FOOTBALL - UEFA CUP
English and German sides dream, French clubs sink
Thursday, November 29, 2007
The third UEFA day was marked by some acts of violence outside stadiums but the beautiful game prevailed around European cities. Tottenham and Hamburg were reassured, Rennes and Toulouse dropped.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
By AFP
Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton gave their fans a UEFA Cup night to remember Thursday as Bayern Munich were held to a draw by Portuguese minnows Sporting Braga.
Spurs, a goal down after just two minutes, fought back to beat Danish side Aalborg 3-2 at White Hart Lane, while Bolton scored a dramatic last-minute equaliser at home to finish 1-1 with Aris Salonika.
Tottenham, who were stretching their new coach Juande Ramos' unbeaten run to six games, are top of group G while Bolton are third in group F on three points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Bayern remain top despite eking out a 1-1 draw in Portugal, their second draw of the competition but a result which nonetheless leaves the German giants clear on five points, one ahead of Aris and two ahead of Bolton.
High-flying German side SV Hamburg were among the early benefactors as the battle for the UEFA Cup's latter stages continued Thursday.
Hamburg appeared not to need the benefit of home advantage as they brushed off the threat of French pretenders Rennes, winning 3-0 to seal their place in the last 32.
Rennes have failed to win their past five matches, and were out of their depth against a side who, in the German Bundesliga, are only a point behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Dominated in the midfield and with their defence unable to keep up with Hamburg's attack, the Germans had little difficulty in scoring.
On the half hour Croatian Ivica Olic drew two Rennes defenders close in before slipping the ball off to Rafael van der Vaart who made no mistake from near the penalty spot.
Van der Vaart then turned provider for Eric Choupo-Moting in the 83rd minute, and Hamburg grabbed their third goal from a Mohamed Zidan penalty seven minutes later.
Coach Huub Stevens, simultaneously celebrating his 54th birthday, said: "I'm really happy about how the players achieved this result - it's a great birthday gift.
"After a slow start we effectively shut Rennes down. They didn't really give us any threat at all."
In Prague meanwhile Spartak Moscow forced their hosts Sparta Prague into accepting a scoreless draw, but there was arguably more drama off the pitch than on it.
After scuffles between rival fans in the city centre, Czech police were forced to brandish and use their batons after fans of the Russian side attacked stadium stewards, according to Czech public television reports.
Violence erupted just before half time and Czech police were forced to keep the Spartak fans in the stadium for more than half an hour after the final whistle.
And in Spain 11 people were injured when supporters of Aberdeen and Atletico Madrid clashed Thursday before their UEFA Cup Group B match which Atletico won 2-0.
Police intervened to separate the rival supporters who pelted each other with bottles and other objects in the Vicente Calderon stadium, radio Cadena Ser reported.
It said 11 people were injured, most of whom suffered bruises.
Another Russian club, Zenith St. Petersburg, missed the chance to go top of Group A after a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at home to Nuremberg.
Angelos Charisteas gave the visitors a first-half lead before two goals in four second-half minutes from Pavel Pogrebnyak and substitute Aleksei Ionov put Zenith ahead.
Leon Benko then came off the bench to head home five minutes from time and level the scores.
Spurs, a goal down after just two minutes, fought back to beat Danish side Aalborg 3-2 at White Hart Lane, while Bolton scored a dramatic last-minute equaliser at home to finish 1-1 with Aris Salonika.
Tottenham, who were stretching their new coach Juande Ramos' unbeaten run to six games, are top of group G while Bolton are third in group F on three points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Bayern remain top despite eking out a 1-1 draw in Portugal, their second draw of the competition but a result which nonetheless leaves the German giants clear on five points, one ahead of Aris and two ahead of Bolton.
High-flying German side SV Hamburg were among the early benefactors as the battle for the UEFA Cup's latter stages continued Thursday.
Hamburg appeared not to need the benefit of home advantage as they brushed off the threat of French pretenders Rennes, winning 3-0 to seal their place in the last 32.
Rennes have failed to win their past five matches, and were out of their depth against a side who, in the German Bundesliga, are only a point behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Dominated in the midfield and with their defence unable to keep up with Hamburg's attack, the Germans had little difficulty in scoring.
On the half hour Croatian Ivica Olic drew two Rennes defenders close in before slipping the ball off to Rafael van der Vaart who made no mistake from near the penalty spot.
Van der Vaart then turned provider for Eric Choupo-Moting in the 83rd minute, and Hamburg grabbed their third goal from a Mohamed Zidan penalty seven minutes later.
Coach Huub Stevens, simultaneously celebrating his 54th birthday, said: "I'm really happy about how the players achieved this result - it's a great birthday gift.
"After a slow start we effectively shut Rennes down. They didn't really give us any threat at all."
In Prague meanwhile Spartak Moscow forced their hosts Sparta Prague into accepting a scoreless draw, but there was arguably more drama off the pitch than on it.
After scuffles between rival fans in the city centre, Czech police were forced to brandish and use their batons after fans of the Russian side attacked stadium stewards, according to Czech public television reports.
Violence erupted just before half time and Czech police were forced to keep the Spartak fans in the stadium for more than half an hour after the final whistle.
And in Spain 11 people were injured when supporters of Aberdeen and Atletico Madrid clashed Thursday before their UEFA Cup Group B match which Atletico won 2-0.
Police intervened to separate the rival supporters who pelted each other with bottles and other objects in the Vicente Calderon stadium, radio Cadena Ser reported.
It said 11 people were injured, most of whom suffered bruises.
Another Russian club, Zenith St. Petersburg, missed the chance to go top of Group A after a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw at home to Nuremberg.
Angelos Charisteas gave the visitors a first-half lead before two goals in four second-half minutes from Pavel Pogrebnyak and substitute Aleksei Ionov put Zenith ahead.
Leon Benko then came off the bench to head home five minutes from time and level the scores.
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