LONDON: Brazil striker Nilmar grabbed a dramatic injury-time winner in Villarreal's 3-2 victory at Bayer Leverkusen but English sides Liverpool and Manchester City sank to first-leg defeats in the Europa League's last 16 Thursday. Nilmar scored moments after coming off the bench to put Villarreal 2-1 ahead in the 70th minute in Germany, before racing clear to slot home the winning goal four minutes into added-on time. Liverpool, a three-time winner of Europe's second-tier competition, slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Braga — one of three Portuguese teams to open the last 16 with wins. City fared even worse, losing 2-0 at Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev to leave the big-spending Premier League club with a mountain to climb in next week's second leg at Eastlands. FC Porto won 1-0 at CSKA Moscow in a match between two former winners, and Benfica rallied to beat visiting French side Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 to make it a superb night for Portuguese teams. In the other three matches, Spartak Moscow defeated Ajax 1-0 away, Dutch champion FC Twente thrashed 2008 champion Zenit St. Petersburg 3-0, and Scottish side Rangers produced a resolute defensive display to hold PSV Eindhoven to a 0-0 draw away. All eight second legs take place on March 17. Nilmar came on for Giuseppe Rossi, who had canceled out Michal Kadlec's 33rd-minute opener with a goal in the 42nd that took the Italy striker to a competition-high seven goals this season — level with Porto striker Falcao. The substitute robbed Kadlec and danced through the Leverkusen defense to score his first and after Gonzalo Castro equalized two minutes later, Nilmar secured the win by running away from the Leverkusen defense to slip the ball past goalkeeper Rene Adler. Braga inflicted a first defeat in 12 European games for Liverpool this season when Osorio Alan converted a 17th-minute penalty, conceded by Sotirios Kyrgiakos for a clumsy foul on midfielder Mossoro. Veteran striker Andrey Shevchenko finished from close range in the 25th to put Kiev ahead against City in freezing conditions in the Ukraine capital. Oleg Gusev then volleyed home in the 77th to leave sluggish City, which started with top scorer Carlos Tevez on the bench but was otherwise at full strength, on the verge of elimination.
