Tottenham and Bolton gave their fans a UEFA Cup night to remember on Thursday as Bayern Munich were held to a draw by Portuguese minnows Sporting Braga.
Bolton Wanderers scored a dramatic last-minute equalizer at home to finish 1-1 with Aris Salonika.
Bolton manager Gary Megson acknowledged the draw, a drab affair, was a case of "after the Lord Mayor's Show."
Bolton beat Manchester United in the Premier League last Saturday and Megson reflected: "Sometimes it's a case of after the Lord Mayor's Show. There are no excuses for us -- it was a big game and although it was not a full house or Manchester United it was still a very important game."
"We didn't start right and when you don't do that it's hard to pick yourself up," Megson said. "Our performance overall was a poor one -- we didn't get out of second gear and in the end we played lot of hit-and-hope balls with players who can't play in that manner."
Tottenham Hotspur were a goal down after just two minutes, but fought back to beat Danish side Aalborg 3-2 at White Hart Lane.
Spurs, who were stretching their new coach Juande Ramos' unbeaten run to six games, are top of group G while Bolton are third in group F on three points behind leaders Bayern.
Bayern Munich remain top despite eking out a 1-1 draw away to Sporting Braga, their second draw of the competition but a result which nonetheless leaves the German giants clear on five points, one ahead of Aris and two ahead of Bolton.
High-flying German side Hamburg were among the early benefactors as the battle for the UEFA Cup's latter stages continued on Thursday.
SV Hamburg appeared not to need the benefit of home advantage as they brushed off the threat of French pretenders Rennes, winning 3-0 to seal their place in the last 32.
Rennes have failed to win their past five matches and were out of their depth against a side who, in the German Bundesliga, are only a point behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Dominated in the midfield and with their defense unable to keep up with Hamburg's attack, the Germans had little difficulty in scoring.
On the half hour Croatian Ivica Olic drew two Rennes defenders close in before slipping the ball off to Rafael van der Vaart who made no mistake from near the penalty spot.
Van der Vaart then turned provider for Eric Choupo-Moting in the 83rd minute and Hamburg grabbed their third goal from a Mohamed Zidan penalty seven minutes later.
Coach Huub Stevens, simultaneously celebrating his 54th birthday, said: "I'm really happy about how the players achieved this result -- it's a great birthday gift. After a slow start we effectively shut Rennes down. They didn't really give us any threat at all."
In Prague, Spartak Moscow forced their hosts Sparta Prague into accepting a scoreless draw, but there was arguably more drama off the pitch than on it.
After scuffles between rival fans in the city center, Czech police were forced to brandish and use their batons after fans of the Russian side attacked stadium stewards, according to Czech public television reports.
Violence erupted just before halftime and Czech police were forced to keep the Spartak fans in the stadium for more than half an hour after the final whistle.
And in Spain, 11 people were injured when supporters of Aberdeen and Atletico Madrid clashed on Thursday before their UEFA Cup Group B match which Atletico won 2-0.
Police intervened to separate the rival supporters who pelted each other with bottles and other objects in the Vicente Calderon stadium, radio Cadena Ser reported.
It said 11 people were injured, most of whom suffered bruises.
Another Russian club, Zenith St. Petersburg, missed the chance to go top of Group A after a late equalizer in a 2-2 draw at home to Nuremberg.
Angelos Charisteas gave the visitors a first-half lead before two goals in four second-half minutes from Pavel Pogrebnyak and substitute Aleksei Ionov put Zenith ahead.
Leon Benko then came off the bench to head home five minutes from time and level the scores.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS