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| Monday, September 23, 2002 24:19 EST |
AS Roma stunned by Modena
[Reuters]
MILAN -- AS Roma suffered its second straight defeat of the Serie A season as newly promoted Modena enjoyed a 2-1 win after Roma had defender Christian Panucci sent
off just before the break.
Roma, which lost at Bologna on the opening day of the season, had not lost at home for more than two seasons. They took the lead in the fifth minute through a Francesco Totti spot kick before a controversial Omar Milanetto penalty and then a
Giuseppe Sculli strike in the 77th minute gave Modena victory.
Inter Milan needed a dramatic injury-time goal from Uruguayan striker Alvaro Recoba to give them a 2-1 win at promoted Reggina.
AC Milan and Juventus both won their games on Saturday to maintain 100 percent records matched only by Piacenza and Inter.
The pressure was on Roma after the Bologna loss and the 3-0 midweek defeat by Real Madrid in the Champions League but Fabio Capello was boosted by the return of Totti from injury.
The Italy international put Roma ahead, driving home a penalty after he had been brought down by Modena defender Mauro Meyer.
But the game turned two minutes before the break when Emerson was harshly judged to have barged Sculli and referee Stefano Farina awarded a penalty.
Roma's Panucci was sent off for his protests and Milanetto pulled the visitors level with the spot kick.
Despite being down to 10 men, Roma continued to look for a winner in the second half but were stunned when Sculli latched on to a long ball forward, burst into the area and slipped the ball past Roma keeper Francesco Antonioli.
Modena keeper Marco Ballotta pulled off a superb save to foil Emerson and then in injury time Totti missed a great chance to equalize when he shot straight at Ballotta from point-blank range.
Inter got the perfect start in Reggio Calabria when Christian Vieri grabbed his second goal of the campaign with a well-struck volley from a long cross-field ball from Marco
Materazzi.
Although they rarely sparkled, Inter appeared to be well in control of the match until, with 90 minutes showing on the clock, defender Fabio Cannavaro was judged to have brought down Reggina forward Massimo Rastelli and Japanese international
Shunsuke Nakamura converted the spot kick.
Inter, which handed the title to Juventus last season with a disastrous final-day defeat to Lazio, looked to have pressed the self-destruct button once again but on this occasion they swiftly bounced back.
Substitute Hernan Crespo cut in from the right flank and slipped the ball to Recoba, who made just enough room for a low shot that zipped past Reggina keeper Luca Castellazzi.
Lazio recovered from their opening-day defeat to Chievo to kick up a hard-earned, but late, win at battling Torino -- Diego Simeone breaking free of his marker to head home a Sinisa Mihajlovic corner four minutes from the end.
Chievo lost only three times at their Bentegodi stadium last season but were beaten in their first home game of the season by a determined Brescia, inspired by former European Player of the Year Roberto Baggio.
Albanian Igli Tare put Brescia in front, heading home a free kick from Baggio before Federico Cossato equalized, taking advantage of an error from Brescia's Czech keeper Pavel Srnicek.
Three minutes from the end Baggio picked out Anthony Seric, who fired a low shot under the body of Chievo keeper Cristiano Lupatelli.
Piacenza's veteran striker Dario Hubner, joint top scorer last season, was on target for the second successive week and set his side on the way to an impressive 2-0 win over Udinese. Former Juventus midfielder Enzo Maresca added the second.
Spain: Celta Vigo moves into first
MADRID -- Alexander Mostovoi struck twice to send Celta Vigo top of the Spanish first division with a 3-0 victory at Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.
Mostovoi blasted in his first from long range a minute before halftime and the Russian added a second on 72 minutes before Benni McCarthy struck late on to ensure a third win from three league games for Celta.
Malaga missed the chance to take a share of the lead as defending champions Valencia came back to claim a 2-2 draw with an injury-time strike from Miguel Angel Angulo.
Real Sociedad was also denied its third straight win as it had to fight back to claim a 3-3 draw in a thriller at home to Real Betis, Darko Kovacevic scoring twice for the Basque
side.
After three games, Celta leads the standings with a maximum nine points.
Valencia was second on seven points, ahead of Barcelona, 2-0 winner over Espanyol on Saturday, Real Sociedad and Malaga on goal difference.
Real Madrid was among a group of sides on six points after they made it two wins from two completed games with a 4-1 victory over Osasuna on Saturday. Real's game against Betis last weekend had to be suspended because of floodlight failure.
Celta was struggling to get going against newly-promoted Recreativo before Mostovoi turned the game with a stunning 30-meter drive just before the break.
Celta keeper Pablo Cavallero then protected his side's lead by saving a weakly-struck Oscar Arpon penalty early in the second half before Mostovoi struck again.
Germany: Schalke 04 jumps to third place
BERLIN -- Schalke 04 has climbed to third in the German first division with a 2-1 victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Denmark midfielder Christian Poulsen opened the scoring on 15 minutes for the German Cup holders, who remain four points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Belgian striker Joris van Hout equalized in the 31st minute for the visitors, who dropped to eighth place by conceding their second defeat of the season.
Nigerian striker Victor Agali headed the winner for the Gelsenkirchen club just before the break.
Second-place Hansa Rostock is also on 12 points from six games but has a better goal difference than Schalke.
A hat trick from 20-year-old striker Kevin Kuranyi presented VfB Stuttgart with a 3-0 victory over Arminia Bielefeld in the other game played Sunday.
It was the first victory of the season for Stuttgart, which is now 10th in the 18-strong table, two spots above promoted Bielefeld.
Scotland: Larsson, Celtic keep heat on Rangers
GLASGOW -- Henrik Larsson was on target again as Celtic kept up the pressure on leaders Rangers with a 1-0 Scottish Premier League win at Dundee on Sunday.
The Swede fired the champions in front in the 18th minute, rifling home a left-foot shot from inside the area after a neat one-two.
It was Larsson's 10th goal of the season and proved enough to give the champions their seventh league win and cut Rangers' advantage to just one point after eight matches.
In the day's other match, Aberdeen won 2-1 at Livingston in a clash between the division's bottom two teams.
Aberdeen, one point ahead of Livingston going into the match, got off to a flying start when Russell Anderson headed them in front in the first minute.
Davide Xausa equalized 10 minutes into the second half but Kevin McNaughton sealed victory in the 72nd minute, pouncing inside the penalty area after Darren Mackie's shot was parried by Livingston keeper Javier Sanchez Broto.
The result left Livingston propping up the table on four points while Aberdeen moved up three places to eighth.
France: Fighting breaks out in PSG's tie with Bastia
PARIS -- Preseason favorite Paris St. Germain was again disappointing at home in a 1-1 draw with Bastia in a tense French first division game on Sunday that
boiled over in injury time as fighting broke out on the pitch.
With PSG pressing for a winner in the dying minutes Brazil's World Cup-winning midfielder Ronaldinho put in a heavy challenge on goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau that sparked fighting among the players as the home team's Mauricio Pochettino got involved.
PSG coach Luis Fernandez had to interve to calm things down and referee Laurent Duhamel handed out five yellow cards.
The Parisian side had begun the match looking tired and uninspired and only seemed to react once it found itself a goal down, former France striker Lilian Laslandes having opened the scoring for the Corsicans in the 57th minute.
PSG's pressure paid off when Brazilian defender Paulo Cesar equalized on 77 minutes as Bastia was briefly down to 10-men as defender Mickael Essien was treated for an injury off the pitch.
But the Parisians, who had a chance to move up to third in the table but instead slipped two places to sixth, were unable to score again and the frustration showed in the dying minutes as the fists started flying to tarnish a lackluster match.
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