October 27, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 14, 1428

LONDON, Oct 26: Substitute Toni Kroos hit a last-gasp winner as four-time European champions Bayern Munich came from behind to win 3-2 at Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Cup on Thursday.

Twice winners Tottenham Hotspur slumped to a 2-1 home defeat against Spain’s Getafe and afterwards confirmed they had sacked their Dutch coach Martin Jol.

Bayern broke Red Star’s hearts in the Serbian capital as the Germans, who missed out on Champions League place, left it late to win their opening Group F tie although manager Ottmar Hitzfeld described it as a “fortuitous win”.

“Both teams played good football on a difficult pitch, we were on the back foot for long spells against a fired up opponent and they didn’t deserve to lose,” he told reporters.

Serbia winger Ognjen Koroman had fired Red Star, who overcame Bayern in the last four en route to winning the European Cup in 1991, ahead with a crisp low shot on 16 minutes but Germany striker Miroslav Klose silenced the raucous 45,000 home crowd with a close-range tap-in after keeper Ivan Randjelovic could only parry Lucio’s fierce shot.

A depleted Bayern side, without Franck Ribery, Luca Toni and defenders Martin Demichelis and Daniel van Buyten, fell behind again on 74 minutes when midfielder Nenad Milijas beat Michael Rensing with a swerving shot from 25 metres.

But Klose was left completely unmarked to head home a deep cross from the left in the 85th minute, and after Red Star centre back Milos Bajalica had been sent off in injury time for second bookable foul, Kroos lashed in the winner.

On a perfect night for German sides, there were also wins for Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg SV. Leverkusen, the 1988 winners, overcame Toulouse 1-0 at home in Group E with a first-half goal from Stefan Kiessling while Hamburg won by the same scoreline at newly crowned Norwegian champions Brann Bergen.—Reuters