Schalke, Celta Vigo, Marseille and Livorno all won in the Uefa Cup first round.
A late Soren Larsen strike saw Schalke triumph over Nancy, whilst Celta Vigo, Marseille and Livorno also won as the Uefa Cup first round, first leg ties took place all over Europe.The Bundesliga outfit, along with another 79 teams over the continent, are aiming to reach the group stages of Europe's second cup competition and earned a crucial 1-0 advantage over their Ligue 1 opponents at Arena Aufschalke.
Danish striker Larsen (pictured) proved to be the difference between the sides as he broke Nancy's resolve on 86 minutes to set up an intriguing return tie in France.
Spanish outfit Osasuna suffered a second half collapse in a 2-2 draw against Trabzonspor in Turkey.
The Primera Liga side initially looked to be faring well on their travels when Valdo (21) and Gomez Juanlu (53) put them into a formidable two-goal lead.
However Gokdeniz Karadeniz hit an immediate reply to cut short the visitors' celebrations, and Umut Bulut struck with just a minute to go to ensure the tie remains on a knife-edge.
Compatriots Celta Vigo did manage to hold onto their lead as Gustavo Lopez gave them a 1-0 win at the home of Belgian side Standard Liege.
Heerenveen produced a fine display in Portugal as they trounced Vitoria Setubal 3-0 away from home.
The Eredivisie side took a decisive lead when Afonso Alves struck twice in eight second half minutes, and Lasse Nilsson put gloss on the result with an injury time strike.
Italian outfit Livorno look to be firmly in control of their tie after a 2-0 win over Austrian minnows FC Superfund.
Lithuanian international Tomas Danilevicius scored just before the break and four minutes after the restart prolific forward Cristiano Lucarelli made sure of the win.
Serie A compatriots Parma secured a useful lead in the first leg of their tie with Rubin Kazan.
Stefano Pioli's side secured a 1-0 win in Russia that gives them one foot in the group stages.
Daniele Dessena was the hero for the 1999 Uefa Cup winners, reacting quickly after 78 minutes to head the ball home.
The Russian hosts should have fought back just 60 seconds later but Alejandro Dominguez put his penalty wide to hand Parma the win.
Lokomotiv Moscow fared better than their Russian compatriots but still conceded a last gasp away goal in their 2-1 win over Zulte-Waregem.
The home side looked to be cruising when Dmitri Loskov (35) and Branislav Ivanovic (74) put them into a comfortable two goal lead.
However the Belgian side gave themselves a vital lifeline when Jonas Vandermarliere scored with seconds to go in the Russian capital.
Dutch outfit Groningen suffered on their travels as they succumbed to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Partizan Belgrade.
The Serbian side outclassed their Eredivisie opponents, with Nebojsa Marinkovic getting the ball rolling with a penalty after just three minutes.
Bojan Zajic's brace (16, 90), along with another goal from Marinkovic (44), meant that Mark Fledderus' strike just before the hour and Luis Suarez's last minute effort only gave the visitors a glimmer of hope for the second leg.
Fellow Eredivisie side Feyenoord had a hard night in Bulgaria as they drew 2-2 with Lokomotiv Sofia.
The hosts raced into a shock two goal lead through Tsvetan Genkov (4) and Marcho Dafchev (28), but a Theo Lucius penalty on 45 minutes sparked a revival that was clinched when Serginho Greene scored just before the hour mark.
French giants Marseille prevailed in their meeting with Czech outfit Mlada Boleslav thanks to a 31st minute goal from Habib Bamago, whilst the visitors had Frantisek Sevinsky dismissed for two bookable offences.
Crvena Zvedza's European travails continued as they lost 2-0 away to Slovan Liberec.
The former European Champions narrowly failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League after losing honourably to Milan, but their Uefa Cup campaign started in much less impressive fashion.
Their Czech opponents took a first half lead through Tomas Frejlach (43), and Jan Blazek then struck deep into injury time to give the home side a crucial cushion ahead of the second leg.
Another fancied side in Panathinaikos also endured a difficult evening as, despite going ahead through Dimitris Salpigidis, they could only share the spoils with Metallurg Zaporizhzhya who levelled through Alexsey Godin before Oleg Karamushka was dismissed.
Legia Warsaw fought back from a goal down to rescue a 1-1 draw at home to Austria Vienna.
The Polish champions conceded a 27th minute goal on home turf when Wolfgang Mair netted, but Godoi Junior (45) ensured they will begin the second leg on level terms.
Former Coventry City striker Viorel Moldovan scored the only goal of the game as Rapid Bucuresti beat Nacional of Portugal in Romania.
Another striker previously seen on English shores proved to be the difference when Club Brugge beat SCP Ruzomberok, as former Aston Villa striker Bosko Balaban broke the Slovakians' resistance on 39 minutes.
Maccabi Haifa, who lost to Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League qualifying round, played their 'home' game in Holland as they drew 1-1 with Litex Lovech.
The Israelis, unable to play in their homeland due to the ongoing problems in the Middle East, saw Yaniv Katan's seventh minute strike cancelled out by Zanev Petar (51).
Iraklis Salonika beat Wisla Krakow in Poland courtesy of an early goal from Thanasis Prittas.
Click below for individual match summaries:
Legia Warsaw 1-1 Austria Vienna
Liberec 2-0 Crvena Zvezda
Livorno 2-0 FC Superfund
Lokomotiv Moscow 2-1 Zulte-Waregem
Lokomotiv Sofia 2-2 Feyenoord
Maccabi Haifa 1-1 Liteks Lovetch
Marseille 1-0 Mlada Boleslav
Panathinaikos 1-1 Metallurg Zaporizhzhya
Partizan Belgrade 4-2 FC Groningen
Rapid Bucuresti 1-0 Nacional
Rubin Kazan 0-1 Parma
SCP Ruzomberok 0-1 Club Brugge
Schalke 1-0 Nancy
Standard Liege 0-1 Celta Vigo
Trabzonspor 2-2 Osasuna
Victoria Setubal 0-3 Heerenveen
Wisla Krakow 0-1 Iraklis
