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| October 2, 2003 | Thursday | Sha’aban 5, 1424 |
Inter, Monaco, Sociedad and Juventus maintain perfect starts
LONDON, Oct 1: Inter Milan, Monaco, Juventus and Real Sociedad maintained their perfect starts in the Champions League on Tuesday while Celtic and Deportivo Coruna picked up their first victories.
Italy striker Christian Vieri, returning after three weeks out with injury, came off the bench to head a last-minute winner for Inter in a 2-1 Group B win over Dynamo Kiev at the San Siro.
On-loan Spain striker Fernando Morientes netted twice for Monaco as the French Ligue 1 leaders demolished AEK Athens 4-0 at home in Group C, while Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved also hit a double as last year’s beaten finalists Juventus came from behind to win 2-1 at Olympiakos Piraeus.
Spaniards Real Sociedad joined Juve on a maximum six points in Group D with Xabi Alonso scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory in Istanbul against Galatasaray, who had Hasan Sas sent off.
Daniele Adani’s opener on 23 minutes for Inter was cancelled out 11 minutes later by Serhiy Fyodorov and it looked like the Serie A side would have to settle for a point until Vieri glanced home a Kily Gonzalez free kick.
Lokomotiv Moscow and Arsenal drew 0-0 in the other Group B game, a result that left both sides still looking for their first victory and goals in this season’s Champions League.
Two goals in each half helped Monaco to an easy win over Greek side AEK Athens, who had drawn their previous seven Champions League games.
Ludovic Giuly and Dado Prso scored either side of the two from Morientes, on loan from Real Madrid, as the principality side followed up their opening 2-1 win at PSV Eindhoven.
In-form striker Walter Pandiani scored for the seventh successive game as Deportivo picked up their first win to move to four points in Group C. Sergio hit a 20th-minute opener with Pandiani adding a second with a penalty shortly after the break.
Swede Henrik Larsson produced superb crosses to set up goals for young substitute Liam Miller and Chris Sutton as Celtic overcame Alan Thompson’s penalty miss to defeat Olympique Lyon 2-0 to pick up their first points in Group A.
Thompson’s spot-kick late in the first half, controversially awarded after defender Anthony Reveillere got the slightest of touches to Larsson’s arm which sent the striker sprawling, was saved by Gregory Coupet.
Former European champions Bayern Munich top the group with four points. The German champions were a man short for 55 minutes after Claudio Pizarro was dismissed but earned a 1-1 draw in Belgium against Anderlecht.
Paraguayan Roque Santa Cruz combined with fellow substitute Hasan Salihamidzic on 74 minutes to head the equaliser.
Bayern’s Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, appearing in his 100th European club match, was beaten by a 53rd minute goal from Croatian striker Ivica Mornar.
In Group D, Ieroklis Stoltidis gave Olympiakos an 11th minute lead at home to Juve, but the Serie A champions fought back to take the points thanks to Nedved’s two goals, the winner coming 11 minutes from time.
Serbia and Montenegro striker Darko Kovacevic scored for the second successive Champions League game as Real Sociedad picked up an impressive 2-1 win at Galatasaray.
Results:
GROUP A
Anderlecht 1 Bayern Munich 1
Celtic 2 Olympique Lyon 0
GROUP B
Inter Milan 2 Dynamo Kiev 1
Lokomotiv Moscow 0 Arsenal 0
GROUP C
Monaco 4 AEK Athens 0
Deportivo Coruna 2 PSV Eindhoven 0
GROUP D
Galatasaray 1 Real Sociedad 2
Olympiakos 1 Juventus 2.
—Reuters
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