A glorious UEFA Cup night
Greece enjoyed a rare sweep in the first three UEFA Cup matches involving Greek teams last night, with unfancied Larissa triumphing 2-0 over Blackburn Rovers, AEK overpowering Red Bull Salzburg 3-0 and Panionios coming home with a precious 2-0 win over Sochaux. Later last night Panathinaikos played in Slovakia against Artmedia Bratislava and Aris hosted Real Zaragoza in Thessaloniki. The second legs of the ties will be played on October 4. Larissa recorded an historic victory over English Premiership side Blackburn thanks to two goals in two minutes during the first half. Undeterred by the reputation of their big rival and the ball possession in the first halfhour, the Greek Cup holders surprised their famous visitors with former Everton star Ibrahima Bakayoko’s deflected volley from 25 meters that made it 1-0 in the 34th minute. As if that had not been enough for the Rovers, two minutes later Brett Emerton tried to pass the ball back to goalkeeper Brad Friedel but Nektarios Alexandrou stole it and tried to beat Friedel, but after two more goal efforts it fell to Clayton Silva, who slotted the ball in. Larissa manager Giorgos Donis, a former Blackburn player as well, said: «We delivered what we had promised to do. We tried hard on the pitch and could have had an even better result.» AEK holds a clear advantage over Salzburg with its 3-0 win at the Olympic Stadium, after a performance that promised a great season for the Greek side. Geraldo Alves gave AEK the lead from a Rivaldo corner after just two minutes, Rivaldo added the second in the 57th minute with a wonderful left-foot volley inside the box, and Panayiotis Kone wrapped it up with a header in the 82nd minute from a Daniel Toszer corner on the right. Salzburg finished the game with 10 men as Jorge Francisco Vargas was sent off in the 70th minute for a second bookable offense. In one of the best European nights in its history, Panionios beat French club Sochaux 2-0 away and is the odds-on favorite to advance to the group stage. Refik Djibour scored the first for Evald Linen’s team after 27 minutes and Dario Fernandez sent a corner straight into the net in the 55th minute.
