The Hindu : Sport / Football : Newcastle downs Olympiakos

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 12, 2005

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Sport - Football

Newcastle downs Olympiakos

LONDON, MARCH 11. Olympiakos had two men sent off in the first half and Newcastle romped to a 3-1 victory on Thursday to take a giant stride toward the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup.

Spanish referee Arturo Ibanez issued a red card to Grigorios Georgatos for a professional foul and two yellows followed by a red to Athanasios Kostoulas as the Greek club was reduced to nine men by the 44th minute.

With Newcastle leading 2-1 on an Alan Shearer's 12th-minute penalty and a 22m free-kick by Laurent Robert in the 34th, furious Olympiakos fans hurled abuse and bottles at Ibanez and the Newcastle bench as the players left the field at halftime.

Although Predrag Djordjevic's 15th-minute penalty kept Olympiakos close, Newcastle secured the victory when Patrick Kluivert added a third in the 69th minute.

More bottles showered the Newcastle players as they left the field following the game.

Besides Newcastle, Dutch club AZ Alkmaar also won away, 3-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk; Lille won at fellow French club Auxerre 1-0; and Sporting Lisbon won 3-2 at Middlesbrough.

Steau Bucharest's match against Villarreal was delayed until next week because of snow.

While Newcastle's victory delighted many fans in northeast England, others watched in dismay.

In its rookie season in European competition, Middlesbrough was outplayed for long spells by Sporting Lisbon, which led 3-0 at the Riverside before conceding a pair of goals in the last 11 minutes.

The results: Austria Vienna (Austria) 1 drew with Real Zaragoza (Spain) 1; Lille (France) 0 lost to Auxerre (France) 1; Middlesbrough (England) 2 lost to Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) 3; Olympiakos (Greece) 1 lost to Newcastle (England) 3; Partizan (Serbia-Montenegro) 1 drew with CSKA Moscow (Russia) 1; Sevilla (Spain) 0 drew with Parma (Italy) 0; Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) 1 lost to AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) 3. — AP

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