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| Wednesday, August 14, 2002 18:16 EST |
Bayern, Barca and Celtic post wins
[Reuters]
LONDON -- Unheralded Hungarian champions
Zalaegerszeg scored in injury time to send Manchester United
crashing to a shock 1-0 defeat in the opening leg of their
Champions League qualifying round tie on Wednesday.
United, the richest club side in the world and European
champions three years ago, was sent reeling when late
substitute Bela Koplarovics stole in on a cross from the left to
steer the ball past goalkeeper Roy Carroll with less than a
minute to play.
United created enough chances to win easily and dominated
for most of the match but whereas other former Europeans
champions in the qualifying round like Bayern Munich, Barcelona
and Celtic all scored convincing wins, United faces a tricky
return leg at Old Trafford in two weeks time.
The club should still be good enough to beat the Hungarians at
home -- the venue for the European Cup final next May -- but
coach Alex Ferguson was a disappointed man afterwards.
"It was very disappointing. They had one chance and one goal
in the second half. We didn't take our chances."
United also lost England international defender Wes Brown
with an ankle injury after five minutes, which Ferguson
described as "serious". The team was already without Rio Ferdinand,
its British record signing and French international
keeper Fabien Barthez.
While United was faltering, the club's old rivals Bayern Munich,
European champions in 2001, virtually clinched its place in
the Champions League group stage with an emphatic 3-0 away win
over Partizan Belgrade.
The Germans went ahead in the 21st minute thanks to a
powerful, swerving Michael Tarnat left-foot shot from just
inside the box. Jens Jeremies effectively killed the tie off in
the 71st minute, heading home strongly after a Mehmet Scholl
free kick from the right.
Claudio Pizarro got Bayern's third from close range in the
78th minute, two minutes after Partizan's Igor Duljaj was sent
off.
But the match was marred by crowd trouble and a linesman
needed medical attention after apparently being hit by an object
thrown from the crowd in the second half, although he was able
to continue.
A smoke bomb was also thrown and riot police surrounded
Bayern fans at the end to protect them from any possible
trouble.
Barcelona all but booked its place in the competition
proper with a 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw with goals from Frank de
Boer (8), Juan Riquelme (80) and Philip Cocu (90).
Riquelme, the Argentine forward with the tough job of
replacing Rivaldo, came on as a second-half substitute to score
on his debut.
Former European champions Celtic looked to have done enough,
coming back after conceding a second minute goal to beat FC
Basle 3-1 in Glasgow.
Argentine striker Christian Giminez stunned the 55,000 crowd
with a goal for the Swiss champions after only two minutes, but
Celtic was level just two minutes later when Henrik Larsson
converted a penalty. Chris Sutton (50) and Momo Sylla (88) put
Celtic into a commanding position by the end.
Like Manchester United, AC Milan's place in the Champions
League is not yet secure after it only managed a 1-0 win over
Czech champions Slovan Liberec.
Milan opted not to give a debut to new signing Rivaldo and
certainly could have done with him as the team struggled to break
down the well-organized Czech side. Eventually Filippo Inzaghi
scored the only goal after 68 minutes but that still leaves the
tie finely balanced.
The club's rival Inter Milan also had a tough night, drawing 0-0
with Sporting Lisbon but will now fancy its chances of
qualifying in its home leg in two weeks time.
The 16 teams that win the two-legged qualifying round ties
advance to the Champions League while the losers go into the
first round of the UEFA Cup.
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