Champions League First-Timers Have Successful Starts

By DB Peters
10:29, September 17th 2008
42 votes
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Hamburg - Champions League first-timers Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus and CFR Cluj of Romania got their campaigns off to successful starts on Tuesday.

Cluj came from behind to stun Serie A club AS Roma 2-1 in Italy, while Famagusta held fancied Bundesliga side Werder Bremen to a goalless draw in Germany.

There were excellent victories for both Premier League sides in action on the night as Chelsea beat Bordeaux 4-0 and Liverpool managed a 2-1 victory at Olympique Marseille.

In London, captain Frank Lampard gave Chelsea the lead in the 14th minute in their Group A game against Bordeaux, heading in a cross from the right from Jose Bosingwa.

Chelsea doubled their advantage on the half hour as Lampard swung in a corner that Joe Cole, who stands no taller than 1.75 metres, managed to head past goalkeeper Ulrich Rame.

Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka added two late goals in the second half.

The other game in the group saw Serie A side AS Roma take an early lead against CFR Cluj, when 35-year-old stand-in skipper Christian Panucci got his head to a ball from Daniele De Rossi.

The rookies responded, though, with two goals from Argentine midfielder Juan Culio on either side of the break to give the visitors a historic victory.

In Athens, Alessandro Mancini scored the first goal of the game midway through the first half as he was beautifully set up by Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had beaten three opponents before pushing the ball across the area for Mancini.

Substitute Adriano added a second score five minutes from the end at a time when Panathinaikos were pushing to give Serie A club Inter Milan a 2-0 victory at Panathinaikos Athens.

The other game in Group B saw Famagusta hold the more-fancied Werder Bremen to a goalless draw in Germany.

Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf criticized his side after the game.

"I think my players thought throughout the game that they would simply score at some stage. They just took it too easy," he said.

"We will obviously have to play much better if we want to play any role in this group. But I know we have the ability to do it, so hopefully we will be able to improve in our next games. Inter is the favourite in the group, but we still have our chances. We have not lost anything with this draw, but of course it was disappointing."

Liverpool managed to score a 2-1 victory at Olympique Marseille in Group D, with captain Steve Gerard score both goals.

Albanian Lorik Cana gave the home side the lead in France in the 23rd minute, but just three minutes later Gerrard equalized for Liverpool.

The team from Merseyside were awarded a penalty on the half hour, and Gerrard stepped up and scored. Referee Konrad Plautz, however, ordered the kick to be retaken after one of the Liverpool players went into the area too soon.

Gerrard made no mistake the second time, either, scoring in the same right corner.

The other group game saw Atletico Madrid, who were playing their 50th game in the European Champions League (formerly European Cup), trounce PSV Eindhoven 3-0 in the Netherlands.

Argentine striker Sergio Aguero scored twice in the first half before Maniche added a final goal in the 55th minute.

In Group C, Shakhtar Donetsk managed a good away win 2-1 at Basel, with Brazilians Fernandinho and Jadson scoring in the first half for the visitors, while Basel's David Abraham pulled one back for the home side in the last minute.

La Liga club Barcelona struggled at home against Sporting Lisbon but won 3-1 in the end through goals by Mexican Rafael Marquez and Samuel Eto'o. Tonel pulled one back for the visitors in the 72nd minute, but it was too little, too late, to come back as Xavi added a third three minutes from the end.



© 2007 - 2009 - DPA/eFluxMedia
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