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| Thursday, October 31, 2002 18:43 EST |
Lazio, Parma earn narrow victories
[Reuters]
LONDON -- Celtic drew first blood in the
'Battle of Britain' against Blackburn Rovers while Italian clubs
Lazio and Parma both secured slender aggregate leads in UEFA Cup
second round, first leg matches on Thursday.
Sweden striker Henrik Larsson snatched a 1-0 victory for
Scottish champions Celtic as Blackburn boss Graeme Souness --
the former manager of Celtic's bitter local rivals Rangers --
endured a frustrating return to Glasgow.
Lazio beat former European champions Red Star Belgrade 1-0
in Rome, while Parma -- twice former winners of the UEFA Cup --
conceded an 'away' goal before triumphing 2-1 against Wisla
Krakow.
But the one-goal advantages will ensure Celtic, Lazio and
Parma all face tricky return legs on November 14.
Fenerbahce and Panathinaikos settled for a 1-1 draw in their
match but the first meeting between Turkish and Greek clubs in a
major European competition was marred by crowd trouble.
Fenerbahce fans injured a number of visiting supporters from
Athens by hurling missiles at their section before kickoff,
hurting the two countries' hopes of showcasing their joint bid
to host the 2008 European championship.
Arguably the most eye-catching performance of the night was
provided by English premier league Fulham, who stunned Dinamo
Zagreb 3-0 in Croatia.
In Glasgow, Souness, the former Scotland midfielder, saw his
English premier league club dominate for large periods of the
tie.
But chances went begging at either end before Larsson was on
hand five minutes from time to turn home a rebound after Celtic
substitute John Hartson's header was blocked on the line.
Lazio midfielder Stefano Fiore pounced after just 10 minutes
at the Olympic stadium but a young Red Star side was unlucky
not to get anything to take back for the second leg.
Two outstanding long range strikes from Massimo Donati and
Romanian Adrian Mutu eased Parma's nerves, but not before Maciej
Zarawski had equalized for Polish club Wisla.
A minute's silence was held before the game in honor of the
victims of the earthquake in San Giuliano earlier on Thursday in
which at least seven people were killed.
On the pitch in Istanbul, an equalizer from Brazilian
striker Washington three minutes before halftime for Fenerbahce
cancelled out Angelos Basinas' excellent 15th-minute opener.
But the occasion was overshadowed by events off the field.
Turkish and Greek foreign ministers -- attending the game to
underline a recent warming of diplomatic ties -- were pelted by
seats and plastic cartons of yogurt drinks from Greek fans.
Elsewhere, Spanish club Celta Vigo crushed Viking Stavanger
of Norway 3-0 while fellow La Liga outfit Alaves rescued a 1-1
draw at home to Besiktas courtesy of Abelardo's last-minute
goal.
Fulham's passage to the third round was all but secured
after its demolition of 10-man Dinamo.
Kristijan Polovanec was sent off for a professional foul on
Luis Boa Morte after 32 minutes, before Boa Morte gave the
London club the lead four minutes later. Second half goals from
Steve Marlet and Barry Hayles compounded Dinamo's misery.
Fellow English clubs Leeds United and Ipswich Town had to
work harder for their triumphs.
Harry Kewell's sweet left foot strike eight minutes from
time saw Leeds beat Israel's Hapoel Tel Aviv at Elland Road.
Joe Royle was taking charge of English first division
Ipswich for the first time since replacing the sacked George
Burley, and he was rewarded with Darren Bent's second half
winner in a 1-0 victory against Slovan Liberec.
Former UEFA Cup champions Anderlecht scored twice in five
minutes through Nenad Jestrovic on its way to a 3-1 first leg
triumph at home to Denmark's Midtjylland.
Paris St. Germain registered an impressive 2-0 away win over
National Bucharest, while an own goal from Werder Bremen's Frank
Verlaat gave Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem a 2-1 win after Verlaat
had earlier equalized for the German visitors.
In other games, Porto of Portugal beat Austria Vienna 1-0
while Sparta Prague will take a 1-0 lead to Turkey for its
second leg against Denizlispor.
City rivals Slavia Prague faces a struggle to turn around
its tie with Partizan Belgrade after going down 3-1.
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