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| Saturday, November 2, 2002 17:34 EST |
AJ Auxerre falls to RC Lens
[Reuters]
Serie A | Scotland | Bundesliga
PARIS -- League leader AJ Auxerre crashed to a 3-1 defeat to RC Lens and champions Olympique Lyon were held to a 2-2 draw by Nice as poor Champions League form pursued French clubs in the first division.
Auxerre, dumped out of the Champions League after a 3-0 midweek thrashing by PSV Eindhoven, surrendered an early lead to lose to goals from Rigobert Song, Antoine Sibierski and Eric Sikora -- and also had Lionel Mathis red-carded at the end.
Despite the defeat, Auxerre remains top on 24 points, one ahead of Paris St. Germain, which plays Sedan on Sunday.
An equalizer by defender Jacques Abardonado deep in injury-time earned third-place Nice a dramatic draw at Lyon, who had gone down 2-0 to Ajax Amsterdam in midweek.
Ten-man Olympique Marseille moved up to fourth place after a 2-0 win over Montpellier.
Dortmund can't cut deficit
BERLIN -- Champions Borussia Dortmund failed
to increase the pressure on troubled Bayern Munich when it was held to a 1-1 home draw by lowly Hamburg SV in the German
first division on Saturday.
Bayern, facing a wave of criticism after its elimination
from European competition following their 2-1 Champions League
defeat by Deportivo Coruna on Tuesday, are two points clear of
Dortmund and will stay top whatever the outcome of their tricky
game at Werder Bremen on Sunday.
Dortmund, who looked tired after their hard-fought 2-1 win
over Arsenal on Wednesday to clinch a spot in the second stage
of the Champions League, remained undefeated after 11 Bundesliga
games but did little else to please their fans.
Hamburg produced a convincing display and had just missed a
penalty when striker Kim Christensen netted the equalizer from
close range with one minute remaining after collecting a headed
pass from striker Erik Meijer.
Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky put Dortmund ahead by
volleying home from just inside the box on 67 minutes but the
Ruhr Valley side then looked nervous and conceded a penalty when
Germany defender Christoph Metzelder handled the ball in the
87th minute.
Hamburg midfielder Bernd Hollerbach fired the spot-kick over
the crossbar but two minutes later Christensen was on target to
present Hamburg, who stayed 13th, with their first away point of
the season.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men with a few seconds
remaining, Meijer receiving his marching orders for contesting a
refereeing decision.
"It was clear to me that we would suffer after leaving a lot
of strength in the game against Arsenal," said Dortmund coach
Matthias Sammer.
"But after taking the lead we should have won it. We made
life difficult for ourselves and I think Hamburg's point from
this was deserved."
Two goals from rising striker Benjamin Lauth helped in-form
TSV 1860 Munich to a 3-1 win over Arminia Bielefeld that kept
the "other" Munich in third, just one point behind Dortmund.
German Cup winners Schalke 04 climbed two spots up to fourth
after a late free kick from substitute Andreas Moeller gave them
a 1-0 victory at bottom-placed Energie Cottbus.
Last season's runners-up Bayer Leverkusen meanwhile
continued to struggle, a first-half goal from midfielder Silvio
Meissner handing them a 1-0 home defeat by VfB Stuttgart.
Leverkusen, who reached the Champions League final last
season and advanced to the second stage after their 2-0 victory
over Olympiakos Piraeus on Tuesday, dropped to 14th in the
18-team standings.
Bologna moves into fourth in standings
ROME -- Bologna missed the chance to put pressure on the Serie A leaders as goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca saved them from defeat during a 0-0 draw at Udinese.
After a quiet first half Udinese midfielder Martin Jorgensen forced the 35-year-old ex-Italian international into a series of saves.
In the 50th minute, he beat away Jorgensen's long-range effort and Roberto Muzzi's powerful strike on the rebound.
Two minutes later, he was beaten by Jorgensen's 20-yard strike but the ball hit the left post, rolled along the line and off the right post.
Bologna moved up to fourth in the table on 12 points, just behind Serie A champion Juventus on goal difference.
Juventus, leader Inter Milan (16 points) and second-place AC Milan (13) all have a game in hand and play Sunday.
A goal in each half by striker Igli Tare and midfielder Stephan Appiah, meanwhile, gave Brescia a 2-0 away win at struggling Torino.
The visitors dominated the first half and took the lead in the 31st minute when Tare headed powerfully past goalkeeper Luca Bucci from Jonathan Bachini's corner.
Brescia goalkeeper Davide Micillo pulled off a series of fine saves after the break before, with four minutes remaining, Brescia wrapped the game up when Bucci's spilled save from Roberto Baggio's close-range shot left Appiah with a simple knock-in.
Torino remains one place off the bottom, with six defeats in seven matches.
Rangers still perfect
GLASGOW, Scotland -- Rangers maintained their unbeaten
record and opened up a four-point gap at the top of the Scottish
premier league when they won 3-0 at Dundee on Saturday.
Rangers have 35 points to the 31 of Celtic, who host
Aberdeen at Parkhead on Sunday.
Dunfermline remain third, on 20 points after a 1-1 draw at
Livingston. Craig Brewster gave Dunfermline the lead but Cherif
Toure-Maman of Togo equalized 11 minutes from the end.
In the day's other two games bottom club Dundee United won
2-1 at Kilmarnock, their second victory of the season, while
second-last Partick Thistle also chalked up their second win,
2-0 at home against Motherwell - who drop to bottom
spot.
Hibernian and Hearts, fourth and fifth at the start of the
day, meet in the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road on Sunday.
Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta, 20, Scotland's October
Young Player of the Month, created all three goals for Rangers
who scored through Robert Malcolm after 30 minutes, Peter
Lovenkrands (50) and Craig Moore (79).
Dundee went close early on with Moore clearing Nacho Novo's
shot off the line while Fabian Caballero's effort hit a post.
But the home side did not offer much threat after being
reduced to 10 men in the 44th minute when Georgian defender
Zurab Khizanishvili was sent off for a foul on Ronald de Boer.
Rangers took the lead after Malcolm scored from close range
following an Arteta corner and the Spaniard created the second
as well after 50 minutes when his cross was headed home by
striker Lovenkrands. The third came from another Arteta corner,
with defender Moore heading home from six meters out.
"I'm very happy to come away from a difficult venue,
particularly with the way Dundee are playing at the moment, with
the three points," said Rangers manager Alex McLeish.
"I thought both teams started well but once we get got our
noses in front and they had a man sent off, it made things a lot
easier for us."
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