English Premier League sides Tottenham and Bolton took tentative steps closer to the UEFA Cup last 16 on Thursday, while Aberdeen maintained Scottish pride with a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich.
Tottenham Hotspur overcame an awful howler by goalkeeper Radek Cerny to beat Slavia Prague 2-1.
Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane had given Spurs a 2-0 cushion at halftime in Prague to keep alive coach Juande Ramos' dreams of winning a third successive UEFA Cup to add to his two with Sevilla in 2006 and last year.
PHOTO: AFP
But Cerny, a former Slavia player, gifted the Czechs a goal in the 69th minute when he dropped a cross.
"I think we controlled the match in the first hour, but then we became quite nervous. We should have achieved a better result," said Ramos, who refused to blame Cerny for his mistake. "Mistakes are made on the field. Today it was the turn of Cerny, but we should not dwell on it."
The English side, winners of the competition in 1972 and 1984, were in front after just four minutes when Berbatov scored with a smart half-volley from the edge of the penalty area which beat Martin Vaniak in the Slavia goal.
PHOTO: AP
Spurs were deservedly two goals ahead on the half-hour mark when Keane latched on to a fine Jermaine Jenas pass before slotting the ball past Vaniak.
Slavia pulled a goal back when David Hubacek's hopeful left wing cross was dropped by Cerny on his goalline in the 69th minute and David Strihavka stabbed the ball home over the line from underneath the crossbar.
At the Reebok Stadium, El Hadji Diouf's goal 16 minutes from time gave Bolton Wanderers a 1-0 lead to take to Spain next week as they beat 10-man Atletico Madrid.
The game turned in the 74th minute when Atletico substitute Sergio Aguero was sent off for spitting on Matt Taylor.
Moments later, Senegal striker Diouf scored from 6m following good build-up play by Stelios Giannakopoulos and Taylor.
"We stressed the importance of keeping a clean sheet," Bolton boss Gary Megson said. "We've kept four clean sheets out of our last five games. We're doing OK, not just as a back four but as a team. We would have liked to have scored more goals, but we couldn't have tried harder."
Bayern Munich twice came from behind to secure a 2-2 draw at Aberdeen.
In front of a lively crowd of 20,047, the Dons had been hoping to emulate their 1983 predecessors, who defeated Bayern 3-2 on their way to winning the Cup Winners Cup.
At halftime, a home victory looked a possibility with Aberdeen leading 2-1 thanks to goals from on-loan teenagers Josh Walker and Sone Aluko, with German World Cup striker Miroslav Klose scoring in between for Munich.
However, Bayern were awarded a soft second half penalty and although Hamit Altintop's effort was blocked by goalkeeper Jamie Langfield, the Turkish international smashed the rebound home.
Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood believed a draw was a fair result.
"It was a wonderful first half performance and it says a lot that we're disappointed we've not beaten one of the richest clubs in the world," Calderwood said.
SV Hamburg had better luck than their Bundesliga rivals Bayern when they cruised to a 3-1 victory at FC Zurich while former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu scored after 16 minutes to give Fiorentina a 1-0 win at Rosenborg in Norway.
In Thursday night's other tie, Portugal's Benfica edged Nuremberg 1-0.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS