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Rangers held Chelsea, Lazio, Celtic in good shape in Champions LeaguePosted: Wednesday August 13, 2003 5:21 PMUpdated: Wednesday August 13, 2003 6:07 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Chelsea's new team of millionaires showed some of their value on Wednesday, taking an easy 2-0 victory at Slovakia's Zilina in the third qualifying round, first leg of the Champion League. Italy's Lazio won 3-1 at home over Portugal's Benfica, another of the top European sides trying to qualify for the continent's top club competition. The second legs are played in two weeks with the regular phase of the Champions League beginning next month. Celtic hammered Hungarian side MTK Budapest 4-0, putting the Scots all but through to the group stage. English side Newcastle picked up a narrow 1-0 victory at Serbia's Partizan Belgrade, with Spain's Deportivo drawing 0-0 at Norway's Rosenborg. Chelsea took a 1-0 lead on Eidur Gudjohnsen's first-half goal, and made it 2-0 15 minutes from the end when Zilina's Michal Drahno scored an own-goal as he tried to defend against Gudjohnsen. The game was the first competitive match for Chelsea as manager Claudio Ranieri tries to find a place for eight players purchased by new owner and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Abramovich has been soccer's biggest spender over the summer, shelling out 75 million pounds (US$120 million) since buying the London club last month. Lazio picked up goals from Sinisa Mihajlovic, Bernanrdo Corradi and Stefano Fiore with Simao scoring for the Portuguese. Mihajlovic's goal came on a long-distance free kick in the 80th minute which will provide a cushion for the Italians entering the return leg in Lisbon. In other first-leg matches: At Donetsk, Ukraine, Serbian international midfielder Zvonimir Vukic converted a second-half penalty as Shakhtar Donetsk defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 1-0. Vukic scored in the 56th after Lokomotiv defender Oleg Pachinine brought down Shakhtar striker Olexiy Bielik. At Istanbul, Turkey, Galatasaray defeated CSKA Sofia 3-0 raising Galatasaray's hopes of moving on. The Turks' three first-half goals came from Hasan Sas, Hakan Sukur and Arif Erdem. At Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro, Nolberto Solano scored the only goal as Newcaslte edged Partizan Belgrade 1-0. Solano scored six minutes before the break with Shay Given coming up with key stops for the Magpies. At Skopje, Macedonia, Karel Poborsky scored twice as Czech champions Sparta Prague beat Vardar Skopje 3-2. Sparta took the lead on first-half goals from Poborsky and Igor Gluscevic. Brazilian striker Rogerio da Costa and Slavco Georgievski equalized in the second half. Poborsky got the 89th-minute winner. At Budapest, Hungary, Swedish striker Henrik Larsson scored a goal and assisted on another as Celtic beat Hungarian champions MTK Budapest 4-0. At Trondheim, Norway, Rosenborg held Spain's Deportivo to a scoreless draw to set up the key match in La Coruna. At Brussels, Belgium, Anderlecht moved closer to reaching the next phase of the Champions League, beating Polish champion Wisla Krakow 3-1. Nenad Jestrovic, Goran Lovre and Dindane Aruna scored for the winners. At Bruges, Belgium, two assists from defender Peter Van der Heyden led Club Brugge to a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund. Brugge -- the Belgian champions -- got goals from Nastja Ceh and Gert Verheyen. At Glasgow, Scotland, Rangers and FC Copenhagen drew 1-1 with Peter Lovenkrands scoring for Rangers in the 7th and Todi Jonsson equalizing in the 51st. At Vienna, Austria, Olympique Marseille defeated FK Vienna 1-0 as Dimitry Sytchev scored after only four minutes on a through-ball from Lucio Fernandao. At Zurich, Switzerland, Richard Nunez scored the only goal as Swiss club Grasshoppers won 1-0 over Greek giants AEK Athens. The victory enhanced Grasshoppers' chances of a third Champions League campaign. Grasshoppers also qualified in 1995 and 1996. In three matches on Tuesday: Dynamo Kiev 3, Dinamo Zagreb 1; Grazer AK 1, Ajax 1; Celta de Vigo 3, Slavia Prague 0.
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