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Group C Roundup AEK holds Madrid 3-3; AS Roma wins 1-0 at GenkPosted: Wednesday October 02, 2002 5:19 PMUpdated: Wednesday October 02, 2002 7:28 PM
ATHENS (Reuters) -- AEK Athens gave Real Madrid their first real test of this season's Champions League on Wednesday making them fight all the way for a 3-3 draw with two goals from Zinedine Zidane. Vassilis Tsartas was at the heart of a stunning first half from the Greeks. The former Sevilla midfielder swung a sixth-minute free kick against a post only to be booked for taking the kick too early. Forced to retake, he made no mistake, coolly swinging the ball beyond Iker Casillas for the opener. With Fernando Hierro absent the Champions League favourites lacked an organising figure in defence and the Greeks took advantage. A 24th-minute corner from Tsartas was nodded home by Christos Maladenis before another free kick from the Greece international was diverted in by the darting Demis Nikolaidis four minutes later. For all their adventure in attack the hosts had no answer to the quick-fire passing of Real, driven forward by Zidane. It was the Frenchman who hit back with a well struck 15th minute shot, before closing the deficit in the 40th minute from close range. With both sides opting for all-out attack more goals seemed certain to arrive after the interval. Raul rattled the bar with a rising shot at one end, before Nikolaidis chipped a neat ball over Casillas only for it to roll just wide. It took 20 minutes for the score to change and it was in-form Guti who equalized, darting in front of Dionysos Hiotis to flick a Roberto Carlos cross into the net. Both sides missed chances in a frantic finale and home coach Dusan Bajevic finished the match with a trio of strikers on the pitch pressing for victory. Del Bosque acclaims beautiful gameReal Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque acclaimed what he described as a beautiful game after his side shared the points with AEK Athens in a 3-3 thriller."It was a beautiful spectacle, there were a lot of chances," he said. AEK stunned the holders with a three-goal salvo in the opening half hour, but a double strike from Zinedine Zidane hauled Real back into the match before Guti grabbed the equaliser on the hour. "We dominated the game but AEK had the superior attack," said Del Bosque. "It was an open game and they scored three goals from three chances, we gave them the space and the game could have finished 7-5." AEK coach Dusan Bajevic echoed Del Bosque's assessment but bemoaned missed chances that could cost his side a place in the next phase. "It was a great game, fast, open and lots of chances. We started well, took the lead but we lost [Milen] Petkov to injury and we conceded the equalizer. When we found ourselves with a two-goal lead we couldn't hold on to it. "It was not a position we expected to be in and you can't make the game finish when you want it to." Bajevic declared Roma favorites to follow Madrid into the second phase. "As with the other games we had the chances but we have only three points. After the Roma win they will go on and things become extremely difficult for us, we now have to beat Roma in Rome," said Bajevic. Del Bosque would not accept that his team had already qualified and refused to identify which team he expected to progress. "I don't indulge in predictions, the next step for us is to qualify for the next phase," he said. The AEK coach dedicated the surprise draw to the club's acting president Makis Psomiadis who was this week sentenced to 12 years in prison on fraud charges. "This one is for our president who is going through difficult times at the moment," he said. Summary AEK Athens 3 Real Madrid 3 - result Champions League first stage, group C Scorers: AEK Athens - Vassilis Tsartas 6, Christos Maladenis 24, Demis Nikolaidis 28 Real Madrid - Zinedine Zidane 15, 40, Guti 60 Halftime: 3-2; Attendance: 11,000 Teams: AEK Athens: 22-Dionysis Hiotis, 5-Nikos Kostenoglou, 19-Mauricio Wright, 32-Michalis Kapsis, 6-Thodoris Zagorakis (18-Walter Centeno, 82), 10-Vassilis Tsartas (30-Ilija Ivic, 83) 17-Michalis Kasapis, 21-Costas Katsouranis, 23-Vassilis Lakis, 11-Demis Nikolaidis, 28-Milen Petkov (7-Christos Maladenis, 16) Real Madrid: 1-Iker Casillas, 2-Michel Salgado, 3-Roberto Carlos, 6-Ivan Helguera, 22-Francisco Pavon, 24-Claude Makelele 19-Esteban Cambiasso, 10-Luis Figo, 5-Zinedine Zidane (18-Javier Portillo, 83) 14-Guti (8-Steve McManaman, 85), 7-Raul (9-Fernando Morientes, 80) Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia) Cassano goal lifts AS Roma to 1-0 win at GenkGENK, Belgium (AP) -- AS Roma's Antonio Cassano led his team to its first Champions League victory this season, downing Racing Genk in a hard-fought 1-0 win Wednesday. Cassano headed in the goal in the 81st minute after a messy clearing pass from Genk defender Igor Tomasic, which landed right in front of the AS Roma striker. The win leaves a struggling Roma with a chance to fight for second in their Champions League group, which includes last year's Champions Cup winner, Real Madrid, and AEK Athens. With either team yet to win a Champions League match, or to score a single goal before Wednesday, both sides came out fighting in a physical first half of play, much to the delight of the 22,000-capacity crowd at the Fenix Stadium. Genk goalkeeper Jan Moons was given a red card by French referee Alain Sars in the ninth minute for charging incoming Roma captain Francesco Totti and handling the ball out of the penalty box. Moons' ejection left Genk with a man down, with much of the game still to play. Roma's Damiano Tommasi returned the favor when he took down Genk forward Wesley Sonck, for which he got a yellow card. Despite having a man advantage, Roma failed to put a solid shot on the Genk goal in the first half, and did little to improve their game in the second half. The best chance for Roma came after a speedy cross-pass from Cassano to Argentine international Gabriel Batistuta in the 62nd minute but was foiled by Genk's substitute goalkeeper Davey Schollen. Genk also had problems getting their offense together, with the team's best shot at its first-ever goal evaporating after Sonck's fancy footwork paid off giving him an open shot on Roma's net, but trickled just outside the goal post in the 74th minute. Sonck had another chance in the 90th minute but missed again on an open net. "It's hard, especially to lose with a goal like that," dejected Genk midfielder Bernd Thijs told Club RTL TV. "It's really disappointing." Summary Genk 0 AS Roma 1 - result Champions League first stage, group C Scorer: Antonio Cassano 81 Red card: Jan Moons (Genk) 9 Halftime: 0-0 Teams: Genk: 1-Jan Moons; 2-Igor Tomasic, 4-Didier Zokora, 22-Justice Wamfor, 13-Akram Roumani (25-Marco Ingrao 85), 10-Josip Skoko, 14-Bernd Thijs, 20-Koen Daerden (3-Soley Seyfo 67), 6-Mirsad Beslija (26-Davy Schollen 12), 8-Wesley Sonck, 9-Beli-Moumouni Dagano AS Roma: 1-Francesco Antonioli; 23-Christian Panucci, 19-Walter Samuel, 5-Jonathan Zebina; 32-Vincent Candela, 8-Francisco Lima, 11-Emerson, 17-Damiano Tommasi (14-Ivan Tomic 52), 2-Cafu (18-Antonio Cassano 46); 10-Francesco Totti, 33-Gabriel Batistuta (9-Vincenzo Montella 68). Referee: Alain Sars (France)
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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