Friday, February 15, 2008

Football (Uefa cup round up)

Bolton and Tottenham both secured first leg victories as they eye a place in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup, while Aberdeen were hugely impressive in their 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich.

Hamburg had too much for FC Zurich and Fiorentina also tasted success on their travels as they beat Rosenborg.

Gary Megson's Bolton will take a first leg lead to the Spanish capital after the Reebok faithful were treated to a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid.

An evenly fought and often volatile encounter was decided by El-Hadji Diouf's close range winner, just moments after Atletico substitute Sergio Aguero was sent-off for spitting in the 72nd minute.

Aberdeen performed heroically at Pittodrie to hold Bayern Munich to a 2-2 draw that saw them twice lead against the Bundesliga giants.

Josh Walker fired the SPL side into a shock 24th minute lead with a precision strike from the edge of the box, but their joy proved short-lived as Bayern hit back through Miroslav Klose's smashed finish from Luca Toni's flick on.

Aberdeen restored their lead when Omatsone Aluko showed a great touch and composure before firing a low drive under a helpless Michael Rensing just before the half-time break.

Bayern responded strongly in the second period and will host Aberdeen on a level footing in the return leg, thanks to Hamit Altintop's close range effort, after he had seen his penalty saved by Dons goalkeeper Jamie Langfield.

Tottenham claimed an away day success at Slavia Prague, as they secured a 2-1 victory that should have seen them win by more, despite a late rally from the home side.

Spurs were always in cruise control on their trip to the Czech capital as they needed just four minutes to take the lead.

Jermaine Jenas' mazy dribble concluded with the ball breaking to Dimitar Berbatov, who proceeded to slam in his 16th goal of the season.

So as not to be overshadowed by his strike partner, Robbie Keane got in on the act when on the half-hour mark he converted Jenas' clever pass with the finish it deserved.

Juande Ramos looked content on the bench but after David Strihavka capitalised on Radek Cerny's dropping of a routine cross with 20 minutes remaining, Spurs looked distinctly shaky.

Prague went close to grabbing a surprise leveller on a number of occasions, with Erich Brabec crashing the bar with a header.

Hamburg were far too strong on their travels to Zurich as they came away with a comfortable 3-1 victory, which saw all the goals scored in the second half.

David Jarolim broke the home side's resolve four minutes after the break when he converted substitute Jose Guerrero's knock-down with a smart finish.

And it was Guerrero again that proved to be the architect of Hamburg's second, as his cross was converted by Croatian striker Ivica Olic.

The win was secured when Piotr Trochowski scored a low free-kick that should make the return leg in Germany very much a formality.

Zurich's consolation was scored two minutes from time when Eric Hassli scored a free-kick of his own.

Former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu ensured it is Fiorentina that are favourites to progress to the competition's latter stages as his goal saw off Rosenborg in Norway.

The Romanian's 16th minute effort saw him pounce from close range to finish Riccardo Montolivo's pass.

Ariza Makukula's goal two minutes before the break secured Benfica a first leg advantage over Nurnberg.

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