Benoit Cheyrou gave Marseille the lead after 19 minutes and they looked to be cruising when Mamadou Niang added a second in the 33rd minute.

But Ajax responded with a Luis Suarez penalty three minutes later, and they were able to keep OM at bay for the rest of the match despite the dismissal of Gregory van der Wiel shortly before the interval.

Marseille's Ligue 1 rivals, Paris St Germain, also failed to make their second-half dominance count as they were held to a goalless draw by Braga.

The home side only came to life after the interval but they proceeded to squander a number of good chances, Jerome Rothen coming closest to breaking the deadlock when he hit the post on the hour mark.

Galatasaray moved into the driving seat in their tie with Hamburg thanks to a 1-1 draw at the HSV Arena, despite playing most of the second half with 10 men.

Ayhan Akman gave the Turkish side the lead in the 32nd minute before Marcell Jansen equalised early in the second half.

Emre Asik was sent for an early bath in the 53rd minute, but Galatasaray held on for a draw which gives them a slight advantage ahead of the second leg in Istanbul next week.

Two late goals gave Udinese a 2-0 win they scarcely deserved over defending champions Zenit St Petersburg.

Udinese rarely managed to breach the Zenit defence as they all too often settled for long-range efforts that had little chance of beating Viacheslav Malafeev.

But Fabio Quagliarella popped up in the 85th minute to grab a goal and Antonio Di Natale doubled the lead from the penalty spot deep in injury time.

Manchester City are on the brink of a UEFA Cup quarter-final berth for the first time in 30 years after they cruised to a 2-0 win over AaB.

Felipe Caicedo opened their account after just eight minutes before Shaun Wright-Phillips blasted home the second after half an hour.

A 10th-minute goal from defender Naldo gave Werder Bremen a slender advantage to take with them into the second leg of their tie with St Etienne.

Vagner Love's 51st-minute penalty was also enough to give CSKA Moscow a first-leg win over Shakhtar Donetsk.

And Ognjen Vukojevic's 53rd-minute header ensured Dynamo Kiev will take a 1-0 lead into the return leg of their match with Ukrainian rivals Metalist Kharkiv.