Anderlecht no threat to Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos took a giant stride toward the UEFA Cup quarterfinals in Athens yesterday with a 3-0 win over Anderlecht courtesy of a dazzling two-goal display from striker Emmanuel Olisadebe. Playing in front of 16,000 fans, who filled the tiny Leoforos Alexandras ground, the Athens team dominated a one-sided match thanks chiefly to Nigerian-born Poland forward Olisadebe who scored two and laid on a third. The striker opened the scoring in the 12th minute, lashing home a rebound after a header from Sotiris Kiryiakos hit the upright. The visitors barely mustered an attack but held on until the 62nd minute when an excellent run-and-cross from Olisadebe, who suddenly accelerated past two Anderlecht defenders on the right side, laid on the second for Nikos Lymberopoulos to head in. Olisadebe then killed off the visitors with a well-placed shot from the edge of the area with 17 minutes remaining. Anderlecht must now score four more goals than Panathinaikos in the second leg, to be played in Brussels in two weeks’ time. In the same competition, AEK was playing away at Malaga in a late night match. The lineups: Panathinaikos: Antonis Nikopolidis, Rene Henriksen, Yourkas Seitaridis, 16-Sotiris Kiryiakos, Takis Fyssas, Joonas Kolkka (Yiannis Goumas, 78), Jan Michaelsen, Giorgos Karagounis (Pantelis Constantinidis, 83), Angelos Bassinas, 21-Nikos Lymberopoulos (Krzysztof Warzycha, 87), Emmanuel Olisadebe Anderlecht: Daniel Zitka, Aleksander Ilic (Olivier Doll, 46), Yves Vanderhaehge, Glen Den Boech, Nenad Jestrovic (Ivica Mornar, 78), Walter Baseggio, Bertrand Crasson (Dindane Aruna, 73), Seol Hyeon-ki, Hannu Tihinen, Goran Lovre, Marc Hendrikx (Reuters, Kathimerini)
