The UEFA Champions League is reaching, little by little, its final preliminary round. Still, it was time for the 2nd round to get under way this Wednesday. And the first leg gave us some pretty obvious teams to qualify for the 3rd round. There was no real blow around Europe yesterday night, since all the favorites managed convincing first-leg wins.

Steaua Bucharest, last year's UEFA Cup semifinalists, had no problem with Slovenia's champions NK Gorica. Although playing away, the Romanian team started off great, missing 3 scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the game. The hosts did everything they could to keep a clean sheet, but Dica and Iacov scored in the second half for a comforting second leg.

Dynamo Kiev, another big-time favorite, had no problems in their away first-leg match against Metalurgs Liepajas. The Ukrainian side controlled the game from beginning to end, winning it 4-1. Dinamo Zagreb also cruised past their opponents, Ekranas (4-1), while Fenerbahce Istanbul thrashed B36 4-0. Here are the other results from the Champions League 2nd preliminary round (first leg).

Hearts - Siroki Brijeg 3-0
Cork City - Red Star Belgrade 0-1
Levski Sofia - Sioni 2-0
Sheriff Tiraspol - Spartak Moscow 1-1
Debrecen - Rabotnicki 1-1
Kobenhavn - MyPa 2-0
Mlada Boleslav - Valerenga 3-1
Djurgarden - Ruzomberok 1-0
Hafnarfjordur - Legia 0-1
Zurich - Salzburg 2-1

The draw for the CL 3rd preliminary round will take place this Friday.