Archive for the ‘Soccer news’ Category
October 2, 2008
Sergio Aguero and Raul Garcia scored Wednesday to give Atletico Madrid a 2-1 Champions League. Victory over Marseille to stay perfect in Group D.
Garcia got a touch to Mariano Pernia’s free kick at the near post in the 22nd minute and deflected the ball past goalkeeper Steve Mandanda for the winner.
Maxi Rodriguez took advantage of a fourth-minute Marseille turnover to find Aguero, who moved around his markers to slot a right-footed shot home for his third goal in two European Cup games.
Mamadou Niang headed in an equalizer for the French club in the 16th after heading Laurent Bonnart’s cross in.
Atletico is joint-leader of Group D with six points alongside Liverpool, which beat PSV Eindhoven 3-1.
“At home we had the obligation of winning,” Atletico coach Javier Aguirre said. “Especially against our rival, which is an important one who plays well.”
Marseille’s second straight defeat leaves it six points off the group lead and in a big hole.
“Frustrated. Disappointed,” Marseille coach Erik Geretz said as he summed up his feelings. “It’s incredible, you play two decent matches and you come away with zero points. It’s sad.”
Marseille and PSV meet next in a match that will likely drop one of the clubs out of contention for the knockout stages.
“It’s not all done yet, but I also don’t want to talk nonsense. With the quality of Liverpool and Madrid, we almost need a miracle,” a defeated Geretz said. “To go and win at PSV, that’s feasible. The rest will see.”
Atletico came in without four key players and on the heels of its worst performance of the season - a 1-0 league defeat to Sevilla - that threatened to derail an excellent start, which had included an emphatic 3-0 win at PSV to open the Champions League.
In the end, Atletico survived a scrappy match to win the first Champions League game played at the Vicente Calderon stadium for 11 years.
Marseille nearly jumped ahead seconds in, however, as Hatem Ben Arfa shot wide with Niang alone at the far post but unseen.
Neither team maintained midfield possession effectively and Maxi took advantage of a turnover to weigh a delicate chip over the Marseille defense to Aguero, and the Argentina striker continued his torrid start to the season with another score.
“It’s good to start the game quickly with a goal,” said Aguirre. “He’s done a great job, especially since he’s tired.”
Aguerro, who had another chance blocked three minutes later, hasn’t had a break since helping Argentina to the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in August.
“He’s a phenomenal player. He scores goals from where others can’t,” Geretz said. “I can’t blame my defender. (Aguero’s) a magical player.”
Mathieu Valbuena split the defense with a perfect pass that found Bonnart on the fly inside the hosts’ area, and the Frenchman did well to deliver a long cross to Niang at the far post for the equalizer.
But Marseille failed to take advantage of that momentum.
Defender Taye Taiwo’s hard slide into the back of Aguero earned him a booking and handed Pernia a free kick that skipped across the goal for Garcia to nudge in.
Atletico failed to settle for closing out the half, losing possession with ill-advised long balls from the back and errant passes in midfield. Niang picked one up in the 40th to curl a shot from 20 meters that goalkeeper Leo Franco stretched to tip out.
Atletico finally steadied and nearly pushed ahead in the 55th when Maxi completed a series of neat passes with Aguero before sending a slow backheel flick just wide of the far post.
Seven minutes later, Aguero cut back to feed Florent Sinama-Pongolle at the top of the area but Mandanda stretched to his left to push the rising shot out.
Atletico coach Javier Aguirre reinforced his midfield in the 67th by bringing on Maniche for Sinama-Pongolle and Marseille couldn’t penetrate, with the attack mostly in the Marseille end until Niang nearly equalized in the 89th, but his delivery sliced past Franco and the post.
Taiwo headed Marseille’s final chance from a corner wide in injury time.
Trouble brewed before kickoff as Spanish police beat back sections of the Marseille fans, who replied by ripping seats up to hurl back at the police.
October 2, 2008
Sporting Lisbon recovered from a dismal start to beat FC Basel 2-0 in the Champions League Wednesday. Behind second-half goals from Leandro Romagnoli and Derlei.
A freakish goal put the Portuguese outfit into the lead after 55 minutes when a clearance from inside Basel’s area by David Abraham ricocheted off Romagnoli and looped into the far corner of the net.
Following a lackluster first half, Sporting showed more fire after the interval and Derlei twice headed against the post before extending the home team’s lead in the 86th with a low right-footed shot on a counter attack.
“We weren’t very effective in the first half. Once we scored we found more space,” Sporting coach Paulo Bento said. “We had to win this game. I believe that yes, we can play better.”
The Portuguese club captured its first points in Group C, while the Swiss champion recorded its second straight defeat.
“We controlled Sporting’s midfield in the first half but then they started to play quicker in the second half,” Basel coach Christian Goss said. “In the end they deserved the three points.”
There was only one shot on target in the first half, when Derlei span and volleyed a shot from the edge of the area for Franco Costanzo to produce a reflex save.
Neither team could get traction in midfield in the first half, too often surrendering possession and failing to create scoring chances, drawing jeers from the home supporters.
“I don’t like it when fans boo the players,” Bento said. “If they want to boo anyone, they should boo me.”
The visitor fought back after the opening goal, and Benjamin Huggel beat the Sporting defense but couldn’t get past goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
Derlei hit the post from a Joao Moutinho bicycle kick in the 48th and then from a corner in the 75th.
Substitute Yannick Djalo struck a dipping shot from the left flank which goalkeeper Franco Costanzo tipped over the bar.
Sporting Lisbon, which has never reached the competition’s knockout stage in four appearances, lost 3-1 at Barcelona in its opening group game.
Basel was seeking its first points after losing 2-1 at home against Shakhtar Donetsk.
October 2, 2008
Lionel Messi scored two late goals Wednesday. To give FC Barcelona a 2-1 win over Donetsk in a Champions League match.
With Barcelona looking set for a stunning defeat, Messi came on for Thierry Henry in the second half and equalized in the 87th when goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov failed to block Bojan Krkic’s cross from the left. He added a second in the fourth minute of injury time after Xavi Torres put him one-on-one with Pyatov.
Ilsinho had given Shakhtar the lead just before the interval.
It was the second straight game that Messi rescued Barcelona in the final minutes. He also gave the Catalan team its third straight Spanish league victory on Saturday by converting an injury-time penalty for a 2-1 win at local rival Espanyol.
“It was a tough and complicated game,” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. “They (Donetsk) attacked good and had a good result.”
Shakhtar is slogging through one of its worst-ever starts in the Ukrainian league, with nine points in as many games.
Barcelona pressed from the beginning and dominated possession throughout the first half, though rarely threatening the home side.
Samuel Eto’o put Tierry Henry through in the seventh minute for the team’s first real opportunity, but Pyatov blocked the shot from inside the box.
Shakhtar first came close in the 24th, when Fernandinho fired over the crossbar from inside the box. Brandao then moved down the left flank in the 37th and crossed to Ilsinho, but the Brazilian’s shot was deflected over the crossbar by Viktor Valdes’ outstretched left leg.
Donetsk pressed before the interval and Ilsinho broke through two defenders to score over Valdes in the 45th.
Barcelona dominated in the second half while Shakhtar replied with rare counterattacks.
“We had a good game and created 15 chances,” Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said.
In the other Group C game, Sporting won at FC Basel 2-0.
Barcelona leads the group with six points, followed by sporting with four. Shakhtar has three and FC Basel is winless.
Shakhtar hosts Sporting next and Barcelona will be at FC Basel on Oct. 22.
October 2, 2008
Robbie Keane scored his first Liverpool goal in a 3-1 victory. Over PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Ireland striker ended a 10-game goal drought since arriving in the offseason by making it 2-0 in the 34th minute after Dirk Kuyt had put the Reds ahead in the fifth.
“It’s great. I’ve got a monkey off my back, it’s been a few games,” Keane said. “It’s always nice to get the first goal but I wasn’t too worried about it, it was just people talking. I hope I score a lot more for this club.”
Captain Steven Gerrard then put the result beyond doubt with his 100th Liverpool goal in the 76th. Danny Koevermans pulled one back for PSV two minutes later in a rare foray forward, but Liverpool - a five-time European champion - was able to open the group stage with two victories for the first time.
The win gives Liverpool a perfect six points after two games in Group D while PSV is still without a point.
“If you go so quickly behind it’s always going to be difficult to come back against a team like Liverpool that plays fantastically well,” PSV coach Huub Stevens said. “There was a difference in quality. People made individual mistakes and if you do that you will get punished.”
The victory in manager Rafa Benitez’s 250th match in charge added to growing sense of expectation at Anfield, with Liverpool making its best start to a Premier League campaign in 12 years in the quest for a first English title since 1990.
“It was almost the perfect night,” Benitez said. “It was a really good game for us with lots of positive things, a solid performance with balance and quality.”
“Now the important thing for the players is to calm down and keep doing the same thing,” he said, already looking ahead to Sunday’s match at Manchester City.
Liverpool captured just one point from its first three group stage matches last year, and had to win its last three to advance.
A repeat of that frantic finale looks unlikely, as the Reds wasted no time putting themselves in control of the match.
Gerrard whipped a corner in from the right and Torres was only denied by goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson’s right leg. But Kuyt, who netted the goal against Standard Liege that clinched the group stage berth, was ready to fire the rebound low past the former Manchester City goalkeeper.
Keane appealed for a penalty in the 20th when his advance was halted by Carlos Salcido’s challenge.
But the trademark summersault the Anfield crowd had been waiting almost three months for finally came as Keane started to justify the 19-million-pound (US$37.9 million; euro24.1 million) transfer that brought him from Tottenham to his boyhood club.
Torres danced around Salcido on the right flank and sent a precision cross for Keane to volley low into bottom left.
In lashing rain in northern England, Liverpool took more than 40 minutes to add a second, but never looked like surrendering its advantage.
Dirk Marcellis brought down Kuyt, providing Gerrard the opportunity to rifle past Isaksson with a fierce 25-yard (meter) free kick that etched his name deeper into Liverpool history with his 100th goal - a rarity for a midfielder.
“It’s fantastic for me but we came to win the game and to get in the driving seat in the group,” Gerard said. “It’s always a fantastic feeling scoring in front of the Kop and it’s nice to say ‘Thank you’ for their support over the years.”
Liverpool was caught out amid the celebrations, allowing Koevermans to grab a consolation for the Dutch champions when goalkeeper Pepe Reina was called into action for the only time on the night.
Later this month, Liverpool travels to Atletico Madrid, which beat Marseille 2-1 on Wednesday.
