Inter Milan eases to victory

Inter Milan, three times winners of the competition in the 1990s, eased to a 3-0 victory in their UEFA Cup first round, first leg tie against Romanian club Bresov on Thursday and had the added bonus of a return to competitive action of Ronaldo.

The Brazil international, whose last appearance was in the Italian Cup final on April 12, 2000 -- when he ruptured knee ligaments which required surgery -- came on as a 63rd minute substitute for compatriot Adriano with Inter already 3-0 up.

French midfielder Stephane Dalmat opened the scoring for Inter in the 23rd minute, Mohammed Kallon made it two and Luigi Di Biagio got the third four minutes before halftime.

After making his long-awaited return Ronaldo had two shots on target as he eased himself into the game.

"I was looking to pick up the rhythm as the rhythm of a friendly and a competitive match are very different," he told Italian television.

"I am very happy to be back and the goals will come."

The match in Trieste was one of 43 originally due to be played last Thursday but postponed for a week following the attacks on the United States. The second legs will be played next Thursday.

Inter's city rivals AC Milan collected a solid 2-0 victory against BATE Borisov in Belarus through Andrei Shevchenko in the 64th minute and Javi Moreno two minutes from time.

GOALLESS DRAW

Parma scraped a 1-0 home win over HJK Helsinki thanks to a Savo Milosevic penalty but Fiorentina could only manage a goalless draw in the Ukraine against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

Italian clubs have dominated the competition in the last 15 years but no Spanish club has won it since Real Madrid in 1986.

However, the country's representatives started well on Thursday.

Celta Vigo led the way with a 4-0 home win over Czech side Sigma Olomouc, helped by two goals from Valery Karpin, while Real Zaragoza hit three second half goals for a 3-0 home win over Denmark's Silkeborg.

Valencia, runners-up in the last two Champions League finals, won 1-0 at Russia's Chernomorets Novorossiisk on Wednesday.

It was a disappointing night for England's representatives apart from Chelsea, who beat Levski Sofia 3-0. Ipswich Town drew 1-1 with Torpedo Moscow but Aston Villa went down 3-2 at home to Varteks of Croatia and Leeds United lost 1-0 at Maritimo of Portugal.

Iceland international Eidur Gudjohnsen got two for Chelsea in their comfortable win but Ipswich were made to fight all the way after Dmitry Vyazmikin, the Russian league's top scorer, put Torpedo ahead in the 14th minute.

INTERTOTO CUP

Ipswich were playing in Europe for the first time in 19 years and looked set for their first home European defeat in 26 games until Titus Bramble equalised five minutes from time.

Villa, in the competition via the Intertoto Cup, twice levelled through Colombian Juan Pablo Angel but Sasa Bjelanovic, who had opened the scoring in the 44th minute, finished another sharp counter attack with his second goal four minutes from time.

Leeds, Champions League semifinalists last season, were lacklustre in a game that ended 25 minutes before midnight on the island of Madeira. Bruno Fernandes got the only goal after 33 minutes with a free kick which missed everyone but sneaked over the line and handed Leeds their first defeat of the season.

Ajax Amsterdam also struggled on home turf before collecting an uninspired 2-0 victory over Apollon Limassol of Cyprus.

The Dutch club, who were knocked out of Champions League qualifying competition by Celtic, took the lead after four minutes through Zlatan Ibrahimovic header but were booed off at the break before Nikos Machlas got the second after 58 minutes.

Girondins Bordeaux thumped Hungary's Debrecan 5-1 with two goals each for Pauleta and Christophe Dugarry and one for Christian but there was little French cheer elsewhere.

Czech outsiders Pribram beat Sedan 4-0 with a hat-trick for Marek Kulic while Standard Liege beat Strasbourg 2-0 in Belgium.