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Galatasaray held 0-0 Lazio defeats PSV Eindhoven 2-1 to keep hope alive
Updated: Tuesday October 16, 2001 6:38 PM
ROME (Reuters) -- Lazio kept alive their slim hopes of making the second stage of the Champions League, beating PSV Eindhoven 2-1 on Tuesday to claim their first Group D win. A first-half strike from Stefano Fiore and then a Claudio Lopez penalty 10 minutes after the break put Lazio 2-0 up. But PSV struck back through Yugoslav striker Mateja Kezman and came close to an equalizer on several occasions only to be foiled by inspired Lazio keeper Angelo Peruzzi. The Rome side began the game in bottom place without a point and facing possible exit from the competition, but have narrowed the gap as PSV slipped into third on six points, one point behind Galatasary and Nantes who drew 0-0 in Turkey. PSV coach Eric Gerets fielded a cautious line-up with Kezman alone in attack but they had a great chance to open the scoring in the 12th minute. Johann Vogel's low cross found Wilfred Bouma but the Dutchman fired over from point-blank range. Lazio were content with little more than probing -- only two efforts from Lopez causing any concern for PSV keeper Patrick Lodewijks. But then Alberto Zaccheroni's side found the inspiration that has been lacking for so much of what has been a poor start to the season and it was provided by two of the men who have been blamed for their troubles. Spaniard Gaizka Mendieta, who until Tuesday had failed to show his true quality, sprung the PSV defense with a lofted pass over the top and Fiore, a recent target of the Lazio fans, punched home a fierce left foot, diagonal shot past Lodewijks. Lazio doubled their lead when Simone Inzaghi was ruled to have been pulled down inside the area by PSV defender Yuri Nikorov, although television replays suggested the Lazio striker made the most of a slight shirt tug from the Russian defender. Argentine Lopez converted the penalty but Lazio's celebrations had barely settled when PSV pulled a goal back. Jan Heintze burst down the left flank and put over a low cross into the path of the unmarked Kezman who made no mistake from close range. PSV piled on the pressure in the latter stages with Lazio keeper Angelo Peruzzi forced to make a series of fine saves. He kept out a powerful header from PSV substitute Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and then reacted quickly to stop a close range shot from Andre Ooijer after a goalmouth scramble. Substitute Theo Lucius, whose introduction injected some much-needed life into the PSV midfield, then brought another excellent save out of Peruzzi with a well-struck shot from 25 meters. But Lazio regained their composure and held out to claim their first points of the campaign -- although they still need to win both their remaining matches to have any realistic chance of progression. Still work to do, says Lazio's Zaccheroni Lazio coach Alberto Zaccheroni was pleased with his team's victory but conceded it is still far from reaching its full potential. "Clearly I am satisfied with the result but we have not yet fully got over the problems we have had," said Zaccheroni, whose team picked up their first win in six Serie A games on Saturday with victory over Atalanta. "We are still recovering ourselves. If against Atalanta we produced a good 20 minutes, tonight we managed at least 35. "But I was not happy with the way we played up until we got the first goal -- only then did we really start to play," said the Lazio coach. Zaccheroni said he was particularly pleased by the performances of midfielders Gaizka Mendieta and Fiore, who have both been under fire for poor starts to the season. Fiore, whose opening goal was created by Mendieta, said the team was starting to gain the benefits of the work put in by Zaccheroni in the month since he took over from Dino Zoff. "We have started a certain kind of work which is begining to produce it's first fruits," said Fiore, "This was an important win for the whole team." Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti admitted the team had struggled in the latter stages, as PSV put them under intense pressure, but said the team was back on the right track. "Now we can see some light at the end of the tunnel and start to hope. We need to win our next game and then see where we are," said Cragnotti. "The lads realised that this was there last chance and they showed great character and they have more belief in themselves. When we get [defender Alessandro] Nesta and [striker Hernan] Crespo back then this team can really do something," added the Lazio chief. Galatasaray, Nantes fail to break scoreless deadlockISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Galatasaray and FC Nantes fought to a scoreless draw in their Champions League clash Tuesday, further tangling up the deadlock in Group D. The result leaves both teams tied for first spot with seven points and evenly placed to qualify for the second stage of the competition, but neither sparkled in a scrappy encounter. Neither keeper was much troubled early on -- except by their own defenders. A misplaced back pass by Vedat Inceefe nearly caught Galatasaray keeper Ferid Mondragon on the wrong foot, while the Nantes back four showed a dangerous fondness for playing short passes close to their own goal. Olivier Quint was troubling Galatasaray with his running down the left, and he notched the game's first shot at goal in the 27th minute, driving well wide of Mondragon's left post. Galatasaray's first real effort came in the 31st minute, when Bulent Akin lobbed over from some 40 yards (40 meters) after picking up a weak clearance from Nantes keeper Mickael Landreau. The Turks were beginning to control the game, and after 43 minutes striker Serkan Aykut missed a good chance to open the scoring when a clever pass from playmaker Sergen Yalcin put him clear on goal. Goal chances were less scarce in the second half as both teams began to take risks. Yves Deroff created one for the French champion after a sharp exchange of passes on the left after 56 minutes, but Pierre-Yves Andre's shot was blocked by Emre Asik. Arif Erdem forced Landreau to make his first save after 63 minutes with a skidding low shot that had the Nantes keeper diving to his left. At the other end, Mondragon did well to stop Sylvain Armand's low shot from the corner of the box, and his defenders did just as well to block Eric Djemba's snap shot from the rebound. Nantes nearly broke the deadlock in the 74th minute but Quint's free kick, which curled narrowly wide of the left post. With eight minutes left, substitute Umit Karan connected with a powerful drive from 20 meters (20 yards), but it flew wide. Hakan Unsal's inviting low cross gave the Turks a golden chance to steal a win in the last minute, but neither Umit nor Sergen could stretch the extra centimeters (inches) to reach it. SummariesLazio 2 PSV Eindhoven 1 - resultScorers: Lazio - Stefano Fiore 39, Claudio Lopez 55pen PSV Eindhoven - Mateja Kezman 56 Halftime: 1-0 Teams: Lazio: 70-Angelo Peruzzi; 24-Fernando Couto, 31-Jaap Stam, 19-Giuseppe Favalli; 8-Karel Poborsky (18-Paolo Negro 72), 6-Gaizka Mendieta, 16-Giuliano Giannichedda, 15-Giuseppe Pancaro; 20-Stefano Fiore (4-Dino Baggio 82); 7-Claudio Lopez, 21-Simone Inzaghi (10-Hernan Crespo 60) PSV Eindhoven: 20-Patrick Lodewijks; 2-Andre Ooijer, 4-Ernest Faber, 21-Yuri Nikiforov (8-Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink 65), 29-Kevin Hofland, 5-Jan Heintze (10-Arnold Bruggink 84); 19-Dennis Rommedahl, 15-John de Jong (16-Theo Lucius 46), 14-Johann Vogel, 22-Wilfred Bouma; 9-Mateja Kezman Referee: Antonio Lopez Nieto (Spain) Galatasaray 0 Nantes 0 - result Halftime: 0-0 Teams: Galatasaray: 1-Faryd Mandrogon; 2-Vedat Inceefe, 5-Emre Asik, 6-Arif Erdem (23-Andre Jose Fleurquin, 73), 11-Hasan Sas, 12-Bulent Akin (8-Suat Kaya, 65), 13-Sergen Yalcin, 15-Sebastien Peres, 55-Serkan Aykut (9-Umit Karan, 58), 57-Hakan Unsal, 67-Ergun Penbe. Nantes: 1-Mickael Landreau; 2-Nestor Fabbri, 11-Pierre-Yves Andre (19-Marama Vahirua, 69), 12-Pascal Delhommeau, 13-Matthieu Berson, 17-Hassan Ahamada (8-Frederic Da Rocha, 65), 20-Eric Djemba, 21-Olivier Quint, 22-Sylvain Armand, 24-Yves Deroff, 29-Stephane Ziani. Referee: Helmut Krug (Germany)
Reuters contributed to this report.
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