Updated: August 15, 2007, 5:48 PM EST 2 comments

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Voronin fired a rising shot from 20 meters after collecting a headed pass from Peter Crouch in the 43rd minute at the Municipal Stadium. The victory gives last season's runner-up an edge when it hosts Toulouse in the second leg at Anfield in two weeks for a place among the last 32.

"Andriy scored a wonderful goal. It summed up his qualities as a very fine striker," said manager Rafa Benitez, who led Liverpool to a Champions League triumph in 2005 and last season's final where it lost to AC Milan.

"But we must not think this tie is over. We did a very professional job in a match played in difficult conditions. It was so hot for the players and we were having to give them water continually."

On a good night for English clubs, goals in the last 18 minutes by Cesc Fabregas (72nd) and Alexander Hleb (90th) gave 2006 finalist Arsenal a 2-0 victory at Sparta Prague.

David Kalivoda's 76th-minute penalty gave Slavia Prague a 1-0 victory at four-time European champion Ajax. Sevilla, which has won the last two UEFA Cups, cruised to a 2-0 victory over AEK Athens with second-half goals by Luis Fabiano (48) and Frederic Kanoute (68).

Werder Bremen overcame a first-half deficit to beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 at home. Bosko Balaban gave Zagreb the lead two minutes before halftime but second-half substitutes Hugo Almeida and Daniel Jensen rallied the German side.

"We had to change something in the second half and the early goal did us a load of good. We played much better after the break," said Werder coach Thomas Schaaf, whose team has been hit by a series of injuries to key players.

Gennady Bliznuk scored a last-minute equalizer for Belarussian club BATE for a 2-2 draw at home against 1986 European Cup winner Steaua Bucharest.

Paul Hartley's 21st-minute strike gave Scottish champion Celtic the lead at Spartak Moscow but Roman Pavluchenko equalized in the 42nd.

In Wednesday's other games, it was Fenerbahce 1, Anderlecht 0; Salzburg 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 0; Sarajevo 0, Dynamo Kiev 1; FC Zurich 1, Besiktas 1; and Tampere United 0, Rosenberg 3.

In Tuesday's games, Valencia outplayed Sweden's Elfsborg 3-0, Rangers edged Red Star Belgrade 1-0, two-time champion Benfica beat FC Copenhagen 2-1 and Lazio drew 1-1 with Dinamo Bucharest in Rome despite having two men sent off.