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On the second day of the UEFA Champions League second round, almost all favorites played quite successfully, and once again the league debutant surprised - after yesterday's victory of "Thun", another newcomer "Artmedia" in Portugal managed to cancel a two-goal deficit and sensationally beat the 2004 tournament winner "Porto" club.
An interesting and beautiful match took place in Gelsenkirchen, where local "Schalke" hosted last year's finalist "Milan". Already in the 22nd second, the home fans were silenced as C.Seedorf defeated the German goalkeeper F.Rosta with a strike from 30 meters, but a few minutes later S.Larsen equalized with a header. In the second half, the visitors were once again led by A.Shevchenko, who will celebrate his birthday tomorrow, but later H.Altintop scored a beautiful goal from a long-range attempt - the match ended in a draw.
A great victory at home was achieved by Istanbul's "Fenerbahce", crushing Eindhoven's "PSV" team, which played with ten men for the entire second half after J.Vennegoor of Hesselink was sent off the field. Two goals were scored - one from 11 meters and the other with a header by the Brazilian Alex, a third was added at the end of the match by the Ghanaian S.Appiah - the victory allowed the Turkish club to draw with "PSV" and return to the fight to advance to the next stage.
Recovering from the defeat in the first match, Madrid's "Real" managed to beat Piraeus's "Olympiacos" after a tough battle. The royal club took the lead in the 9th minute with a goal by captain Raul, his 50th goal in the Champions League. Although, at the beginning of the second half, P.Kafes equalized with a precise long-range shot, the victory for the Spaniards was secured by the young R.Soldado with a header. Meanwhile, "Lyon" won their second victory out of two possible - defeating "Rosenborg" with the only goal scored by Cris after a corner kick.
Only one goal was scored in Group G - it was scored in Brussels, where the home team "Anderlecht" suffered another defeat against the Seville "Betis" club, which secured its first victory in the prestigious European league. The winning goal for the visitors was scored by their attacking leader R.Oliveira. In the other highly anticipated group match, the battle of two giants from England, neither the defending league champions "Liverpool" nor the country's champion London "Chelsea" managed to score, as the match ended goalless.
Without a doubt, the surprise of the day was the performance of Bratislava's "Artmedia" in the away match against "Porto". Despite the fact that the Portuguese team took a convincing lead in the first half with two goals after accurate shots by L.Gonzalez and Diego, before the break the Slovakians reduced the deficit with a goal by P.Petras, J.Kozak equalized in the 54th minute with a precise counter-attack, and 20 minutes later B.Borbely scored the third goal and helped the Slovakians snatch a sensational victory. Meanwhile, there were no surprises at the empty "San Siro" stadium, where Milan's "Inter" won due to a penalty kick by D.Pizarro.
Wednesday's results
Group E
2 - 2
1' [0 - 1] Clarence Seedorf
3' [1 - 1] Soren Larsen
59' [1 - 2] Andriy Shevchenko
70' [2 - 2] Hamit Altintop
3 - 0
40' [1 - 0] Alex (Pen.)
68' [2 - 0] Alex
90' [3 - 0] Stephen Appiah
45' Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink ("PSV") sent off the field
Group F
0 - 1
45' [0 - 1] Cris
2 - 1
9' [1 - 0] Raul Gonzalez
48' [1 - 1] Pantellis Kafes
86' [2 - 1] Roberto Soldado
90+1' Sergio Ramos ("Real") sent off the field
Group G
0 - 0
0 - 1
69' [0 - 1] Ricardo Oliveira
Group H
1 - 0
49' [1 - 0] David Pizarro
2 - 3
32' [1 - 0] Lucho Gonzalez
39' [2 - 0] Diego
45' [2 - 1] Peter Petraš
54' [2 - 2] Jan Kozak
74' [2 - 3] Balazs Borbely
