LONDON, 28 October 2005 — Chelsea’s season suffered its first serious blemish on Wednesday when London rivals Charlton Athletic knocked them out of the League Cup 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Skipper John Terry headed the holders in front after 41 minutes only for Darren Bent to equalize before the break with his ninth goal of the season. Jose Morinho’s runaway Premier League leaders could find no way through during extra time and Charlton, who are second in the league, punished them with five perfect penalties to reach the fourth round.
A virtual Manchester United reserve side eased past fourth division Barnet 4-1 to join Charlton in the next round, while there were also wins for Premier League clubs Newcastle United, Middlesbrough, Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers.
Newcastle survived a bad-tempered duel at fourth division Grimsby, Alan Shearer sealing a 1-0 victory with a low finish 10 minutes from time. Birmingham were grateful for Jiri Jarosik’s late winner to see off second division Norwich City while Bolton beat West ham United 1-0 in an all-Premier League clash at the Reebok Stadium courtesy of a goal from Mexican Jared Borgetti.
Everton’s troubles showed no sign of letting up as the Premier League’s bottom club were knocked out 1-0 at home by Middlesbrough, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on target for Boro.
Leicester City are also through after a 1-0 victory in the all-second division clash at Cardiff.
Juve Win Sets New Record for Serie A Start
In Milan, Juventus set a new record for the best start to a Serie A season when they beat Sampdoria 2-0 on Wednesday for their ninth successive win of the campaign.
Goals from David Trezeguet and Adrian Mutu maintained Juve’s 100 percent start and took them past the previous record held by the Juventus teams of 1930-31 and 1985-86.
The win also maintains Juve’s five-point lead over AC Milan, who came from behind for a 3-1 win at Empoli with two goals from Alberto Gilardino and Christian Vieri’s first strike for the club. Inter Milan suffered a surprise 3-2 defeat by AS Roma — having trailed 3-0 after two goals from Francesco Totti, the first a brilliant solo effort, before Adriano pulled back two.
Fiorentina move above Inter into third place after a 2-0 win at Siena, both goals coming from Serie A’s top scorer, Italy international Luca Toni whose tally is now 11.
Hearts Stay Top With 1-0 Win Over Kilmarnock
In Glasgow, Hearts remained top of the Scottish Premier League after a 1-0 home victory over Kilmarnock on Wednesday.
Lithuanian striker Edgaras Jankauskas finished off a fine move to fire home what proved the only goal after 34 minutes and take unbeaten Hearts to 32 points from 12 games.
Celtic enjoyed an emphatic 5-0 home win over Motherwell to stay three points adrift of the leaders in second, wrapping up the points by halftime. Champions Rangers fell further behind as they struggled to a 2-2 draw at basement club Livingston despite taking a 2-0 lead through captain Barry Ferguson and Chris Burke. Third-placed Hibernian won 2-1 at Dunfermline and Falkirk were 3-0 winners at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Real Slump at Deportivo; Osasuna Seize Top Spot
In Madrid, ann out-of-sorts Real Madrid missed their chance to claim the leadership of the Primera Liga when they slumped to a comprehensive 3-1 defeat at Deportivo Coruna on Wednesday.
With Real suffering their second league defeat in a row, Osasuna seized control at the top of the standings after snatching a last-gasp 3-2 win at home to Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona moved to within two points of the leaders after a Ronaldinho penalty and a classy finish from substitute Henrik Larsson earned them a 2-0 win at home to Malaga.
Osasuna lead the standings on 18 points from nine games, one clear of Getafe, who travel to Real Sociedad on Thursday, and two ahead of Barcelona and Celta Vigo who went down 1-0 to struggling Real Mallorca.
Referee Admits Guilt; Other Defendant Shows Remorse
In Berlin, the referee at the center of Germany’s match-fixing scandal testified yesterday at his trial and said fraud charges against him were “in most part” true.
Robert Hoyzer is one of six defendants in the biggest soccer corruption case in Germany in more than 30 years. He is charged with 11 counts of fraud for manipulating games and testified that, “except for some minor details,” the charges were true.
His testimony was expected, since the prosecution based its case on evidence provided by Hoyzer before the trial. After coming under suspicion, Hoyzer first denied fixing matches on account of a betting ring, but later changed his story and admitted rigging games for money.
Hoyzer told the court he bet on soccer on a small scale before meeting Ante Sapina, who is accused of being the mastermind of the scheme.
Ante Sapina, his brothers Milan and Filip, former referee Dominik Marks, and former player Steffen Karl are charged with fraud in fixing or seeking to rig 23 games, mostly in lower German divisions.
