Everton took a giant step towards the last 16 of the Uefa Cup as Rangers were held at home, while Zenit St Petersburg surprised Villarreal and Werder Bremen cruised past Braga.
David Moyes' Everton side secured a hard-fought 2-0 away win against SK Brann to give their hopes of reaching the next round a major boost ahead of the second leg at Goodison Park on 21st February.
Everton did the damage in the second half as Leon Osman struck in the 59th minute before European super sub Victor Anichebe again worked his magic to net a second with two minutes remaining.
Rangers were held to a 0-0 draw with Panathinaikos at Ibrox to leave Walter Smith's side facing a must-win second leg clash in Greece next week.
Forward Nacho Novo was guilty of missing a number of chances on a rare start for Rangers to leave the Scottish side facing a tough task to book a place in the next round.
Werder Bremen look to have all but assured themselves a place in the next round as they rolled over Braga 3-0 at the Weser Stadion.
The second placed Bundesliga side wasted little time in opening the scoring as Naldo pounced after five minutes and Daniel Jensen added a second shortly before the half-hour mark.
Braga were guilty of missing twice from the spot before Hugo Almeida showed the Portuguese side how it should be done with a penalty deep into injury time.
Pavel Pogrebnyak capitalised on a 63rd minute mistake from Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez to hand Zenit St Petersburg a 1-0 home win over their Spanish opponents.
Lopez made a hash of a clearance to allow Pogrebnyak the simple task of tapping in to leave Villarreal, who sit third in La Liga, requiring a win to progress.
Galatasaray, who won the competition in 2000, were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen to leave their tie tantalisingly poised ahead of the second leg.
An injury time strike from Mbo Mpenza handed Anderlecht a slender 2-1 first leg advantage over Bordeaux as the Belgium international forward fired a late winner.
A 69th minute Ferreyra Jussie penalty had given Bordeaux the lead but Jan Polak equalised with 11 minutes remaining before substitute Mpenza completed the turn around.
Ismael Blanco struck in the fourth minute of injury time to earn AEK Athens a 1-1 home draw with Getafe.
Ruben De la Red thought he had won the contest for Getafe with an 86th minute goal at the Nikos Goumas Stadium, but Blanco struck to leave honours even.
Marseille, who narrowly missed out on a place in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League, cruised to a 3-0 victory over Spartak Moscow at the Stade Velodrome.
Second-half goals from Beniot Cheyrou (62), Taye Taiwo (68) and Mamadou Niang (79) gave the French side a comfortable lead to take to Russia.
Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven are also in a strong position as they defeated Helsingborg 2-0 at the Philips Stadion.
A seventh minute Timmy Simons penalty gave the Dutch side the lead before Danko Lazovic added a second 12 minutes before half-time.
Simon Vukcevic netted a brace to hand Sporting Lisbon a 2-0 first leg lead over Basel.
Vukcevis hit home in the eighth minute before adding a second after the interval to leave Sporting in a healthy position.
Galatasaray 0 Bayer Leverkusen 0
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