|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Lazio gone Real comes back twice to draw 2-2 in Champions League
Updated: Thursday February 22, 2001 4:55 AM
ROME (AP) -- Defending champion Real Madrid held Lazio to a 2-2 draw in a second round match Wednesday, kicking the Italian team out of the Champions League. Lazio, which needed its first victory in the fourth rotation of Group D to stay alive in the competition, twice piled up a one-goal lead and twice was tied by the Spanish powerhouse which qualified for the quarterfinals. The draw, following three consecutive wins, kept Real at the top of the Group standings with 10 points, one ahead of Leeds which defeated Anderlecht in the other match of the day. Lazio was left in the bottom place of the four-team group with one point. About 50,000 Lazio fans went wild after only three minutes at Rome's Olympic stadium when Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved gave Lazio a 1-0 lead kicking the ball into the net between the legs of keeper Cesar Sanchez. As Argentine teammates Diego Simeone and Hernan Crespo wasted chances to score Lazio's second goal, Real made it 1-1 on a fast counterattack which caught Lazio's defense wide open. Argentine forward Santiago Solar kicked a lob past Lazio's keeper Angelo Peruzzi in the 32nd minute as defenders were protesting the offside position of two other Real players. Lazio started the second half strongly and Crespo kicked in from one meter (53rd) a ball crossed by fellow-Argentine Lucas Castroman which was deflected by Real's Claude Makelele.
Spanish star-forward Raul headed in a long cross by second-half substitute Pedro Munitis to tie the score in the 73rd minute, extend Real's unbeaten streak and sink the Italian Champions. Lazio, third-placed in the Italian League, attacked throughout the last minute of play to earn a much needed victory and a header of Castroman hit the bar in injury time to the despair of home players. Despite the elimination of their team, fans applauded Lazio players at the end of the match. Lazio had to do without suspended key defender Alessandro Nesta and Argentine mastermind Juan Sebastian Veron. Real also missed such leading players as striker Fernando Morientes and English midfielder Steve McManaman. Five players of Real were cautioned by the referee during Wednesday's hard-fought match. Ivan Helguera will miss the next Champions League game against Leeds. Lazio will play Anderlecht on March 6 in a match only deciding the third and useless place in the group.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
