BERLIN, 12 August 2003 — Bayer Leverkusen extended their promising start to the Bundesliga season with a 2-1 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday that kept them at the top of the standings.
The 2002 Champions League finalists, who struggled last season, narrowly escaping relegation, had opened last weekend with a 4-1 win over SC Freiburg.
Leverkusen are the only side with a maximum six points after two games. They are followed by a group of seven teams on four points, among them champions Bayern Munich, who needed a last-gasp free kick from England midfielder Owen Hargreaves for a 3-3 draw with Hanover 96 on Saturday.
Leverkusen needed a bit of luck to beat Eintracht, who opened the scoring with a powerful drive by striker Nico Frommer three minutes from the break.
Germany midfielder Bernd Schneider leveled with a deflected effort in the 51st minute. Eintracht’s Albanian defender Geri Cipi then gave the visitors victory with an own goal in the 84th minute.
Last season’s runners-up VfB Stuttgart only managed a 0-0 draw with Hertha Berlin in the other match played on Sunday.
Hertha were reduced to 10 men in the 81st minute when Poland striker Artur Wichniarek was sent off for insulting the referee.
PSV Eindhoven Win Dutch Super Cup
In Amsterdam, Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven won the Dutch Super Cup for the seventh time since 1991 with a 3-1 victory over cup winners Utrecht on Sunday.
Goals from Arjen Robben, Mark van Bommel and Mateja Kezman gave PSV the victory but coach Guus Hiddink felt there was room for improvement in the team’s performance. “The first half we played statically, we didn’t move enough and hardly created any chances” said Hiddink.
“But a team like PSV is always obliged to win trophies and that is what we did today.
“We had some chances to decide the match earlier, but a lack of sharpness prevented that,” he added.
Robben opened the scoring with a spectacular solo effort after 14 minutes, before Hans van der Haar leveled the score just seven minutes later when he stabbed home a poor clearance of a Utrecht free kick by PSV captain van Bommel. Van Bommel made up for his error just two minutes after the break by restoring the lead when a Jurgen Collin pass found him unmarked in the Utrecht box.
Robben and van Bommel then both missed chances to decide the match midway through the spell when they hit the post, while van der Haar shot over the top with 13 minutes remaining to waste Utrecht’s best chance of the second half.
Last year’s top scorer in the Dutch league, Kezman, then sealed the win when his shot beat Utrecht goalkeeper Rene Ponk with less than two minutes remaining.
“Defensively we did well, but because we played too sloppily in the midfield we hardly created any chances,” said Utrecht coach Foeke Booy.
“I was satisfied with the 1-1 at half time, but the early goal from van Bommel in the second half changed our plans.
We pressurized PSV but it didn’t work out,” he said.
Globetrotters Real Return to Base After Far East Tour
In Madrid, Real Madrid returned to Spain yesterday after finishing a glitzy 18-day tour of the Far East tailored more to the needs of the club’s marketing department than to those of its all-star squad.
Parading new signing David Beckham, the nine-times European champions covered close to 30,000 kilometers to play four exhibition matches in Beijing, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
The tour, primarily designed to help the club crack the lucrative Asian market, was an undoubted success on many fronts and demonstrated the immense pulling power Real now possess.
Even for training sessions, adoring fans packed the stadiums to the rafters. The welcome afforded to the players, in particular Beckham, frequently bordered on the hysterical. There can be few who can now challenge Real’s own claim that they are the most popular club in the world.
Financially the tour was also a success, with the club banking 10 million euros ($11.28 million) in appearance money for the four exhibition games, while the exposure on television will ensure a major boost in the sales of club merchandise.
But although they played some eye-catching football during the tour, Real also managed to score some spectacular own goals.
The trip was littered with public relations gaffes that led to allegations of arrogance against the team and its directors from the local press.
The team disappointed thousands of fans in Hong Kong by canceling a training session because of tiredness, only for several players to be spotted later in the island’s most popular night clubs.
Real also appeared over an hour late for an open session, and Chinese officials were left bewildered when the team left a dinner function after only 20 minutes.
