CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Chelsea, Inter and Barcelona won to stay on course for the knockout stages though 2005 winners Liverpool only drew at Atletico Madrid in a subdued night of Champions League action on Wednesday.
Following Tuesday’s 36-goal spree, only Barcelona’s 5-0 thrashing of Basel was notable in the goal-scoring stakes.
Chelsea’s 1-0 home victory over AS Roma kept them well on course at the top of Group A, while Inter thanked Brazilian Adriano for their 1-0 win over Cypriots Anorthosis Famagusta leaving them as pacesetters in Group B. Barcelona top Group C.
Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari believed his side were in good form before the return match against AS Roma next month.
“Roma need to pressure us to try to win more than they did today, maybe there we will have more space to play,” Scolari said. “We only have one more Champions League game at home so this was a very important victory.”
England skipper John Terry, who got the 77th minute goal, added: “They made it very difficult for us the whole game but thankfully we got the goal and picked up three points.”
Teen sensation Bojan Krkic scored twice as Barcelona cruised past Basel to keep their 100 percent record.
Goals from star Argentinian striker Lionel Messi, Sergi Busquets, two from Krkic and a fifth from Xavi Hernandez brought Barcelona up to an impressive 10 goals from their three victories.
Italian champions Inter were made to battle all the way by a spirited Anorthosis at the San Siro.
Adriano scored the winner late on in the first half to put Inter in control of the group with seven points from three games.
The Cypriots are still in a position to qualify for the knock-out stages after Panathinaikos and Werder Bremen drew 2-2 in Greece.
Liverpool’s Robbie Keane, yet to score in the Premiership, had put the visitors ahead in the 14th minute for his second Champions League goal at Atletico’s Vicente Calderon stadium.
An 83rd minute goal by Simao was a blow for Liverpool although both they and Atletico have seven points at the top of Group D.
Marseille coach Eric Gerets suffered a nightmare return to former club PSV Eindhoven as the Dutch beat the French club 2-0 to keep their slim Champions League hopes alive.
A double from Danny Koevermans kept Gerets’s side at the bottom of the pool all but ending Marseille’s chances of progressing any further.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
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