British clubs enjoyed a clean sweep in the UEFA Cup group stages on Thursday, as the four teams in action all won their games.
Blackburn started the action as they kicked off early against Wisla Krakow in Group E and came from behind to win 2-1.
Having gone behind to a deflected shot, Robbie Savage levelled the game with a header before David Bentley latched onto a rebound to net the winner for Rovers in the final minute.
Bulgaria's Dimitar Berbatov underlined his credentials as one of the top players involved in the UEFA Cup with a fine goal in Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 away win over Besiktas in their opening Group B game.
Spurs were doggedly defending a 1-0 lead against the Turkish side when Berbatov, coming into the box from the right, turned a defender one way and the goalkeeper the other before slotting the ball low into the middle of the net in the 63rd minute.
Hossam Ghaly put the London side, twice tournament winners, ahead just past the half hour when his late shot was parried by the keeper but rebounded into the goal off the Spurs midfielder.
Berbatov's former club Bayer Leverkusen, who sold the Bulgarian international to Spurs for 11 million pounds ($20.5 million) in May, were away to Club Bruges in the same group and could only manage a 1-1 draw.
The other Anglo-Turkish match also went the way of an English side when Newcastle United beat Fenerbahce 1-0 at home, Frenchman Antoine Sibierski scoring the winner in an exciting match.
Keeper Rustu Recber, who had earlier made a fine diving save from Obafemi Martins's header, failed to hold a shot by Steven Taylor and Sibierski netted the rebound in the 78th minute.
Having asked Damien Duff to play left-back, and with Titus Bramble relegated to the bench, Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder will have been pleased that his young defence held firm in a game of few chances and got their Group H campaign off to the perfect start.
In the other Group H match, Palermo had to come from behind to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at home with Cristian Zaccardo scoring the winner three minutes from time.
Also in Italy, an extraordinary eight-minute spell in the first half at Livorno delivered four of the goals in Rangers' 3-2 away victory over in Group A.
Charlie Adam put the Scottish side in front in the 27th minute, two quick penalties at either end made it 2-1 and Rangers went two clear through Nacho Novo in the 35th before Cristiano Lucarelli's second goal for Livorno in the final minute.
Maccabi Haifa won the other match in Group A, beating AJ Auxerre 3-1 at home. The French side had Stephane Grichting sent off 24 minutes from time.
Panathinaikos handed a defeat to their former coach Itzhak Blum when they beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-0 at home in Group G with an own goal by Tal Chen and a strike from Argentine winger Sebastian Romero. The match was played behind closed doors as the Athens side served a spectator ban for crowd trouble in the home leg of their first round tie.
Feyenoord, who won the trophy in 2002, shared the points in a dreadful 1-1 draw in Basel, with a decisive role for two substitutes.
Brazilian Eduardo came in on the hour and his first contact with the ball gave the home side the lead after Feyenoord keeper Henk Timmer blocked a 30-metres free kick. Feyenoord's Stein Huysegems had been on only four minutes when he beat Basel's Argentine keeper Franco Costanzo for the 72nd-minute equaliser.
Parma, twice winners in the late 1990s, beat OB Odense 2-1 in their Group D match in Denmark.
Espanyol, who lost the 1988 final to Bayer Leverkusen, won 2-0 away against Sparta Prague in Group F.
Tim Matthijs scored a hat-trick as modest Belgian side Zulte Waregem recovered from a goal down to crush Austria Vienna 4-1 away in the other game in the group.
Holders Sevilla drew 0-0 away against Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic in Group C in which AZ Alkmaar, runners-up in 1981, cruised to a 3-0 win over Braga of Portugal to remain unbeaten at home in Europe since their debut in the late 1970s.
