LONDON, 15 August 2003 — Chelsea’s richly-assembled new-look team confidently beat Slovakian champions MSK Zilina 2-0 on Wednesday to virtually ensure themselves a place in this season’s Champions League.
Goals from Icelandic striker Eidur Gudjohnsen after 42 minutes and a 76th minute own goal by Michal Drahno gave the London side — starting the match with 52.0 million pounds ($83.38 million) of new signings on display — an easy away win in the opening leg of their third qualifying round match. Having been knocked out of the early stages of the UEFA Cup in the last three season, they should now have no problems in reaching the group stage via the home leg in two weeks time.
Newcastle United completed a good night for English clubs with a 1-0 away win over Partizan Belgrade with Nolberto Solano scoring the only goal in the first half.
Celtic, one of five former European champions bidding to reach the competition proper, effectively did just that with a 4-0 away win over MTK Budapest in Hungary.
That is more than can be said for the Glasgow side’s archrivals Rangers. Starting a British record 43rd season in European competition Rangers were held to a 1-1 draw at home by FC Copenhagen and now face a tough task to make the group stage.
Olympique Marseille, European champions a decade ago, went ahead after only four minutes with a Dmitri Sytchev goal at Austria Vienna — and held on for a 1-0 away win.
But Borussia Dortmund, champions in 1997, have a tougher fight on their hands after losing 2-1 at Club Bruges.
Benfica, another former European champion, are also in trouble after losing 3-1 at Lazio where an 80th-minute free-kick from Sinisa Mihajlovic tipped the balance of the tie in the Italian club’s favor.
One of the stars of the night was former Czech international Karel Poborsky, who scored twice in Sparta Prague’s 3-2 away win over Vardar Skopje, netting the winner a minute from time.
In arguably the most exciting match of the night, the former Manchester United player gave his side the lead in the 36th minute with a perfect free kick. Four minutes later Vladimir Glusevic added the second Sparta goal from another 25-meter free kick.
