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| November 12, 2002 | Tuesday | Ramazan 6, 1423 |
First league defeats for Liverpool, Inter Milan
LONDON, Nov 11: Liverpool and Inter Milan both tasted league defeats for the first time at the weekend, while Real Madrid and Bayern Munich returned to winning ways in Spain and Germany respectively.
English premier league leaders Liverpool, who face a must-win Champions League clash with Basel on Wednesday, tumbled to a 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.
England defender Gareth Southgate was the unlikely match winner, pouncing eight minutes from time after Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek failed to make a routine catch.
Reigning champions Arsenal closed the gap at the top to one point after Sylvain Wiltord’s first-half goal secured a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United at Highbury.
Manchester United’s patchy form continued as they were beaten 3-1 by Manchester City — their first defeat in a Manchester derby since 1989.
Shaun Goater was on target twice for City as United dropped to fifth, behind Chelsea and Everton who secured home victories against Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic.
Serie A leaders Inter Milan, unbeaten in eight matches, lost 2-1 at home to Udinese despite going ahead in the third minute through Christian Vieri.
Martin Jorgensen and Roberto Muzzi replied for Udinese to stun the 54,000 San Siro crowd.
AC Milan wasted the chance to overtake their city rivals on Sunday, however, when they went down 2-1 at Marcello Lippi’s Juventus, who move into second place — a point behind Inter.
Marco Di Vaio and Lilian Thuram were on target for Juve while Andrea Pirlo pulled one back for Milan from the penalty spot. Chievo Verona moved up to fourth after a 4-1 victory over bottom club Atalanta — Federico Cossato scoring twice.
Lazio were held 0-0 at home by Parma.
Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Luis Figo were all on target for Real Madrid as they clinched their first league win in four games with an exciting 3-2 victory over city rivals Rayo Vallecano Saturday.
Real are five points behind unbeaten leaders Real Sociedad, who retained their three-point lead at the top of the table despite being held to a 1-1 draw at home by Deportivo Coruna.
Darko Kovacevic put the Basque club ahead in the 28th minute but Albert Luque equalised before halftime.
Second-placed Valencia drew 1-1 at home to Real Betis, while in-form Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani scored twice in Real Mallorca’s 3-1 win over Alaves on Sunday as they joined Valencia on 18 points. Barcelona are six points off the pace after a scrappy 1-0 win over Villarreal.
Bayern Munich came from behind for a 2-1 win over nine-man Borussia Dortmund in an ill-tempered top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.
Brazilian striker Marcio Amoroso put Dortmund ahead on seven minutes but Bayern fought back after the break with goals from Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz and substitute Claudio Pizarro.
Dortmund had midfielder Torsten Frings and goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sent off in their first defeat of the season as Bayern moved five points clear at the top.
The Russian title race will go to the final weekend of the season after CSKA earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over city rivals and defending champions Spartak Moscow on Saturday.
CSKA and Lokomotiv Moscow, who beat Zenit St Petersburg 2-1 on Sunday, are level on 63 points from 29 matches although CSKA have a superior goal difference.
CSKA, who have not won a league title since clinching the last Soviet championship in 1991, will finish the season at Saturn Ramenskoye next Sunday, while Lokomotiv face Dynamo.—Reuters
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