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Ambitious Murata suffer reality check against Gothenburg

Ambitious San Marino champions Murata suffered a reality check when they lost 5-0 at home to IFK Gothenburg in their Champions League first qualifying round first leg on Tuesday.

Murata, who boasted 42-year-old Brazilian World Cup-winning defender Aldair in their ranks, had failed in attempts to get Romario and Michael Schumacher to play in the match.

The Swedes, semi-finalists in 1986, raced into a 3-0 first-half lead thanks to Robin Soder, Ragnar Sigurdsson and Pontus Wernblom with Hjalmar Jonsson and Stefan Selakovic also scoring.

Slovakian champions Artmedia Bratislava, who made the group stage in 2005, won 2-0 against Valletta in Malta and Slovenian club Domzale grabbed a 1-0 victory at Luxembourg’s Dudelange.

Less than two months after Manchester United lifted the trophy in Moscow after beating Chelsea on penalties, Tampere United forward Jari Niemi scored the first goal of this season’s tournament.

His strike midway through the first half helped the Finns take a 2-1 first leg advantage over Montenegro’s Champions League newcomers Buducnost Podgorica in an early kick off.

Cyprus champions Anorthosis Famagusta beat Armenia’s Pyunik Yerevan 1-0 in a match which was switched from Larnaca to the GSP Stadium in Nicosia after a drought sapped water reserves.

Belarus side BATE Borisov edged toward the second round with a 2-0 home win over Iceland’s Valur Reykjavik while Azerbaijan champions FC Baku drew 0-0 with Macedonia’s Rabotnicki.

Welsh champions Llanelli beat Latvia’s Ventspils 1-0 at home while Baltic rivals Kaunas of Lithuania triumphed 4-1 at Andorra’s Santa Coloma. Bosnian champions Modrica were also away winners, beating Dinamo Tirana 2-0.

Dinamo Zagreb were due to start their bid to reach next May’s final in Rome with a trip to Linfield yesterday, when the three other remaining first round first leg matches were also to be played.
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