HAMBURG, 29 September 2005 — Arsenal, Juventus, Barcelona and Bayern Munich on Tuesday maintained their one hundred percent record in the Champions League as they won their second group games.
Juventus heads Group A after their 3-0 victory against Austrian representatives Rapid Vienna. David Trezeguet, Adrian Mutu and Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored at the Stadio dell Alpi.
Trezeguet opened on 26 minutes and was replaced after the break by captain Alessandro Del Piero, who came on for his 100th international game. Mutu came on for Mauro Camoranesi and found the net eight minutes from time, five minutes before Ibrahimovic ended a drought lasting since last May.
The Italians lead the group on goal difference from Bayern Munich, who scored an unimpressive 1-0 win against Club Brugge. The only goal of the game was scored midway through the first half by Martin Demichelis.
Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer said after the game that his side had played for only one half. “I was happy with the performance in the first half, but in the second we did not do well. We will need to improve if we want to go far in this competition.”
In Group B, the Thun fairy tale continued with a 1-0 victory against Sparta Prague. Veteran Bosnian defender Selver Hodzic— with only his second professional goal— scored the winner a minute from the end for Thun, who sensationally knocked out Dynamo Kiev and Malmo FF in the qualifiers.
The Swiss club are second behind Arsenal, who hold the lead in the group after their 2-1 victory at Ajax Amsterdam. Freddie Ljungberg opened the scoring for the Gunners in the 2nd minute. Robert Pires added the second from the penalty spot in the 69th minute before Markus Rosenberg pulled one back two minutes later.
Brazilian striker Ronaldinho was the hat trick hero for Barcelona as the Spanish club beat Serie A team Udinese 4-1. Deco scored the other goal for the home side, while Felipe was the scorer for the visitors.
In the other Group C game, Werder Bremen slumped to their second successive defeat, losing 2-1 at Panathinaikos Athens. Ezequiel Gonzalez and Evangelos Mantzios put the home side two goals up within the first eight minutes. Miroslav Klose managed to find the net for Bremen two minutes from the break.
Manchester United were made to struggle for their 2-1 victory against Benfica. Ryan Giggs scored the opening goal for the Reds in the 39th minute, but Simao brought the visitors back on level terms on the hour with a freekick. Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the winner for United five minutes from the end.
The other group game saw minnows Lille nearly produce a mild surprise as they turned in a feisty performance against Spaniards Villareal in a match that finished 0-0 at the Stade de France in Paris.
The French runners-up dominated the second-half but squandered a number of good chances and also had two goals disallowed while Villareal always looked dangerous on the counterattack.
“They’re a team with great technique but we remained solid and were well organized,” Lille striker Matt Moussilou said after the match. “It’s a good result to take a point but of course we would have loved to have won.
“The coach told us to push up in the second half and we created some good chances but the important thing was not to concede a goal. Now we go to Manchester who will be looking for the three points while we will try to cause an upset,” added the 23-year-old who was playing in his home city of Paris.
Moscow-born Peter Odemwingie nearly opened the scoring on 56 minutes when he carved open the Villareal defense and smashed a left-foot shot that beat the keeper only for the ball to hit the underside of the cross-bar and bounce clear.
Cameroon international Jean Makoun then banged in a point-blank header from six yards that Viera was relieved to see come at him and blocked.
Manchester head the group with four points from Benfica, who have three.
