Perfect start for Real Madrid
Defending champs start Champions League with 2-0 win
Posted: Wednesday September 16, 1998 05:56 PM
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Ronaldo (right) and his Inter Milan squad lost in European Champions League action AP |
LONDON (AP) -- Defending champion Real Madrid posted a 2-0
victory Wednesday over UEFA Cup holders Inter Milan as the
Champions League opened play Wednesday with 12 first-rotation
matches.
Other powerhouses weren't as fortunate as the Spaniards.
Manchester United blew a 2-0 lead and drew 3-3 against Barcelona
before a disappointed 55,000 sellout at Old Trafford.
Danish side Brondby upset German giant Bayen Munich 2-1, while
'96 champion Juventus was held to a 2-2 draw by Turkey's
Galatasaray. French champions Lens drew 1-1 with English champions
Arsenal.
In Seville, Spain, Real Madrid defeated Inter Milan 2-0 as
Fernando Hierro scored in the 79th on a penalty -- after a foul by
Argentine defender Javier Zanetti -- and Clarence Seedorf made it
2-0 in second-half stoppage time.
Real Madrid, playing 300 miles (500 kilometers) from home in
Seville -- a penalty for crowd trouble in last season's European
Champions Cup semifinal -- neutralized Brazilian superstar Ronaldo
in the key Group C matchup. It was only Ronaldo's second game since
his World Cup nightmare in July.
He probably had Inter's best chance to score early in the second
period but shot high and to the right of Real Madrid goalkeeper
Bodo Illgner.
Chilean Ivan Zamorano also squandered a good scoring opportunity
with just minutes left as his header from just outside the box
siled high.
In Manchester, England, Luis Enrique scored on a penalty in the
71st as Barcelona came back for a 3-3 draw at Manchester United.
The penalty came after United's Nicky Butt was called for a
handball in the area and shown the red card.
The tying goal came just seven minutes after England
international David Beckham had scored on a 25-yard free
kick in the 64th for what looked like the deciding goal.
Welsh international Ryan Giggs and England's Paul Scholes scored
first-half goals as United took a 2-0 lead. But Barcelona rallied
with two early second-half goals by Sonny Anderson and Giovanni on
a penalty to tie.
It was a decent start for Barcelona in Group D -- the most
difficult this season -- and a disappointing one for United. Last
season, Barca won only one of six games in the Champions League and
was eliminated. United reached the quarterfinals.
In Turin, Italy, favored Juventus of Turin, one player down for
most of the match, was held to a 2-2 draw by Galatasaray of Turkey
in its Group B match.
The equalizer by Italian defender Alessandro Birindelli, with a
powerful header in the 68th minute, prevented the Turkish team from
achieving a sensational upset win at the home of the storied
Italian league champions.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, Allan Ravn's 90th minute goal gave
Brondby an upset 2-1 win over Bayern Munich. The match was
scoreless until the 71st minute when Bayern midfielder Markus
Babbel gave the visitors a 1-0 lead on a long free kick by Stefan
Effenberg.
But in the 87th minute, Bayern's Thomas Helmer unintentionally
contributed to the equalizer when a low drive by Brondby forward
Soeren Colding rebounded off his foot into the net for an own-goal.
In Lens, France, an stoppage time equalizer by Tony Vairelles
earned Lens a 1-1 draw with Arsenal. Vairelles poked in a left-wing
corner from two yards to level after Marc Overmars had
given the visitors a 51st minute lead.
In other games:
In Kaiserlautern, Germany, Martin Wagner scored in the 41st
minute in an evenly balanced match to give Kaiserslautern a 1-0
victory over Benfica Lisbon. Benfica finished with 10 men after
defender Khalej Tahar was sent off for a late tackle.
In Eindhoven, Netherlands, HJK Helsinki, the first Finnish team
to play in the Champions League, lost 2-1 to PSV Eindhoven on a
last-minute Arnold Bruggink strike. Finnish international Mika
Kottila scored in the 32nd and Andre Ooijer equalized for PSV in
the 59th.
In Porto, Porgugal, Olympiakos of Greece fought back from a
two-goal deficit to clinch a 2-2 draw in the final minutes against
Porto. A 90th-minute goal by Serbian Sinica Gogic, coming five
minutes after Stelios Giannacopoulos had pulled one back for the
Greek side, completed a dramatic turnaround.
In Zagreb, Croatia, Croatia Zagreb and Ajax Amsterdam played to
a spirited, scoreless draw. Ajax, a four-time champion of the event,
had the better of the play and looked threatening from outside the
box. However it was Croatia that foiled the best chance to win.
In Bilbao, Spain, Athletic Bilbao blew an early lead and had to
settle for a 1-1 draw with Rosenborg of Norway. The Basques scored
in the sixth minute on clever footwork by Joseba Etxeberria, who
outmaneuvered defender Erik Hoftun and beat goalkeeper Jorn
Jamtfall. But Roar Strand tied in the 64th on a powerful shot from
just outside the area.
In Athens, Greece, Nikos Lymberopoulos' 68th minute goal gave
Panathinaikos Athens a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev in a Group E
game.
In Graz, Austria, Yegor Titov and Ilya Zimbalar scored within
three minutes to give Spartak Moscow a 2-0 victory over Sturm Graz
in a Group C.
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