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Scholes saves a point Late goal earns Man Utd 1-1 draw at Panathinaikos
Updated: Wednesday March 07, 2001 6:42 PM
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Paul Scholes fired an injury time equalizer to deny Panathinaikos a glorious victory as Manchester United hit back for a 1-1 Champions League tie on Wednesday. The England midfielder fired the ball home with a low, left foot shot in the second minute of injury time with the home fans hoping for a consolation win even though their team had already been eliminated. Teenage defender Giorgios Seitarides fired a stunning goal on his debut as Panathanaikos went ahead after 25 minutes. Seitarides drove a 25-meter shot past French World Cup goalkeeper Fabien Barthez to give the Greek team a lead it held until Scholes late strike. Manchester United, which needed a victory to guarantee a last eight place, was given a first half roasting by the Greeks and the runaway English league was lucky to go into half time trailing by just one goal. After an early free kick by Croatian midfielder Goran Vlaovic had shaved the post, Barthez got into a mixup with defenders Gary Neville and Wes Brown when they all failed to deal with a through ball. That allowed Nikos Liberopoulos a free shot at goal only for the Panathinaikos striker to fail to make a clean contact. The same forward squandered another chance in the 23rd minute when he shot over the bar from a tight angle with two teammates better positioned in the middle and Vlaovic had a spectacular shot palmed behind by Barthez. But Panathinaikos went ahead two minutes later when United conceded a free kick 25 meters out and the ball was played to Seitaridis whose well-struck drive flew past Barthez for a stunning goal. As United tried to hit back, Panathinaikos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis made a great stop from Gary Neville, the fullback getting round the back of the defense only for the 'keeper to block his shot with his legs. Just before half time, Panathanaikos should have gone further ahead when Liberopoulos beat the United offside trap to collect a through ball from Derek Boateng and had only Barthez to beat. Inexplicably he passed the ball to a teammate who was in an offside position and the Reds escaped into the interval only one goal down. Barthez blocked a long range shot from Giorgos Karagounis before Boateng broke the offside trap again only to shoot straight at the Frenchman. Agelos Basedas got away from the United defense again 10 minutes from the end but Barthez blocked the shot again. United sent on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham and both went close to snatching an equalizer before Scholes struck. Luke Chadwick, another substitute, had a long range shot blocked in a crowded goal area but Scholes found room to turn and shoot home from 15 meters.
Ferguson hails Barthez and ScholesATHENS -- Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson hailed his two saviors, Fabien Barthez and Paul Scholes, on Wednesday after they earned his side a last-gasp 1-1 draw with Panathinaikos in the Champions League. United was heading for a historic first-ever defeat to a Greek club after Giorgios Seitaridis's 25th minute strike -- only for Scholes to wheel round and crash home an injury-time equalizer in the Group A tie. But the strike, reminiscent of the goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that won United this competition in the 1999 final against Bayern Munich, was only made precious because of some superb goalkeeping by Barthez. "He proved tonight that he's the best goalkeeper in the world, Ferguson said of France's world and European champion after Barthez stopped a string of shots from point-blank range over the 90 minutes. "He got us the point." But Ferguson also paid tribute to his goalscorer, saying: "Paul Scholes has scored so many valuable goals for us in the past and none more so than tonight. "It was a great finish. We owe him a lot tonight. I think he's our top scorer in the competition and if you look at his goalscoring average it's exceptional for a midfielder." Ferguson acknowledged that his side could easily have been soundly beaten by the Greeks, who had already been eliminated from the next stage of the competition. "They should have won by three or four, they created a lot of chances and we were very fortunate," Ferguson said. "We started badly and we never got going. When I looked at the group I fancied Panathinaikos to come close to qualifying. They just did badly in the games against [Sturm] Graz." Dutch defender Jaap Stam also believed that United had been fortunate to leave Athens with a point. "You've got to play the full 90 minutes but we didn't do anything right tonight and we were very lucky," Stam said. Teammate Gary Neville was also relieved to have finished with such tough opposition. "Of all the teams in the tournament, Panathinaikos have given us the most problems defensively. I don't know why because we've played sides with far bigger reputations," he said. Panathinaikos coach Stratos Apostolakis was thrilled with the night's work, describing it as "their best performance since the victory over Juventus in the first group phase." United need only to avoid defeat by a three-goal margin against Sturm Graz next week at Old Trafford to secure their place in the quarter-finals along with last season's finalists, Valencia.
SummaryScorers: Panathinaikos - Georgios Seitaridis 25 Manchester United - Paul Scholes 90 Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 27,230 Teams: Panathinaikos: 1-Antonis Nikopolidis; 2-Rene Henriksen; 8-Ioannis Goumas; 20-Angelos Basinas (10-Karl-Heinz Pflipsen 85); 3-Percy Olivares; 30-Panayotis Fyssas;16- Yourkas Seitaridis, 24-Derek Boateng ; 7-Goran Vlaovic (5-Fernando Galleto 59); 21-Nikos Liberopoulos (9-Krzysztof Warzycha 66), 26-Giorgos Karagounis Manchester United: 1-Fabien Barthez; 2-Gary Neville, 6-Jaap Stam, 12-Phil Neville (10-Teddy Sheringham 77), 27-Mikael Silvestre (36-Luke Chadwick 64); 7-David Beckham, 18-Paul Scholes, 16-Roy Keane, 19-Dwight Yorke, 24-Wes Brown, 9-Andy Cole (20-Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 78). Referee: Karl-Erik Nilsson (Sweden)
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