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| November 26, 2002 | Tuesday | Ramazan 20, 1423 |
Tough time for leaders in Europe
LONDON, Nov 25: It was tough at the top in Europe’s major soccer leagues at the weekend.
Arsenal and Liverpool were both beaten, but maintained their top two spots in England but a draw for leaders Juventus and second-placed Inter Milan’s 1-0 loss to AC enabled their city rivals to go top of Serie A.
Spanish leaders Real Sociedad were held to a goalless draw - the same result in the big game between Barcelona and Real Madrid, while in France leaders Nice were also goalless and second-placed Olympique Lyon were beaten.
Only in Germany, where Bayern Munich stretched their lead to six points, and the Netherlands, where Ajax Amsterdam won 3-0, did the leaders impress.
ENGLAND: Top two Arsenal and Liverpool were both beaten 3-2, while a Ruud van Nistelrooy hat trick fired Manchester United to a 5-3 victory over Newcastle United in a weekend goalfeast in the premier league.
Arsenal, not helped by a red card for England defender Sol Campbell, went down at Southampton after two goals for James Beattie and one for Agustin Delgado.
Facundo Sava got two for Fulham, Sean Davis also on target, as Fulham upset Arsenal at Loftus Road.
Everton moved to within three points of the top with their sixth successive win, 1-0 at home to West Bromwich Albion, while Chelsea scrambled a late point from a 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderers to stay fourth.
SPAIN: The big game between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Nou Camp was a bad-tempered and disappointing goalless draw. The teams were forced to leave the pitch for 13 minutes after Real’s former Barcelona favourite Luis Figo was pelted with missiles as he tried to take a corner. Another Barcelona old boy, Ronaldo, missed the match with flu.
Leaders Real Sociedad also drew 0-0, away to Rayo Vallecano but Real Mallorca missed the chance to go top when they also drew, 1-1 at Villarreal.
Sociedad have 23 points, Mallorca, who had been seeking an eighth straight victory, 22 and Valencia, 2-0 winners over Valladolid, 21. Real Madrid are fourth on 18 with Barcelona down in ninth on 16.
ITALY: AC Milan went top of Serie A by beating city rivals Inter Milan 1-0 thanks to an early goal by Brazilian winger Serginho.
The win, in front of a capacity 78,000 crowd at the San Siro stadium, left AC on 25 points, ahead on goal difference from second-placed Juventus, who needed a late Mark Iuliano goal to draw 1-1 at home with Bologna.
Lazio thrashed Modena 4-0 with two goals for Bernardo Corradi and one each for Claudio Lopez and Cesar. They are third on 24 with Inter fourth on 23.
Chievo Verona are fifth on 21 after beating Empoli 1-0 despite being down to 10 men for the last half hour.
GERMANY: Bayern Munich stretched their Bundesliga lead to six points with a 2-0 win at Kaiserslautern that left the four-times German champions still rooted to the bottom.
First-half goals from midfielder Michael Ballack and striker Roque Santa Cruz took Bayern to 32 points, six ahead of Werder Bremen, who won 1-0 at Hertha Berlin.
VfB Stuttgart beat Hanover 96 3-0 to go third on 24 ahead on goal difference of champions Borussia Dortmund, who lost 2-0 at VfL Wolfsburg.
FRANCE: Leaders Nice were held to a goalless home draw by bottom club Rennes but champions Olympique Lyon failed to take advantage as they lost for the first time since Sept l 2-1 at Lille.
Vladimir Manchev and Christophe got the Lille goals and despite a late charge by the visitors, which included a great goal for Frederic Nee, Lille took the points.
Nice have 30 points to the 28 of Lyon. Olympique Marseille are third, also on 28, after a 1-0 home win over RC Lens courtesy of a goal by Cameroonian Salomon Olembe
THE NETHERLANDS: Ajax Amsterdam held on to top spot in the Dutch first division with a convincing 3-0 win at Heerenveen while PSV Eindhoven remained three points behind after beating RCC Roosendaal by the same score.
However, third-placed Feyenoord slipped up as they were beaten 1-0 at RKC Waalwijk, who have moved into fourth, and now stand seven points behind the leaders and four adrift of PSV.
PORTUGAL: Benfica were stunned by second division Gondomar on Sunday in a 1-0 fourth-round Portuguese Cup upset and riot police were called to deal with angry fans.
Benfica, 23-times winners of the competition, were beaten by Cilio Souza’s 10th-minute free kick for the northern second division B team.—Reuters
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