LONDON, 27 February 2004 — Manchester United and last season’s runners-up Juventus will have to come from behind to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League after losing away legs on Wednesday.
Two goals by South Africa striker Benni McCarthy gave Porto a 2-1 comeback win in Portugal in the first leg of their first knockout round clash.
Juventus, beaten on penalties by AC Milan in the 2003 final, went down 1-0 at Deportivo Coruna after Albert Luque’s first-half goal. The evening’s two other games produced 1-0 away wins, for Chelsea at VfB Stuttgart and Olympique Lyon at Real Sociedad, with both games decided by own goals. South Africans were to the fore in Porto with Quinton Fortune putting United ahead after 14 minutes, only for compatriot McCarthy to equalize on the half hour.
The game seemed to be drifting toward a draw until McCarthy rose superbly to score with a long-range header in the 78th minute.
United’s bad night was completed when captain Roy Keane was sent off three minutes from time for stamping on Porto keeper Vitor Baia Manager Alex Ferguson thought the incident was accidental and was unhappy with what he considered the gamesmanship of the home team.
But he was upbeat about turning the tie around: “There’s plenty of football left and we can win this, no doubt about it,” he said.”
Porto coach Jose Mourinho said: “We had the ball, we had the chances, we were the better team it’s just a pity we couldn’t score more goals.”
Deportivo were the only winners from the four Spanish teams left in the competition following Real Madrid’s 1-1 draw at Bayern Munich on Tuesday. They went halfway toward gaining revenge on Juve, who knocked them out of the second group phase last season, when Albert Luque capitalized on a blunder by France international defender Lilian Thuram to blast the only goal after 36 minutes.
The Spaniards deserved their lead against the shot-shy Italians and though they also dominated the second half, they failed to create many clear chances. Chelsea, almost certainly out of the running in the premier league, remained on course to give Russian owner Roman Abramovich a handsome return for his $230 million player outlay after a first win for the club in Germany.
The decisive moment was an own goal by Fernando Meira in the 12th minute as the defender stretched to cut out a cross by Glen Johnson. Both teams missed some decent chances while Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini made several good saves.
However, Chelsea, who have won all five away games in Europe this season, kept the ball well to earn a much needed result for under-fire manager Claudio Ranieri. “It wasn’t easy after the two defeats against Arsenal,” the Italian said after the league and FA Cup losses to their London rivals.
Lyon’s slice of luck came after 18 minutes when Sociedad defender Gabriel Schurrer scored an own goal as he tried to clear from midfielder Florent Malouda. Sociedad had not lost at home in European competition since 1975 but found it hard going against the lively French visitors who should really have scored more. Valery Karpin hit the bar for Sociedad while Malouda hit a post late on for Lyon.
Smith Double Puts Sunderland Into FA Cup Quarters
Two extra-time goals from substitute striker Tommy Smith gave Sunderland a 2-0 upset victory over Premier League Birmingham City in their FA Cup fifth round replay on Wednesday.
Victory for Mick McCarthy’s side at St Andrews lined up a Cup quarterfinal at home to First Division rivals Sheffield United on March 7. Deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes — the same score as the original match at Sunderland — Smith poached his first goal from point-blank range in the ninth minute of extra time after a Kevin Kyle effort came back off the woodwork.
Smith followed up in the 115th minute with a superb solo effort, starting his run from the halfway time and galloping through to steer a shot past Birmingham keeper Maik Taylor.
UEFA’s Olsson Gives Qualified Backing to World Club Plan
UEFA’s new chief executive gave qualified backing yesterday to controversial FIFA plans to revamp the Club World Championship but added that teams had to be free to decide whether to take part. Depending on the format adopted for the tournament, which is being fiercely contested by Europe’s top teams, Lars-Christer Olsson said that UEFA could go along with it provided no more than one European club was called on to play.
But the issue had not yet been fully discussed by the UEFA board, which was waiting for Sunday’s FIFA executive committee meeting when the plans are expected to be ratified.
“We have to wait and see the outcome...because it depends very much on the format,” he said. “If it is only one club and the format is something we think could work, then I think the view of the (UEFA) executive is that it could be worth playing,” he told journalists.
FIFA wants the traditional annual fixture between the European and South American champions replaced by a six-team tournament to bring together the top clubs from its six confederations. It would be held in Japan, host of the European-South American clashes, over eight days in December, starting in 2005.
The plan puts world soccer’s ruling body on a collision course with the top European clubs, which are unanimously opposed to adding further fixtures to their heavy schedules. Olsson, who told journalists UEFA shared the clubs’ concerns about the number of games being played, said that unlike other official FIFA competitions, participation in the proposed championship should be voluntary.
