UEFA Cup Round-Up
30th November, 2007
Premiership strugglers Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton kept their UEFA Cup hopes alive in classic dramatic fashion last night.
Spurs did it the hard way, conceding after just two minutes thanks to some slack defending, before Risgaard doubled Aalborg’s lead just before half time. A disgruntled Ramos made two changes at half time, bringing on Darren Bent and Tom Huddlestone. The move had an immediate effect, taking the home side just 40 seconds to score after the break, with Berbabtov poking home. The Bulgarian was involved in the equaliser six minutes later, crossing the ball to Keane, who in turn worked it to Malbranque who found the back of the net. Bent got the winner in the 66th minute, tapping in an Aaron Lennon cross. Spurs did have chances to score more, but the first half wobble will have given the home fans a fright. The win puts Tottenham on top of Group G, and makes them third favourite to take win the UEFA Cup outright at 10/1 with Betfred.
Bolton left it late to snatch a draw against Greek side Aris Salonika, with a Greek substitute grabbing a 93rd minute equaliser for the home side. Megson fielded a side with a few changes, as Anelka and Diof were left out, possibly with one eye on the weekend’s Premier League tie with Liverpool. The Greek dominated the first half, and got their reward in the 44th minute with a classy volley from Aran. Moments later O’Brian headed against the crossbar for a would-be equaliser. The second half saw Bolton push forward but create little, until Giannakopolous’ late strike earned the English side a draw. The point leaves the English side with a great chance of qualification in Group F. Megson was not impressed with the display, saying: "We've played poorly and there's no dressing it up any other way - but we haven't got beaten." Bolton are a huge 50/1 with Betfred to win the competition, which is likely to atract a few punters to the side with a fair amount of European experience.
Results in Full:
- Zenit St Petersburg 2 - 2 Nurnberg
- AZ 1 - 0 Larissa
- Lokomotiv Moscow 0 - 1 FC Copenhagen
- Atletico Madrid 2 - 0 Aberdeen
- IF Elfsborg 1 - 3 Mlada Boleslav
- AEK Athens 1 - 1 Fiorentina
- Hamburg 3 - 0 Rennes
- SK Brann 2 - 1 Dinamo Zagreb
- Sparta Prague 0 - 0 Spartak Moscow
- FC Zurich 2 - 0 Toulouse
- Braga 1 - 1 Bayern Munich
- Bolton 1 - 1 Aris Salonika
- Getafe 1 - 2 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
- Tottenham 3 - 2 AaB
- Panionios 0 - 3 Galatasaray
- Helsingborgs IF 3 - 0 FK Austria Magna
