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Group C Roundup Real opens with win vs. Roma; Genk, AEK draw 0-0Posted: Tuesday September 17, 2002 5:26 PMUpdated: Tuesday September 17, 2002 7:53 PM
ROME (AP) -- Two goals by Jose Maria Gutierrez led defending champion Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over a depleted AS Roma squad Tuesday night as the Spanish giants began their pursuit of a 10th Champions Cup. After Roma had mounted an all-out -- but fruitless -- assault on Madrid's goal in the opening 40 minutes of the match, Guti's 41st-minute score took the hosts by surprise and changed the game's tone. Controlling the ball outside the area, Guti made one quick fake to get around Roma defender Christian Panucci and then fired a shot past outstretched Roma goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli. That first quick counterstrike silenced what had been a boisterous sold-out crowd of 71,000 at Rome's Stadio Olimpico. Madrid, perhaps realizing the pressure of defending its championship, struggled to mount any sort of attack up until Guti's first goal, with star French midfielder Zinedine Zidane touching the ball only sparingly in the first half. Zidane later asked to leave the match in the second half due to an apparent sore leg. In the 56th minute, Raul Gonzalez's low shot from just outside the area was just beyond the reach of Antonioli to make it 2-0 and Guti's second goal in the 75th made the Roma fans start heading for the exits early. Using another quick burst to start the action, Guti freed himself from a crowd of Roma defenders to launch another shot past Antonioli. Before the first score, Roma had put Madrid 'keeper Iker Casillas on high alert. With captain Francesco Totti and Argentine international Gabriel Batistuta suspended for the match, fellow strikers Vincenzo Montella and Antonio Cassano produced several scoring chances, but a series of near-misses, slips, blocks and misdirected headers had kept the game scoreless. Second half substitute Marco Delvecchio also came close for Roma in the 76th, hitting the post. The loss continued Roma's poor start to the season following a surprising loss to Bologna in its opening Serie A match on Saturday. Madrid played without Brazilian superstriker Ronaldo, who remained in Spain to regain his form after transferring from Inter Milan on the last day of the summer transfer period. Ronaldo could make his debut for Madrid in the club's next Champions League game against RC Genk of Belgium at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium next week. Meanwhile, Roma had to make do without Totti, Batistuta and Brazilian midfielder Francisco Lima. The three players served suspensions stemming from a post-match brawl with Turkish side Galatasaray in a Champions League match in Rome last season. Also, Roma coach Fabio Capello served a ban from the club's sideline. The game was a rematch of the two teams' encounter in the opening round of last season's Champions League, when Madrid defeated Roma 2-1 Sept. 11, 2001 in one of the few sporting events that was not canceled due to the attacks on the United States. The two clubs will meet again in Spain on Oct. 30. While Madrid hosts Genk next Wednesday, Roma visits AEK Athens, the other club in Group C. Del Bosque says half a game was enough Real Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque said his side had only performed at their peak for half a game after sweeping aside AS Roma 3-0 in the opening game of their Champions League title defence. Real had been under pressure from a determined Roma before taking the lead in the 41st minute through striker Guti and then went on to cruise to victory with a goal from Raul and Guti's second. "I think that is fair to say it was a game of one half for us. Roma were equal to us before the break and for the first five minutes of the second half as well but then we started to pick it up," said Del Bosque. "After we scored the first goal we really found our rhythm and started to create a lot more problems for Roma. "It was a good game and a good win for us and leaves us in a great situation going forward particularly being an away win," added the Real coach, whose side already top group C and now have much easier games to come against Greece's AEK Athens and Belgium's Genk. Real's French midfielder Zinedine Zidane, who had a quiet game by his own high standards, also said that it was only after the break that the Spanish side moved into top gear. "Roma did well in the first half and created chances. But we are a strong side," said a grinning Zidane, who pointed out that the champions are still short of their full potential as Brazilian Ronaldo is not yet fit to play. "Ronaldo is an extra weapon for us," said the Frenchman. Roma's Brazilian wing-back Cafu felt the final scoreline had been unfair on his side. He said: "We were the better team in the first half but we could not convert the chances we created. But I really think that there were not three goals difference between us and Real tonight." But the Italians' assistant coach Italo Galbiati, standing in for the suspended Fabio Capello, was more frank about the gulf between the European champions and a weakened Roma, without key forwards Gabriel Batistuta and Francesco Totti. "We played well for the first 50 minutes but after the second goal it became a thrashing. 3-0 is a heavy loss but I don't think Madrid were dominant throughout the match," said Galbiati. Midfielder Damiano Tommasi said the game could have been totally different had Roma taken the opportunities they created in the first half. "I think we could have put ourselves in the lead but it just didn't happen....coming back against a team like Real Madrid is not easy." Summary AS Roma 0 Real Madrid 3 - result Champions League, group C Scorers: Guti 41, 74, Raul 56 Halftime: 0-1; Attendance: 71,130 AS Roma: 1-Francesco Antonioli; 13-Leandro Cufre (28-Pep Guardiola 46), 31-Traianos Dellas, 19-Walter Samuel, 23-Christian Panucci; 2-Cafu, 17-Damiano Tommasi, 11-Emerson, 32-Vincent Candela; 18-Antonio Cassano (24-Marco Delvecchio 64), 9-Vincenzo Montella Real Madrid: 1-Iker Casillas; 2-Michel Salgado, 4-Fernando Hierro, 6-Ivan Helguera, 3-Roberto Carlos; 10-Luis Figo, 24-Claude Makelele (8-Steve McManaman 78), 19-Esteban Cambiasso, 5-Zinedine Zidane (21-Santiago Solari 69); 7-Raul, 14-Guti Referee: Markus Merk (Germany).
Genk, AEK play to goalless drawBRUSSELS (Reuters) -- Belgian side Genk kicked off their first Champions League campaign with a spirited goalless draw against AEK Athens in group C on Tuesday. With European champions Real Madrid and Italian Serie A side AS Roma completing the group line-up -- Real won 3-0 in Rome -- a draw was of little use to either side. "We played in the way we needed to in Europe," said Genk's assistant coach Jos Daerden. "Perhaps we should have won or could have won but what's important is that we were able to defend." Genk midfielder Ingrao Marco admitted it would have been great to start with three points. "But 0-0, that's how it is. Let's hope we get a 0-0 result next week," he said, referring to Genk's visit to tournament favorites Real next Wednesday. Both teams launched fruitless raids in the opening minutes as they set about the game in search of all three points. After those early exchanges the home side began to dominate the first half, but AEK's terrier-like defense managed to hold off strike duo Wesley Sonck and Beli Moumouni Dagano. The visitors' most visible defender was Michalis Kasapis, whose tenacity earned him a yellow card in the 20th minute and a bloody nose from the elbow of Dagano, who took another vain swing at goal as the Greek was stretchered off temporarily. Kasapis was lucky not to receive a second yellow for a strong challenge on Mirsad Beslija or for ripping away more than a handful of Dagano's shirt. Chance squandered Just before the break, AEK's attack snapped up a backheel meant for Sonck and drove towards the Belgians' goal, but Dimitris Nalitzis hesitated and squandered the chance as a swarm of white shirts got back before he pulled the trigger. AEK's coach Dusko Bajevic looked nervous throughout the second half when the excitement built up with a series of goalmouth scrambles as Genk forced a series of corners and AEK counter-attacked to expose cracks in the home defence. The fast pace took its toll on AEK's captain Vassilis Borbokis, who was injured and substituted in the 53rd minute, and Genk midfielder Bernt Thijs, who got a yellow card for a foul on Demis Nikolaidis. In the dying minutes the two sides stepped up the pressure and traded shots that sliced across the goalmouth, drawing gasps of frustration from the crowd of 22,500, but neither side could make the breakthrough by turning their chances into a goal. After the match a frustrated Sonck said the strength of the AEK defence showed how much respect they had for their hosts. "We tried to do something but they had five at the back. If you play with five at the back here what are you going to do at Roma or Real?" he said. Summary Genk 0 AEK Athens 0 - result Champions League, group C Attendance: 22,500 Teams: Genk: 1-Jan Moons, 2-Igor Tomasic, 4-Didier Zokora, 6-Mirsad Belija, 8-Wesley Sonck, 9-Beli Moumouni Dagano, 10-Josip Skoko, 14-Bernd Thijs, 18-Kevin Vanbeuren, 20-Koen Daerden, 25- Ingrao Marco AEK Athens: 22-Dionysis Hiotis, 2-Vassilis Borbokis (28-Milen Petkov 53), 5-Nikos Kostenoglou, 6-Thodoris Zagorakis, 10-Vassilis Tsartas (7-Christos Maladenis 90), 11-Demis Nikolaidis, 17-Michalis Kasapis, 19-Mauricio Wright, 2-Costas Katsouranis, 32-Michalis Kapsis, 37-Dimitris Nalitzis (23-Vasilis Lakis 64) Referee: Konrad Plautz (Austria)
Reuters contributed to this report. |
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