Thursday, February 21, 2008

Ave Maria!!!

It was the end of the road in the UEFA Cup for two of its top strikers after the completion of Round of 32.

Atlético Madrid deeply felt the absence of Kun AGUERO in their match against Bolton Wanderers. Kun was handed a two-match ban by UEFA on Wednesday following his sending-off in the first leg.

The English side won the first leg 1-0 and it was up to the likes of Maxi RODRIGUEZ & Co. that needed to fill in the gap left by Kun. Unfortunately Atlético could only manage goalless draw and were out of the competition.

Another high profile Albiceleste exit was Fernando CAVENAGHI. His club Bordeaux could only manage a 1-1 draw with Anderletch, who were leading 2-1 from the first leg. But it was the Belgian side that took the lead in the 34th minute and further pressure from them was evident as Nicolas PAREJA had his free kick saved by the host goalkeeper Ulrich RAME.

Then in the 71st minute, a cross by Johan MICOUD found CAVENAGHI, who scored to give the French side some glimmer hope, only to see it fadding away as two of their players were sent off in the final 20 minutes. Lucas BIGLIA also started for the visiting team.

But the toast of the night in the UEFA Cup will go to Angel DI MARIA and his club Benfica in their match against Nurmberg. Javier PINOLA’s side were trailing the Portuguese side 1-0 and look almost certain to go though as they 2-0 up already with only injury time left.
Then the most unthinkable happen as Benfica pulled one back through Oscar CARDOZO in the 90th minute. Then two minute into injury time, CARDOZO won the ball in midfield and sent a looping pass to DI MARIA, who after a long run circled Jaromir BLAZEK and fired home to break the Germans' hearts.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love Di Maria, I just think he is going to be a superstar. Does amazing things with the ball. I kinda do wish he went to Arsenal instead of going to Benfica. I can not wait to see him play again in the Olympics.

JACK!