Goal-hungry Maccarone serves up Boro double

Middlesbrough 2 Liteks Lovetch 0

With challengers AZ Alkmaar leading Grasshoppers 1-0 in Holland, the £8.15 million (€12 million) striker headed home an 80th-minute opener in front of just 9,436 largely disgruntled fans.

And he followed up six minutes later by drilling a blistering left-foot shot past Litex Lovech keeper Vitomir Vutov to claim the points and a supposedly easier route through today’s draw for the last 32.