Panathinaikos stays in the race after defeating Barcelona 1-0
Angelos Basinas scored a second-half penalty to give Panathinaikos a 1-0 victory over Barcelona late on Wednesday and keep its chances alive to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League. The first-leg win was Panathinaikos’s fifth home victory in Europe’s most prestigious soccer competition this season. It has had two draws and no losses at home. It was the first-ever game between Panathinaikos and the Spanish powerhouse in European tournaments. «It feels good. Our hard work paid off,» Basinas said after the match. «They were strong opponents, but we played the way we had to.» Barcelona coach Carles Rexach, who disputed the penalty, said he thought the Spaniards would prevail in the second leg at home on Tuesday. «With all respect to Panathinaikos, Barcelona is a better team,» he said. The Greeks went on the attack early in the game. But Barcelona nearly scored in the 13th minute, when Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert unleashed a powerful left-footed shot that scraped past Antonis Nikopolidis’s left upright. With strikers Rivaldo of Brazil and Argentine Javier Saviola on the bench, Barcelona rarely looked threatening, except for a shot by Fabio Rochemback in the 37th that went wide. The hosts, with key midfielders Giorgos Karagounis suspended and Jan Michaelsen injured, had their best first-half chance in the 36th minute with an off-target header by Goran Vlaovic. The visitors slowed the pace after the break to preserve the tie, as the Greeks fought desperately to score. Barcelona regained the initiative after Rivaldo substituted Rochemback in the 72nd. A minute later, Nikopolidis averted a goal with a fingertip save to a blistering shot by the Brazilian star. In the 77th minute, Barcelona captain Fernand Abelardo brought down Finnish striker Joonas Kolkka in the Spanish area. Basinas sent goalie Roberto Bonano the wrong way to grab the win and drive the sellout crowd of 15,000 into wild celebration at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. In the game’s final minutes, Barcelona threw its players forward to try and level but the Greek defense resisted well. Rexach condemned Norwegian referee Terje Hauge for awarding the penalty that gave Panathinaikos the win. «The referee did us a great wrong this evening and I hope it won’t prove to be decisive. In my opinion it was not a penalty,» said Rexach. Panathinaikos coach Sergio Markarian said he did not have a clear view of the incident. «I did not see it,» he said. «Overall, I thought the referee was very good, he may have made one or two mistakes but he had a good game.» Rexach, who warned that the Greeks would be tough opposition before the game, denied taking an overly negative approach. «We didn’t play for the draw but we respected our opponent, that’s why we had an extra man in midfield,» he said. «A lot of people made the mistake of thinking we had already won this match before we started.» The Catalan coach also defended his decision to start with Patrick Kluivert as a lone forward, leaving Rivaldo and Javier Saviola on the bench. «Rivaldo was not fit to play from the start. We could have cleared our passage to the next round this evening with the chances we had but overall a scoreless draw would have been the fairest result,» he said. Markarian said that his side’s biggest enemy had been exhaustion. «We had two factors to contend with, first, a great opponent but secondly, and more importantly, the physical condition of my players,» he said. «Tonight we didn’t see 100 percent from Panathinaikos. We will next week. We were the team that looked for the win from the first whistle and for that alone we deserved to win,» said the Uruguayan.(Combined reports)
