LONDON, 16 September 2004 -— A night of drama in the Champions League ended with AS Roma’s abandoned match against Dynamo Kiev overshadowing Bayer Leverkusen’s stunning 3-0 upset of tournament favorites Real Madrid.
The Group B match between Roma and Kiev at the Olympic Stadium was called off 40 minutes after Swedish referee Anders Frisk was felled by an object thrown from the crowd as the first half ended.
Moments earlier Frisk had sent off Roma’s French defender Philippe Mexes after he had kicked out at Kiev striker Maris Verpakovskis. Frisk judged the action to be intentional and showed him a red card on the stroke of half-time with Kiev leading 1-0.
As players and officials remonstrated, Frisk was hit as he left the pitch. A gash opened in his forehead and he left the field with blood pouring from the wound. UEFA spokesman William Gaillard, speaking from Sofia where the UEFA executive committee meets today, said by telephone: “We deplore what has happened and will wait for the match delegate’s report as well as the referee’s own report of the incident.
“This is the first time in many years that a European match has been stopped for such an incident — sometimes there have been electrical failures with floodlights of course, but this is something far worse.”
Rome’s Olympic Stadium already held unpleasant memories for the Swede. In March 2002 he refereed Roma’s Champions League match against Galatasaray, which degenerated into a brawl involving players and officials from both sides shortly after the final whistle.
Elsewhere Bayer Leverkusen scored one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history crushing Real Madrid 3-0 to end a seven-match losing streak in the competition.
Manchester United, like Real Madrid, a possible title contender, also looked like capitulating to a shock defeat but pulled back from 0-2 down to draw 2-2 at Olympique Lyon.
Turkey’s Fenerbache ended their seven-match losing streak in the competition with a 1-0 win over Sparta Prague and Juventus won the battle of former champions by beating Ajax 1-0 in Amsterdam. Liverpool also enjoyed a good start with a 2-0 win over last season’s beaten finalists AS Monaco at Anfield while Bayern Munich won 1-0 at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Deportivo Coruna drew 0-0 with Olympiakos
On Tuesday, Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson marked his return to Celtic with his Spanish side’s third goal in an impressive 3-1 win against the Scottish champions in Group F opener.
The Swede — who left Celtic three months ago as the club’s third highest scorer of all-time with 242 goals from 315 games — came on in the second half and scored in the 82nd minute to end the home’s side three-year unbeaten home record in Europe.
Celtic fought back bravely after being outclassed in the first half as Deco’s 19th minute strike gave Barca a deserved lead at the break. Celtic goalkeeper David Marshall enjoyed an inspired night as he stopped Ronaldinho’s 55th minute penalty and made several other superb stops to keep Barca out.
Substitute Chris Sutton brought Celtic level on 59 minutes but Ludovic Giuly’s deflected 77th minute goal knocked the stuffing out of the home side before Larsson finished them off.