Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Champions League: Liverpool beaten, Inter Shocked


Rubin Kazan 1-1 Inter Milan
Fiorentina 2-0 Liverpool
Rangers 1-4 Sevilla
Arsenal 2-0 Olympiakos
Barcelona 2-0 Dynamo Kiev

MONTENEGRIN teenager Stevan Jovetic struck twice in a 10-minute first-half spell to stun Liverpool in their Champions League Group E clash against Fiorentina.

The 19-year-old grabbed his first after 27 minutes after being put clean through, and then he touched home his second from the near post 10 minutes later.

Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin rescued Arsenal from a frustrating evening against Olympiakos and gave Arsene Wenger an early celebration to his 13th anniversary as manager this week.

It looked likely that Wenger's men would be punished for failing to convert their chances - a problem that has contributed to five years without a trophy - but Van Persie's second strike in four days gave them the breakthrough, before Arshavin added the second with a cheeky backheel.

Rangers crashed to a heavy 4-1 defeat to Sevilla in the Champions League amid controversy at Ibrox. The Scottish champions were denied a penalty late in the first half before Abdoulay Konko, the player responsible for the foul, set the ball rolling on an emphatic win for the La Liga side.

He grabbed the opener shortly after the restart, before Adriano, Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute all helped themselves to a goal apiece as Rangers collapsed in the second half. Substitute Nacho Novo did pull a goal back late on but it was scant consolation for Walter Smith's men.

Lionel Messi and Pedro struck in each half to give holders Barcelona a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in their Champions League Group F match.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic caused the Dynamo defence some early problems but it was Messi who opened the scoring in the 25th minute when he cut in from the right and struck a low shot that had enough power to beat Olexandr Shovkovskiy.

The Argentina forward had several chances to double Barca's lead before Pedro picked up Ibrahimovic's pass in the 76th minute and sent a precise shot into the bottom left corner.

Full Champions League Results

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