The Hindu : Sport / Football : Portsmouth moves to second spot

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Wednesday, Aug 30, 2006

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Portsmouth moves to second spot

LONDON: Portsmouth moved into second place in the English Premier League on beating Middlesbrough 4-0 behind two goals from Kwankwo Kanu on Monday.

The south coast club improved to seven points in three games, just two behind Manchester United.

Kanu made it 1-0 in the seventh minute, and Benjani Mwaruwari doubled the lead in the 50th. Kanu got his second seven minutes later. Svetoslav Todorov scored the final goal in second half injury time. Middlesbrough, which upset Chelsea 2-1 five days earlier, posed almost no threat with a small crowd of 24,000 at the Riverside Stadium heading early to the exit gates.

Champions League holder and Spanish champion Barcelona rebounded from its shock 3-0 defeat by Sevailla in the European Super Cup last Firday, by edging Celta Vigo 3-2 in its opening league match on Monday.

International Eidur Gudjohnsen was the hero who scored two minutes from the end, just over 10 minutes after coming on for Ludovic Giuly.

Celta had taken the lead through Brazilian Baiano in the 42nd minute before an uneasy Barcelona levelled through Cameroon ace Samuel Eto'o 11 minutes into the second-half.

Argentinian teenager Lionel Messi gave them the lead four minutes later but Celta refused to be bowed and equalised five minutes later through Messi's compatriot Gustavo Lopez. — AP

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