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| February 21, 2002 | Thursday | Zilhaj 8, 1422 |
Late goals earn Real, Leverkusen points
LONDON, Feb 20: Late goals earned Real Madrid a victory and Bayer Leverkusen a draw when the second phase of the Champions League re-started after its winter break Tuesday.
The two group C matches ended in a 1-0 win for Real Madrid over Porto and a 2-0 victory for Panathinaikos at Sparta Prague.
Real top the group with a maximum nine points from three matches, followed by Panathinaikos who moved from bottom of the group to second with four points. Sparta have three points and Porto one.
In group D Bayer Leverkusen drew 1-1 with Arsenal and Juventus drew 0-0 with Deportivo Coruna in Turin to leave all four teams on four points from three matches.
Most of the drama in that group came in Germany where Arsenal, who had not won away from home in the Champions League for a year, were just seconds away from ending that dismal record before Leverkusen equalised.
Arsenal had taken the lead after 56 minutes when French internationals Robert Pires and Sylvain Wiltord combined in the heart of the German defence.
Pires slid the ball into Wiltord’s path and Wiltord then crossed for Pires, who had continued his run and carried on to score.
But Arsenal were reduced to 10 men 12 minutes later when French referee Alain Sars showed Ray Parlour his second yellow card of the match for a trip on Yildiray Basturk.
It was Parlour’s third red card of the season, Arsenal’s 12th dismissal of the season and their 44th since Arsene Wenger became manager in Oct 1996.
Bayer gradually fought their way back into the match and finished powerfully, with substitute Dimitar Berbatov failing to score with an 80th-minute free header which hit the bar.
But then, with seconds remaining, Leverkusen earned their just reward when 36-year-old Kirsten burst through the heart of the Arsenal back line.
Real left it late to get their car out of the garage but did finally hit top gear in the 83rd minute of their home match against Porto.
The only goal came seven minutes from time when Argentine substitute Santiago Solari, who had been on the field for only six minutes after replacing Ivan Helguera, scored with a fine individual strike.
That earned Real all three points, even though they played for most of the match without Luis Figo who was replaced after 17 minutes by Englishman Steve McManaman after being injured in a tackle.
The other two matches were relatively low-key affairs. Panathinaikos scored their first goals of the second phase with a 2-0 win at Sparta Prague with Giorgios Karagounis (39) and Michalis Konstantinou (71) finding the net.
Deportivo Coruna appeared to be looking for just one thing from their visit to Juventus — a point.
But they had their share of luck. Alessandro Del Piero should have won the game for Juve after being tripped by Deportivo defender Cesar.
But after picking himself up and taking the penalty he saw his spot-kick brilliantly saved by Deportivo goalkeeper Francisco Molina.
Champions League results
GROUP C
In Madrid: Real Madrid 1 Porto 0
Scorer: Santiago Solari 83
In Prague: Sparta Prague 0 Panathinaikos 2
Scorers: Giorgios Karagounis 39, Michalis Konstantinou 71
Red card: Tomas Huebschmann (Sparta Prague) 87
GROUP D
In Leverkusen: Bayer Leverkusen 1 Arsenal 1
Scorers:
Bayer Leverkusen - Ulf Kirsten 90
Arsenal - Robert Pires 56
In Turin: Juventus 0 Deportivo Coruna 0—Reuters
UEFA Cup fourth round, first leg results
In Kerkrade:
Roda JC Kerkrade (Netherlands) 0 AC Milan (Italy) 1
Scorer: Jose Mari 29
In Valencia:
Valencia (Spain) 3 Servette (Switzerland) 0
Scorers: Vitorino Hilton 3og, Pablo Aimar 49, Salva Ballesta 57.—Reuters
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