LONDON, 15 September 2004 — Chelsea and Valencia got their Champions League campaign off to good starts with convincing victories yesterday in the opening round of the group phase.
Chelsea, who are now coached by Jose Mourinho, who took Porto to Champions League success last season, won their Group H game 3-0 at PSG in Paris through first half goals by John Terry and Didier Drogba. The Cote d’Ivoire striker added a second late in the game.
Valencia, who in turn are coached by former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri, had few problems in overcoming Belgian club Anderlecht in a Group G game. Vicente gave the home side the lead in the 17th minute, before Ruben Baraja added a second in first half injury time.
In the other Group G match, a ten-man Werder Bremen side were beaten 2-0 at Inter Milan. The German champions had French defender Valerien Ismael sent off five minutes into the game for a last-man foul. Christian Vieri’s spot kick was saved by Andreas Reinke, but in the 34th minute the goalkeeper was unable to prevent Adriano’s penalty from hitting the back of the net. The Brazilian added a second two minutes from the end.
The defending champions, Porto, who are in the same group as Chelsea and PSG, played to a disappointing goalless draw against CSKA Moscow.
In Athens, Argentine striker Ezequiel Gonzalez was the Panathinaikos match-winner as he scored in both halves to give the home side a perfect 2-1 start against Rosenborg, for whom Frode Johnsen pulled one back late in the game. The other game in Group E saw Arsenal beat PSV Eindhoven 1-0 through a Alex own goal in the first half. Former Champions League winners AC Milan, looked unimpressive during their 1-0 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk. The only goal of the match in the Group F game was scored by Clarence Seedorf six minutes from the end.
The other game in the group between Celtic and Barcelona had a delayed kick off after a technical problem caused fans to enter the stadium late.
Arsenal needed an own goal to brush aside PSV Eindhoven at Highbury. Under pressure from Patrick Vieira, center-half Alex turned Thierry Henry’s cross past his own keeper in the 42nd minute to gift the Gunners a 1-0 win, ensuring no repeat of last season’s first night slip-up for the English champions.
Arsenal lost 3-0 to visitors Inter Milan in their opening Champions League fixture last season but labored their way to victory this time against the Dutch league runners-up.
Both sides began with cautious passing but it did not take long for Arsenal to state their intent. France forward Henry laid a perfectly-measured pass inside PSV right-back Andre Ooijer for Jose Antonio Reyes in the 13th minute, but after being turned on the edge of the box, Ooijer recovered to block the Spaniard’s shot out for a corner. Gunners winger Robert Pires wasted another good chance, fluffing his shot wide after England left-back Ashley Cole’s inviting 28th-minute cross. PSV keeper Edwin Zoetebier did not inspire confidence, slipping up when clearing and repeating the feat at the second attempt.
But he did well to shut out a stinging free kick from Henry after 31 minutes, deflecting the ball skyward before completing the save.
Pires thought he had scored six minutes before the break after Zoetebier blocked another fierce drive from Henry back into play, again trying spectacular over safe, but the nodded-in follow-up was offside. Following an over-hit corner three minutes later though, Arsenal got their goal. The ball seemed to be heading out of play on the touchline, but Henry outsprinted Philip Cocu to recover it before skipping into the box and past Ooijer to the goal-line.
He pulled it back for Vieira in the goalmouth but PSV defender Alex stumbled under pressure to score an own goal before the Gunners captain could finish.
A late goal by midfielder Clarence Seedorf gave AC Milan a 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in Kiev. The 2003 winners struggled to break down their Ukrainian opponents, despite enjoying a one-man advantage for most of the second half, until Seedorf fired home a loose ball from the edge of the area in the 84th minute.
It was his third goal in two matches after a brace in Milan’s 2-2 draw with Serie A rivals Livorno at the weekend. Shakhtar dominated the first half, with striker Zvonimir Vukic and midfielder Matuzalem combining to force keeper Dida to push the ball round his post twice inside the opening 10 minutes.
