The Moldovan footballers playing abroad watched the UEFA Cup matches on Thursday mostly from the bench. An exception was FC Moscow's Stanislav Ivanov who played the entire game, but who couldn't prevent the club from being defeated 1:2 at home by Denmark's FC Copenhaga. His Moldovan club-mate Alexandru Epureanu was but a substitute. In Istanbul, Metalist Harkov's Vitalie Bordian was introduced in the 51st minute of the match against Besiktas and played fairly good, according to international observers. Denis Zmeu caught just five minutes with FC Vaslui against Slavia Praha, helping his club keep the score tied to zero, securing a promising home leg. But perhaps the biggest disappointment was Sergei Covalciuc, who wasn't even included in the substitutes list of Spartak Moscow for the match with the Czeck Banik Ostrava, which the Russian club won 1:0.