time European champion AC Milan began a rare foray into the UEFA Cup confidently Thursday, and Tottenham secured its first win of the season in the first leg of the opening round. Both teams have endured torrid starts to their league campaigns, but Milan beat FC Zurich 3-1 and Spurs secured a slender 2-1 edge over Wisla Krakow. Violence-plagued Napoli got a 3-2 victory over Benfica despite a bottle thrown onto the pitch in southern Italy, while Udinese won 2-0 at Borussia Dortmund. English clubs Manchester City and Aston Villa both came from behind to beat inferior opposition, while Everton was held to a draw at home. A fifth-place Serie A finish last season denied Milan its accustomed Champions League spot and the pressure hadn't eased on coach Carlo Ancelotti after losing the opening two matches of the new campaign. But left back Marek Jankulovsi put Milan ahead by volleying in a rebound in first-half added time, Brazil forward Alexandre Pato found the target with a free kick in the 56th and second-half substitute Marco Borriello connected from beyond the area in the 74th. Dusan Djuric pulled one back for Zurich with a long, rising shot that ricocheted in off the crossbar in the 78th. Juande Ramos was also desperate for a victory after Tottenham's worst start to a domestic campaign in 34 years, but dire defending nearly gave Krakow a valuable away draw to take back to Poland for the second leg in two weeks. David Bentley had scored for Spurs in the 33rd only to see it canceled out within a minute when the visitors ripped through the defensive line for Tomas Jirsak's equalizer. But Darren Bent clinched Tottenham's first victory of the season with a 73rd-minute header. Udinese used perfect counterattacks to beat Dortmund, taking the lead after eight minutes through Antonio Floro Flores while the home team's Mohamed Zidan was being treated on the sidelines. Udinese doubled its advantage in the 34th when Simone Pepe provided the pass for Gokhan Inker in another fast move and the latter scored easily. Napoli beat a quality opponent for the second time in four days, edging Benfica 3-2 Thursday in the first leg of the UEFA Cup's opening round. The biggest club in south Italy got three successive goals from Luigi Vitale, German Denis and Christian Maggio in the 18th, 20th and 55th minutes, while David Suazo and Luisao tallied in the 16th and 60th for Benfica, a two-time European champion. Some 60,000 fans attended the game at the San Paolo stadium, excited by the chance to see their team after violence-imposed bans have limited the number of supporters allowed into Serie A games. Manchester City rallied for a 2-1 win at Omonia Nicosia after Brazil striker Jo scored his first goals since his $37.9-million move from CSKA Moscow in the offseason. City fell behind four minutes after halftime when Albania midfielder Klodian Duro's free kick sailed past Joe Hart, but Jo leveled in the 59th minute and secured the win in the 72nd. Aston Villa won 3-1 at NK Varteks despite a disastrous start. Ivelin Popov put the Croats ahead in the 10th, but a goalkeeping error and two red cards handed the initiative to the visitors. Elsewhere it was: Portsmouth 2 Vitoria Guimaraes 0; FC Copenhagen 2 FC Moscow 1; Kalmar 1 Feyenoord 0; Sevilla 2 Salzburg 0; AS Nancy 1 Motherwell 0; Kayserispor 1 Paris St Germain 2; VfL Wolfsburg 1 Rapid Bucharest 0; Sampdoria 5 FBK Kaunas 0. – AP __
