a subsitute, as he had been four days earlier when with his first touch he set up Ruud van Nistelrooij for the only goal against Armenia. Timmy Simons opened the scoring for Belgium from the penalty spot in their 8-0 victory against San Marino and Hiddink himself led Australia to a 9-1 aggregate victory against the Soloman Islands, taking them through as Oceania section winners to a play-off against a South American side.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-1 FC Schalke 04

An 85th-minute goal from Søren Larsen helped Schalke salvage a point from their trip to Leverkusen. The home side took the lead on 73 minutes thanks to a Dimitar Berbatov strike but Larsen, who struck three vital goals in two World Cup games for Denmark last week and who had replaced Ebbe Sand midway through the second half, levelled the scores. Earlier in the match Lincoln saw his penalty saved by Jörg Butt and Berbatov suffered the same fate at the hands of Schalke goalkeeper Frank Rost.

Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick, whose unbeaten team are fourth in the Bundesliga, four points behind FC Bayern München, said: "It was an exciting match for the fans despite the warm weather. Both teams had enough chances to score. We missed the chance to take the lead in the opening 20 minutes and can thank Frank Rost for not slipping up after that. I think that a point suits both teams but the match could have ended 3-3 or 4-4."

Ralf Rangnick went into the match without long-term absentees Marco van Hoogdalem (hip), Mimoun Azaouagh, Christian Pander (both knee operations) and Tim Hoogland (ankle). All four will also miss the PSV tie.