AEK Athens successfully completed the first part of their Spanish plan as they held Sevilla to a goalless first half on Wednesday.

There was little to concern either side in the first 45 minutes as they both looked rusty after the summer break. Marcello Moretti in the AEK goal was called into action early on but the best chance of the half probably fell to AEK's Julio Cesar in the last minute of the half when he should have done better with a one-on-one with Andres Palop.

AEK coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer surprised a number of people by starting with four essentially attacking players in Gustavo Manduca, Nikos Liberopoulos, Cesar and Rivaldo  while Sevilla were weakened by the absence of Daniel Alves who is set to leave for either Chelsea or Real Madrid.