The famed Brazil international laid on one goal and scored the other for Inter Milan in their 2-0 away win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie in Ukraine.
The much less well known Adriano Pimenta scored for Swiss side Thun, who took another step in their remarkable rise to a possible place in the lucrative group stage with an upset 1-0 away win over Malmo.
Title holders Liverpool also won but Sporting, losing finalists in the UEFA Cup three months ago, were upset 1-0 at home by modest Italian side Udinese, who scored from a first half penalty through Vincenzo Iaquinta.
Liverpool, forced to play all three qualifying rounds after finishing only fifth in the Premier League, won 3-1 against CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria with two goals from Fernando Morientes after Djibril Cisse had opened the scoring in the 26th minute.
Morientes increased the lead just after the half hour with a header from a free kick by captain Steven Gerrard, who laid on all three Liverpool goals.
The Spanish international restored Liverpool's two-goal advantage in the 58th minute after Velizar Dimitrov had pulled one back for the Bulgarian champions in first half stoppage time.
RACIAL ABUSE
However, the end of the match was marred when Cisse appeared to be targeted for racial abuse by a few CSKA supporters, who were heard to shout monkey noises.
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"We've done a good job as a team in defence and played compact football. In the end, it was a good result," he added.
In Donetsk, striker Obafemi Martins put Inter ahead in the 67th minute from a back-heeled pass by Adriano, who 11 minutes later headed home a high cross from substitute Ze Maria.
"Inter were much better organised, with better tactics and more experience at European level," Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said.
In Malmo, midfielder Adriano scored in the 34th minute for Thun, promoted to the Swiss top flight as recently as 2002, firing home from the edge of the box.
AJAX HELD
Malmo, European Cup finalists in 1979, hit the woodwork through teenager Mattias Asper but did however provide one of Ajax's scorers in their 2-2 draw with Brondby.
Swede Markus Rosenberg, who was born in Malmo 24 years ago and played for the club, struck after half an hour of his Ajax debut to put the Dutch side one up.
After a first-half equaliser by Morten Skoubo and a second Ajax goal by Ryan Babel, the Danish side levelled the tie three minutes into stoppage time through Martin Retov, whose shot took a deflection and deceived keeper Hans Vonk.
"2-2 is a fair result. Maybe Brondby deserved more...The late goal was very important for Brondby and it leaves the second leg in Amsterdam open," said Ajax coach Danny Blind.
In other matches on Wednesday, Anderlecht beat Slavia Prague 2-1 and Basel overcame Werder Bremen by the same score. There were three draws.
Steaua Bucharest were held 1-1 at home by Rosenborg Trondheim and Artmedia Bratislava, who eliminated Celtic in the previous round, drew 0-0 at home with Partizan Belgrade while Rapid Vienna and Lokomotiv Moscow finished 1-1 in Austria.
Manchester United, Villarreal, Rangers, Real Betis, Wisla Krakow and Valerenga won the six first leg matches played on Tuesday.
