YOKOHAMA, Japan, 8 August 2007 — Mexican teenager Giovani dos Santos struck again to give fatigued Barcelona a 1-0 win over Japan’s Yokohama F-Marinos on their Asian tour yesterday.

Giovani broke the deadlock in the 75th minute, taking a superb through ball from Ronaldinho and calmly beating Yokohama goalkeeper Tetsuya Enomoto.

Barcelona had started with recent signing Thierry Henry alongside Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o in a fearsome front line for the first time since Henry’s arrival in June.

However, the Spanish side lacked a cutting edge on a humid evening in Yokohama until Giovani’s clinical strike.

“Henry, Eto’o and Ronaldinho playing together is going to work,” coach Frank Rijkaard told reporters. “They’re great players.” The Dutchman added: “It’s very promising. We have a lot of wonderful players - I almost forgot about (Lionel) Messi!” Eto’o had a seemingly legitimate goal ruled out for offside while Henry, still coaxing himself back from an injury-plagued final season at Arsenal, was substituted at halftime.

Ronaldinho went close and Eto’o smashed a shot against the post within 10 minutes of the restart as Barcelona tried to inject some urgency into their play.

The Catalans finally got their reward with 15 minutes remaining through Giovani, the 18-year-old who had also opened the scoring in Barca’s 3-0 win over Beijing Guoan on Sunday.

Former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho received a standing ovation from a crowd of 56,000 when the Brazilian was taken off three minutes before the end.

“It was a big thrill to play in that attack,” grinned Ronaldinho. “We have some fantastic players and we’re hoping to do great things this season.” Barcelona, who were missing Argentina forward Messi and Portugal playmaker Deco, finish their Asian tour with a game against a Mission Hills XI in Hong Kong on Friday.

Bayern Survive Scare Against

Amateur Burghausen

In Berlin, Bayern Munich survived a penalty shootout to defeat third division amateurs Wacker Burghausen in the first round of the German Cup on Monday.

Bayern won 4-3 on penalties after the match had finished 1-1 after 120 minutes. Captain Oliver Kahn was the hero for Bayern, stopping the final two Burghausen penalties after each side had converted three of their first five spot kicks.

“It’s a great feeling to stop two penalties,” Kahn said.

Wacker Burghausen coach Ingo Anderbruegge’s team were on the verge of eliminating Bayern before Kahn stopped a Markus Palionis shot and then blocked a Thomas Mayer penalty.

Burghausen stunned the 13-time Cup winners by scoring first against the run of play in the 61st minute. Thomas Neubert headed in a free-kick from David Solga corner to put Wacker ahead.

Desperate to avoid an embarrassing start to the new season, Bayern threw everything into attack and Germany striker Miroslav Klose scored the equalizer in the 79th minute, outjumping two defenders to head a Franck Ribery corner in at the far post.

Bayern, who won the preseason League Cup last week and have set out to win three more trophies to make up for the humiliation of finishing fourth in the Bundesliga, had chances galore against the team from the town near the Austrian border.

Bayern, who spent €70 million ($96.80 million) on new talent in the close season, played well especially with indefatigable France midfielder Ribery proving a constant threat.

But 18-year-old Burghausen keeper Manuel Riemann had an outstanding performance, stopping promising shots from Klose, Ribery, Hamit Altintop, Mark van Bommel and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

“I thought we played a good match,” Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld told reporters. “We had lots of chances. A few times we were unlucky, at times their goalkeeper was excellent. They played over their heads. It was a typically exciting Cup match.”

UEFA Appeals Body Confirms

Partizan Expulsion

In Berne, Switzerland, UEFA’s appeals body has confirmed the expulsion of Partizan Belgrade from this year’s UEFA Cup competition following rioting by the club’s supporters.

The Serbian side were thrown out of the competition last month after 36 people were injured during Partizan’s first qualifying round first-leg match against Bosnian side Zrinjski Mostar.

Partizan were granted a temporary deferral of the punishment pending their appeal against the verdict and went on to win the tie 11-1 on aggregate.

Yesterday’s decision means Zrinjski will now take Partizan’s place in the second qualifying round against Macedonian side FK Rabotnicki.

The appeals body also upheld the original fine of 50,000 Swiss francs ($41,980) handed down by UEFA’s disciplinary body.

Partizan will also have to compensate Zrinjski for the damage caused to their stadium.

“UEFA has shown there is no alternative to taking its rules very seriously and complying with them. We have to learn a lesson from this unfortunate course of action,” Partizan coach Miroslav Djukic told Belgrade media.

“This is a severe blow to Partizan and to Serbian football,” agreed team captain Antonio Rukavina. “It is a bitter pill to swallow but we have to pull our socks up and get on with it.”