Big day at office but trouble at home

Big day at office but trouble at home
Agence France-Presse

Paris, April 2: Manchester United set the pattern but Alex Ferguson’s men were not the only major side with designs on Europe to face defeat prior to imminent warfare on their respective European campaigns.

The 2-0 away defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, United’s second defeat to Gerard Houllier’s revived side this season, came as a surprise on Saturday, however by the end of the weekend the runaway leaders of the English Premiership were not the only ones hiding their blushes.

United’s Champions League quarter-final opponents Bayern Munich also went down in domestic duty, suffering a humiliating 3-2 home defeat to Werder Bremen on Saturday.

That victory was witnessed by 45,000 Bavarians in Munich’s Olympic Stadium, and when Borussia Dortmund climbed to second yesterday with a 4-1 victory at Kaiserslautern, Bayern quickly realised the importance of a win in tomorrow’s first leg clash at Old Trafford.

Kaiserslautern have a chance to make up for their loss of face Borussia had not won at Kaiserslautern in 14 years when they travel to Spanish minnows Alaves for Thursday’s Uefa Cup semi-final first leg tie.

But not all sides with European aspirations had it so bad. Spanish champions Deportivo la Coruna put on a show at home when visitors Villareal came with thoughts of improving their mediocre League position. The Galicians did not hold back in anticipation of their Champions League quarter-final first leg clash away to Leeds on Wednesday.

In-form Argentinian Diego Tristan scored two goals to fire a warning shot to David O’Leary’s ambitious side, who sit third in the English Premiership and won a valuable 2-0 victory away to Sunderland on Saturday, with Brazilian Djalminha and Dutchman Ron Maakay completing the scoring to grab an eventual 4-2 victory.

Deportivo sit a close five points behind leaders Real Madrid in the race for the Primera Liga title. Real, the reigning European Club champions, snatched a 1-0 win over lowly Numancia on Friday thanks to a 28th-minute free kick scored by Portuguese maestro Luis Figo, but tomorrow’s Champions League quarter-final first leg tie away to Turkish side Galatasaray will be a different scenario altogether.

Valencia, meanwhile, witnessed their title hopes take a nosedive when a shock 1-0 defeat to Espanyol left them trailing Real by 10 points.

Elsewhere in Europe, Brescia’s Roberto Baggio scored a late equaliser to grab a 1-1 draw at Juventus yesterday and leave his former club nine points adrift of Italian first division leaders AS Roma.

That spelled good news for AS Roma, who grabbed a vital result themselves, beating Verona 3-1 to consolidate their position at the top of Serie A.

Their super Sunday was made all the more complete when third-placed defending champions Lazio lost 1-0 at AC Milan, slipping 12 points behind their arch-rivals with just 10 rounds of games to play.

The match between Parma and Bologna finished 0-0, allowing Inter to close the gap on fourth-placed Parma in the race for the final qualifying spot for last year’s Champions League defeat.