Commons gives Celtic first-leg lead

Commons gives Celtic first-leg lead

Published Aug. 1, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

Kris Commons' second-half goal earned Celtic a 1-0 victory over Elfsborg in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round at Parkhead.

Commons pounced 13 minutes from time when he headed home Emilio Izaguirre's cross to give Celtic a slender advantage ahead of next week's return in Sweden.

A last-gasp penalty from Cristian earned Fenerbahce a precious away goal as they drew 1-1 with Salzburg in the opening leg of their meeting.

It was a bitter blow for the hosts, who had thought a 69th-minute goal from Brazilian striker Alan would be enough to secure a narrow advantage ahead of the return match in Turkey next week.

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However, his compatriot Cristian was successful from the spot in the sixth minute of stoppage-time after Andreas Ulmer was penalised for a handball in the area.

Norwegian champions Molde were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Legia Warsaw.

Daniel Chima gave Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men the lead on the half hour but that was cancelled out after 68 minutes by Vladimir Dvalishvili.

Molde then had to see out the last 16 minutes a man down after Fredrik Gulbrandsen was shown a second yellow card.

Ludogorets Razgrad will take a 2-1 advantage to Serbia for the second leg of their tie with Partizan Belgrade.

The Bulgarians trailed to a Saso Markovic goal four minutes into the second half, but hit back with strikes from Marcelinho (53) and Mihail Aleksandrov (67).

Any hopes of a late equaliser for Partizan were ended with the dismissal of Milos Jojic five minutes from time.

The match between APOEL Nicosia and Maribor also finished 1-1, with Esmael Goncalves giving the home side a 22nd-minute lead and Marcos Tavares grabbing what could be an important away goal for the Slovenians after 64 minutes.

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