Teenager Toni Kroos scored in injury time to give Bayern Munich a 3-2 win over Red Star Belgrade on Thursday, the opening night of the UEFA Cup group stage.
Kroos, a 17-year-old midfielder, scored with a free kick after Miroslav Klose twice had equalized for Bayern Munich.
"You always have to believe that you can turn the game around," Klose said.
Bayern are one of the favorites to win the UEFA Cup, which they claimed in 1996. But after that trophy, the four-time European champions played in the European Champions League for 10 straight seasons and only dropped into Europe's No. 2 competition because they finished fourth in the German league last season.
Also winning on Thursday were Panathinaikos, Everton, Anderlecht, Bordeaux, FC Zurich, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Basel and Everton. Atletico Madrid drew 3-3 at Lokomotiv Moscow and Villareal drew 1-1 with Fiorentina. Tottenham Hotspur lost at home to Getafe 2-1.
Red Star Belgrade led Bayern Munich in the 16th minute with a low shot from Ognjen Koroman, and Nenad Milijas put the Serbian side ahead 2-1 in the 74th minute with a long-range half-volley. Klose equalized in the 84th minute with a header and also scored in the 20th minute from a rebound.
Red Star defender Milos Bajalica was red-carded in injury time and Kroos scored from the resulting free kick.
Bayern, playing without Martin Demichelis, Franck Ribery, Luca Toni and Daniel van Buyten, had difficulty controlling the game on the slippery and difficult pitch at the Red Star stadium.
"It was a hard fight. We would have been happy even with one point," Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. "The pitch was really bad and we were considering whether to ask for the game to be called off, but then we decided against it."
In the other Group F game, Bolton Wanderers drew with Braga in front of new manager Gary Megson, who was installed as the successor to Sammy Lee earlier on Thursday. Jailson scored the equalizer in the 87th minute after El Hadji Diouf had headed Bolton in front in the 66th minute.
Getafe, makings their UEFA Cup debut, won their Group G game against Tottenham Hotspur with goals from Ruben de la Red and Braulio Nobrega. Jermain Defoe scored for Spurs, two-times UEFA Cup champions.
Nicolas Frutos scored in the 36th and 70th minutes for Anderlecht in a 2-0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the other Group G game.
Bayer Leverkusen beat Toulouse 1-0 in Group E. Stefan Kiessling scored his fourth goal in three UEFA Cup matches in the 35th minute, chipping over goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez. FC Zurich also won in Group E with a 2-1 victory over Sparta Prague.
Tim Cahill marked his return from long-term injury with a goal in Everton's 3-1 win over Larissa in Group A. Leon Osman and Victor Anichebe added the others for Everton.
Silva Cleyton scored for Larissa in the 65th minute, stealing the ball from Everton defender Joleon Lescott after he received a pass from goalkeeper Tim Howard.
Also in Group A, Zenit St Petersburg earned a 1-1 draw with visiting AZ Alkmaar. AZ striker Ari scored in the 20th minute but was sent off in the 39th minute. Four minutes later, Anatoliy Tymoschuk equalized from the penalty spot.
Villarreal earned a draw in Group C with an 88th-minute header from Joan Capdevila. Fiorentina, the only Italian team in this season's UEFA Cup, took a 48th-minute lead from a goal by Christian Vieiri.
Also in Group C, Ismael Blanco scored in the 29th minute to give AEK Athens a 1-1 draw at Elfsborg. Daniel Mobaek scored for the Swedish side.
Helsingborg needed a late equalizer from Henrik Larsson to salvage a 1-1 draw with visiting Panionios. He scored in the 83rd minute to cancel out Fanouris Goundoulakis' 45th-minute opener.
Bordeaux beat 2000 champions Galatasaray 2-1 with goals from Marouane Chamakh and Fernando Cavenaghi in the other Group H match.
Sergio Aguero scored a goal in each half to help Atletico Madrid to a 3-3 draw at Lokomotiv Moscow.
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov replied to Aguero's first goal in the 27th minute, before Diego Forlan put Atletico back in the lead in the 47th minute. Peter Odemwingie scored twice in three minutes to put Lokomotiv ahead 3-2 by the 64th minute, setting up Aguero for his dramatic equalizer in the 85th minute.
Panathinaikos had goals from Giannis Goumas, Dimitris Papadopoulos and Dimitris Salpingidis in their 3-0 win over visiting Aberdeen in the other Group B match.
Vincent Kompany scored in the 62nd minute to give Hamburg a 1-0 win over SK Brann, while in the other Group D game, Marco Streller headed in a corner from Ivan Ergic to give FC Basel a 1-0 win over Rennes.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
RSS