21 October 2004	Thursday	06 Ramazan 1425

LONDON, Oct 20: Michael Owen scored his first goal for Real Madrid on a Tuesday night of changing fortunes right across the Champions League.

While Owen was enjoying his first appearance in the competition for Real with the winner as they beat Dynamo Kiev 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, the lead changed hands in all four groups being contested.

AS Monaco, who beat Olympiakos Piraeus 2-1, displaced the Greek side at the top of Group A while Liverpool and Deportivo Coruna drew 0-0 in the other match in the section.

Bayer Leverkusen, with a better head-to-head record, replaced Dynamo Kiev at the top of Group B after a 3-1 home win over AS Roma.

Leverkusen have six points, the same as Kiev and Real, while Roma - who finished the match with nine men - are last with no points.

Juventus replaced Bayern Munich at the top of Group C after a 1-0 victory in front of another paltry crowd of just 18,000 fans in Turin.

Juve ended Bayern's 100 per cent start and maintained their own as a second-half winner from Pavel Nedved gave them nine points from three games after three successive 1-0 wins.

Ajax Amsterdam beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-0 in the other match in the group for their first points. But that did not prevent Louis van Gaal resigning as technical director afterwards because of tensions with Ajax coach Ronald Koeman.

Manchester United lost the lead in Group D after drawing 0-0 at Sparta Prague, slipping to second place on five points behind new leaders Olympique Lyon who won their second successive away match, 3-1 at Fenerbahce.

The Turkish champions have three points and Sparta Prague one. For once it was all smiles in Madrid where Real have made a tepid start to the season at home and in Europe.

Dynamo Kiev came to Madrid as group leaders after winning their opening two games but, despite creating chances and giving Real some worrying moments, they failed to score.

Owen managed to find the net, though, after 35 minutes when he took a pass from Ronaldo and scored from close range.

There were also beaming smiles in Turin where Juventus beat Bayern 1-0 in the first competitive match between two clubs who have played in more than 600 European matches since the 1950s. Both teams kicked off with perfect records but Juve emerged victorious thanks to a superbly executed goal.

It began with a long ball from Lilian Thuram, headed down into the path of Nedved by Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the European Footballer of the Year to confidently slot home.

But there was no joy for Juve's Italian rivals AS Roma whose Champions League campaign has gone from bad to worse.

Forfeiting their first match 3-0 to Dynamo Kiev after referee Anders Frisk was felled by an object thrown from the stands resulting in a halftime abandonment, Roma then lost 4-2 to Real after leading 2-0.

On Tuesday they led Leverkusen 1-0 after an early own goal by Dimitar Berbatov but collapsed in the second half, losing 3-1 and having Christian Panucci and Daniele De Rossi sent off.

Frisk, meanwhile, returned to Champions League action in charge of Liverpool's game with Deportivo Coruna at Anfield, a wholly less dramatic affair than his last game in Rome, with a scoreless draw.

Results

Group A

Liverpool 0 Deportivo La Coruna 0

Monaco 2 Olympiakos 1

Group B

Bayer Leverkusen 3 AS Roma 1

Real Madrid 1 Dynamo Kiev 0

Group C

Ajax 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0

Juventus 1 Bayern Munich 0

Group D

Fenerbahce 1 Lyon 3

Sparta Prague) 0 Manchester United 0.-Agencies