The Hindu : Sport / Football : A red twist to the Wayne Rooney tale

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 16, 2005

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A red twist to the Wayne Rooney tale

LONDON: Dennis Bergkamp scored an 89th-minute goal to give Arsenal a win over FC Thun on Wednesday in the Champions League, while Benfica and Ajax also benefited from late strikes.

Bergkamp scored his first Champions League goal in three years to help the Gunners to a 2-1 victory at Highbury.

Wesley Sneijder scored a last-minute equaliser to earn four-time champion Ajax a 1-1 draw at Sparta Prague, and Italian striker Fabrizio Miccoli netted an injury-time winner for Benfica in a 1-0 victory over Lille.

Also, Vincenzo Iaquinta scored a hat-trick as Udinese marked its debut in the competition with a 3-0 victory over Panathinaikos, and Serie A champion Juventus won 2-1 at FC Brugge despite having Patrick Vieira sent off a minute from the end.

Other powerhouse teams started with victories. German champion Bayern Munich won 1-0 at Rapid Vienna and FC Barcelona topped host Werder Bremen 2-0. Manchester United, however, was held 0-0 at Villarreal and had to play the final 26 minutes without Wayne Rooney, who was ejected for ironically applauding referee Kim Milton Nielsen after a caution.

Rooney had little support from United manager Alex Ferguson. "You can't applaud the referee," Ferguson said. "He's a young man and didn't give himself a chance. He's a fiery character and, when he's thinking he's been done an injustice, he reacts like that."

Rooney, whose temper flared during England's 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland a week ago, was sent off in the 64th for two yellow cards at Villarreal. The second was for ironic applause of referee Kim Milton Nielsen's decision to caution him for a foul moments after getting his first card.

Villarreal was weakened by the absence of injured Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme. "We weren't too sharp up front. But a draw's not a bad result," said Villarreal striker Diego Forlan, who was playing against one of his former clubs.

Ferguson admitted that Rooney's red card stopped United in its tracks just when it was beginning to dominate the game against Champions League debutant Villarreal, but he praised his defence for keeping the Spanish side at bay for the rest of the match.

"We were getting control at that point and having our best moments, but with 25 minutes to go and down to 10 men I think we did the job and the back four improved magnificently in the second half and did really well."

The results: Group A: FC Brugge 1 lost to Juventus 2; Rapid Vienna 0 lost to Bayern Munich 1; Group B: Arsenal 2 bt FC Thun 1; Sparta Prague 1 drew with Ajax 1; Group C: Udinese 3 bt Panathinaikos 0; Werder Bremen 0 lost to FC Barcelona 2; Group D: Villarreal 0 drew with Manchester United 0; Benfica 1 bt Lille 0. — Agencies

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