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Sparta unbeaten In-form Elber earns Bayern 2-2 draw at Feyenoord
Updated: Thursday October 11, 2001 5:20 AM
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Brazilian striker Elber came to the rescue of injury-hit Bayern Munich with two goals as the Champions League holders drew 2-2 at Feyenoord in Group H on Wednesday. Elber put the Germans ahead in the 12th minute when he pounced on a mis-hit shot from Pablo Thiam. After Feyenoord had recovered to lead 2-1, the Brazilian struck again early in the second half to save Bayern, who were missing three key players. Bayern, without influential playmaker Stefan Effenberg and midfielders Mehmet Scholl and Jens Jeremies, stayed second in the group but slipped two points behind leaders Sparta Prague. Elber has now scored seven goals in Bayern's last three games in domestic and European football. But his first effort came against the run of play. Feyenoord, helped by a strong wind at their backs, equalised in the 38th minute when forward Pierre van Hooijdonk volleyed home from 10 metres. Jon Dahl Tomasson put the Rotterdam side 2-1 up just before halftime but Elber struck his second five minutes after the break, firing in a pass from Claudio Pizarro. Fair result Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said the draw was a fair result, but criticized his players after scoring the opening goal of the game. "We have not taken full advantage after leading 1-0 because we were too passive," Hitzfeld said. "We have everything in our own hands to reach the next stage. We now have two home matches and we must win them." Feyenoord coach Bert van Marwijk was disappointed with the final outcome. "I was pleased with my team's performance in the first half. In the second half we gave away the equalizer after only five minutes, which was the crucial point as it brought uncertainty to the team," he said. Van Marwijk still believes his team can finish second in the group. "There are still nine points to win so it's too early to call it quits," he said. Sparta maintains unbeaten start with win over SpartakPRAGUE -- Sparta Prague scored a well-deserved 2-0 win home over Spartak Moscow with second half goals from Marek Kincl and Libor Sionko separating the teams in their Champions League Group H match on Wednesday. Sparta remain the only team of the 16 in action this week yet to concede a goal in the competition and with Bayern Munich drawing with Feyenoord they are now two points clear of the defending champions at the top of the group. After dominating a first half in which they produced six clear scoring chances, Sparta finally made the breakthrough after 57 minutes when Kincl, who had headed straight at goalkeeper Maxim Levitsky with the gaping goal at his mercy, pounced on the rebound and forced the ball home. Sionko added the second in the 88th minute after wriggling through the defense before beating the keeper to shoot into an empty net. Sparta could secure its place as early as next Wednesday. If it was to win at Feyenoord and if Bayern was to beat Spartak on the same night, it could not finish lower than second in the group and would be through. It would deserve its place. It remains the only team of the 16 in action this week yet to concede a goal in the competition and played some excellent football in defense and midfield, with the fruits of its labors in those two departments largely wasted by some profligate finishing in attack. In the end that shortcoming did not matter although it should have won by a far bigger margin. Sparta coach Jaroslav Hrebik said afterwards: "Spartak were dangerous and had two good chances to score, but we defended very well." Spartak coach Oleg Romantsev added: "We lost to the better team on the night and we do not deserve to go through to the next stage on the way we played tonight." After dominating a first half in which they produced six clear scoring chances, Sparta finally made the breakthrough after 57 minutes when Kincl, who had headed straight at goalkeeper Maxim Levitsky with the gaping goal at his mercy, pounced on the rebound and forced the ball home. Sionko added the second in the 88th minute after wriggling through the defence before beating the 'keeper to shoot into an empty net. That Sparta just had those goals to cheer was because Sionko, Jiri Jarosik, Rastislav Michalik and the outstanding Lukas Hartig either wasted good scoring chances or were thwarted by some brave keeping from Levitsky. Sparta has now gone eight matches without conceding a goal in any competition since August 19 and apart from just two clear-cut chances, that record rarely looked in danger. Spartak's Egor Titov, who scored for Russia against Switzerland in the World Cup last Saturday, had a golden opportunity to put his side ahead after 27 minutes but headed wide with only 19-year-old goalkeeper Petr Cech to beat from two metres out. Late in the game and with the score still 1-0, substitute German Lovchev fired straight at Cech, seeing Spartak's last chance for an equaliser disappear. Spartak's frustration was best summed up by Vladimir Beschastnykh, who scored a hat-trick for Russia against the Swiss on Saturday. He could find no way through the Sparta defence though and was reduced to screaming at French referee Eric Poulat in desperation for a late penalty, which, like the goals, was never going to come Spartak's way. SummariesFeyenoord 2 Bayern Munich 2 - result Scorers: Feyenoord - Pierre van Hooijdonk 38, Jon Dahl Tomasson 45 Bayern Munich - Elber 12, 50 Halftime: 2-1; Attendance: 40,000 Teams: Feyenoord: 1-Edwin Zoetebier; 23-Brett Emerton, 8-Kees van Wonderen, 20-Ferry de Haan, 3-Tomasz Rzasa (25-Ramon van Haaren 65); 6-Paul Bosvelt, 26-Pieter Collen, 10-Jon Dahl Tomasson, 17-Patrick Paauwe; 7-Bonaventure Kalou (14-Shinsji Ono 74), 9- Pierre van Hooijdonk. Bayern: 1-Oliver Kahn; 2-Willy Sagnoi, 4-Samuel Kuffour, 12-Robert Kovac, 3-Bixente Lizarazu; 20-Hasan Salihamidzic, 6- Pablo Thiam (23-Owen Hargreaves 46), 13-Paolo Sergio, 17-Thorsten Fink (10-Ciriaco Sforza 84); 9-Elber (24-Roque Santa Cruz 78), 14-Claudio Pizarro. Referee: Gilles Veissiere (France). Sparta Prague 2 Spartak Moscow 0 - result Scorers: Marek Kincl 57, Libor Sionko 88 Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 17,221 Teams: Sparta Prague: 17-Petr Cech; 2-Zdenek Grygera, 16-Tomas Huebschmann, 8-Jiri Novotny, 3-Vladimir Labant; 14-Libor Sionko, 4-Martin Hasek, 20-Jiri Jarosik, 10-Rastislav Michalik (7-Lukas Zelenka 61); 12-Lukas Hartig (18-Radim Holub 80), 9-Marek Kincl (23-Petr Papousek 90) Spartak Moscow: 1-Maxim Levitsky; 2-Yuri Kovtun, 6-Dmitry Ananko, 29-Igor Mitrevski, 18-Dmitry Parfyonov; 7-Vasily Baranov, 8-Viktor Bulatov, 9-Yegor Titov, 21-Artyom Bezrodny (10-Eduard Tsykhmeistruk 57); 11-Vladimir Beschastnykh, 24-Luis Robson (28-German Lovchev 61) Referee: Eric Poulat (France).
Reuters contributed to this report.
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