Newcastle have kept their Champions League hopes alive with a famous 1-0 home win over Juventus. Andy Griffin secured the win in the 62nd minute when his low shot was fumbled in by keeper Gianluigi Buffon. The Juve goalie made amends three minutes later with a superb flying stop to deny Solano.
Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given was dropped, as Magpies manager Bobby Robson decided to hand reserve keeper Steve Harper his first start in eleven months. Harper almost handed the lead to the Turin giants after 22 minutes when Pavel Nedved intercepted a poor pass intended for Titus Bramble, only to shoot tamely wide when he had a clean sight on goal.
Juve increased the pressure towards the end, with substitute Gianluca Zambrotta firing over from close range on 77 minutes, and Harper was forced to make a point-blank save from Alessandro Del Piero soon after. Zayaleta came closest in the dying minutes but his shot came back off the crossbar, and Bobby Robson’s men clung on to maintain their slim chances of qualifying for the next phase.
Manchester United made heavy weather away to Olympiakos before emerging with a 3-2 victory to secure their second round place.
Manager Alex Ferguson knew that a draw would secure qualification, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was left out, handing a rare start to Diego Forlan. Laurent Blanc and Juan Sebastian Veron scored either side of the break for a dominant United, but the Greeks fought back with second half goals from substitute Lambros Choutos and skipper Predrag Djordjevic. Paul Scholes saved the English team’s blushes with an 85th minute winner, thanks to an appalling blunder from Olympiakos keeper Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
