Schalke and Twente open with wins

Manchester City's UEFA Cup Group A opened with home wins for both Schalke and FC Twente last night.

In front of almost 49,000 in Gelsenkirchen, group favourites Schalke swept Paris Saint-Germain aside with ease, beating the French visitors 3-1.

A Larrys Mabiala own goal gave Schalke the lead after 12 minutes before the dangerous Kevin Kuranyi hammered Jefferson Farfan's cross home to make it 2-0 on 39 minutes.

The Parisian visitors rallied after half time but Schalke were too strong and added a third 20 minutes from time through Halil Altintop.

An injury time consolation from Chantome gave the scoreline a better look to it for PSG but it couldn't hide the fact they were well beaten by Fred Rutten's side.

Meanwhile in Enschede, Steve McClaren's FC Twente beat Real Racing Club 1-0 thanks to Romano Denneboom's seventh minute strike.

The Dutch side appeared every bit as dominant as Schalke in the night's other Group A game but could not add to their early goal.

Twente will now travel to Manchester on November 6 to take on City in good spirits following their deserved win.

The other group game of Matchday 2 sees Real Racing Club play host to Schalke.

position team P W D L F A GD+ pts 1 Schalke 04 1 1 0 0 3 1 2 3 2 FC Twente 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 3 Manchester City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Real Racing Club 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 0 5 Paris St Germain 1 0 0 1 1 3 -2 0

Elsewhere in the UEFA Cup last night, competition favourites AC Milan beat Heerenveen 3-1 in Holland and former winners CSKA Moscow defeated Deportivo by three goals to nil, with striker Vágner Love amongst the goals.

It was a mixed night for the English clubs in action as Tottenham's poor start to the season continued as they were beaten 2-0 away from home by Udinese. Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth were also well beaten as they slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Braga.

But Aston Villa did manage to open with a victory as they beat Ajax 2-1 in front of over 36,000 at Villa Park.