Everton, Tottenham and Bolton failed to match the lofty heights of their Champions League counterparts on Thursday as their UEFA Cup dreams were left hanging in the balance.
Hopes were high that the three could follow the impressive examples set by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal midweek, but all three endured disappointing nights.
Everton, who harbor hopes of playing in Europe's elite competition next season, slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Fiorentina in their last 16, first leg clash to lose their 100 percent record in the competition.
PHOTO: AP
Tottenham were also beaten, going down 1-0 at White Hart Lane to PSV Eindhoven to shatter coach Juande Ramos' hopes of winning the competition for the third successive year.
Bolton, battling relegation from the Premier League, drew 1-1 at home to Sporting Lisbon.
Glasgow Rangers kept British pride intact with a 2-0 win at home to Werder Bremen, while title favorites Bayern Munich cruised to a 5-0 win at Anderlecht.
PHOTO: AP
Everton were indebted to goalkeeper Tim Howard who celebrated his 29th birthday in style with a string of fine first-half saves in the cold and rainswept Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence.
But Fiorentina were deserving winners with second half goals from Serbian striker Zdravko Kuzmanovic and midfielder Ricardo Montolivo.
"We were a little too negative and too cautious," Everton skipper Phil Neville said. "We didn't play the way we could so it was a let down. We'll have to play at a higher tempo in the second leg next Wednesday, put in crosses and create chances."
Tottenham Hotspur's English League Cup final hangover showed no sign of abating as PSV Eindhoven took a 1-0 advantage back to the Netherlands.
Jefferson Farfan punished a horrendous first half mistake from debutant Gilberto to inflict a second successive defeat on Juande Ramos' side since they won the League Cup two weeks ago.
At the Reebok, Bolton Wanderers saw Sporting Lisbon's Simon Vukcevic crack a stunning equalizer to cancel out Gavin McCann's first-half opener and leave Gary Megson's side facing an uphill struggle in Portugal.
Celtic may have been eliminated from the Champions League by Barcelona but city rivals Rangers stayed on course in the UEFA Cup with a 2-0 win over Werder Bremen thanks to goals either side of halftime from Gabon international Daniel Cousin and Northern Ireland midfielder Steven Davis.
"Early on Bremen had a lot of possession, but scoring just before halftime was a big factor for us and then scoring at the start of the second half put us in a great position," Rangers boss Walter Smith said.
"But it was also vital we didn't concede a goal at home and that could be important in the second leg," he said.
Former European champions Bayern Munich were the night's most impressive winners, clinching victory against Anderlecht in Brussels for the first time in five meetings.
Hamit Altintop, Luca Toni, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose and Frank Ribery were all on target, while Anderlecht were also reduced to 10 men after the sending off of Polish defender Marcin Wasilewski right on the stroke of halftime.
Marseille, also former European champions, moved closer to the last eight with a 3-1 win over Russia's Zenit St. Petersburg with former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse scoring twice.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS