Scholes' late equaliser brings Man U into life

Scholes' late equaliser brings Man U into life
Reuters

ATHENS, March 8: Paul Scholes snatched a dramatic injury-time equaliser for Manchester United on Wednesday as they drew 1-1 with Panathinaikos in Group A of the Champions League.

Giorgios Seitaridis crashed home a shot from outside the area in the 25th minute for Panathinaikos, who went on to dominate the match despite being out of the reckoning for the quarter-finals.

Panathinaikos could easily have further ahead at the break, as they exposed a static United defence, and only two more remarkable saves by United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez in the second half kept the scoreline down.

But the English champions with their by now familiar late flourish snatched an equaliser when Scholes turned well to hammer home through a packed goalmouth. Alex Ferguson’s men need to avoid a three-goal defeat next week against Sturm Graz to reach the quarter-finals, along with Wednesday night’s qualifiers, Valencia. The Spaniards hammered Sturm 5-0 to knock United off the top of the group, though both clubs have nine points.

Valencia crush Graz
GRAZ: Valencia secured a place in the quarter-finals after thrashing Sturm Graz 5-0 in their Group A match on Wednesday only the third away win by that scoreline since the competition started in 1992. Fabian Ayala, John Carew, Kily Gonzalez and Diego Alonso (2) scored for last season’s beaten European Cup finalists who totally dominated the game after Sturm Graz were reduced to 10-men when defender Gilbert Prilasnig was sent off for a professional foul in the 35th minute.

Ayala opened the scoring after only five minutes with a header resulting from a corner taken by captain Gaizka Mendieta who will miss the final match of the second phase after a booking in the 79th minute.

Carew struck five minutes after the break before hitting the post in the 58th minute. Kily Gonzalez made it 3-0 with a thundering shot in the 60th minute.Second-half substitute Alonso scored two classy goals in the 88th and 90th minutes respectively.

Valencia qualify because they cannot finish lower than second because they have a better head-to-head record against Manchester United.

Pandiani hat-trick
LA CORUNA: A hat-trick from substitute Walter Pandiani helped Deportivo Coruna come back from 3-0 down to clinch a 4-3 win over Paris St Germain in an astonishing Group B clash on Thursday.

The French side, leading after 55 minutes by a deflected strike from Augustin Okocha and a superbly taken double from Laurent Leroy, appeared certain to keep alive their hopes of a quarter-final place with victory over the Spanish champions.

Deportivo, inspired by substitutes Pandiani and Diego Tristan, came roaring back at them, though, to become only the second side in the history of the Champions League to recover from three goals down to win.

A bullet header from Pandiani on 57 minutes put them back in touch and three minutes later Tristan’s near-post header with his first touch of the ball made it 2-3.

The Argentine struck the equaliser on 76 minutes as he took advantage of a brilliant flick on from Roy Makaay and he completed a hat-trick of headers with six minutes to go with a near-post flick from a corner.

The result knocked PSG out of the competition and took Deportivo up to second in the group. A draw in their final game at AC Milan next week would be enough to take them through to the quarter-finals.