Larissa’s prospects take tumble
Larissa suffered a second consecutive defeat in the UEFA Cup’s Group A, going down 3-2 at home against Zenit, the Russian league’s front-runner, with a round of play remaining. The Greek team, now unlikely to make the next stage, recovered from a 1-0 deficit late in the first half to take a 2-1 lead with two goals in four minutes, the first coming in the 58th minute. But the St Petersburg club reacted with a double move of its own, on 70 and 78 minutes. Two more Greek qualifiers for the UEFA Cup group stage were due to play later last night. Panathinaikos, Group B’s leader, played Copenhagen away. Aris, last in Group F, was due to host Red Star Belgrade in Thessaloniki in a game preceded by violence earlier in the day that hospitalized three visiting Serb fans after they were stabbed in the legs by unknown assailants.
