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Marseille blunt Bolton, Roma through in UEFA Cup
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-24 10:23
LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Beaten 2004 finalists Olympique Marseille overcame
a shocking blunder by France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez to defeat Bolton
Wanderers 2-1 on Thursday and book a place in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.
Favourites AS Roma ousted Club Bruges while 2004 Champions League
finalists Monaco were eliminated 2-1 on aggregate by Swiss side Basel.
Marseille needed Franck Ribery and a Tal Ben Haim own goal to turn around
their tie after Barthez had handed Bolton the lead in the tie after a goalless
first leg.
Barthez, sent off in Marseille's 2004 final defeat by Valencia, inexplicably
dropped Jay-Jay Okocha's cross under no pressure to allow Greece winger Stelios
Giannakopoulos to fire the Premier League side ahead midway through the first
half.
"I could hardly expect a worse start to the match," Barthez told reporters.
"But after my blunder the guys told me that I shouldn't worry. They did
everything it took to win this match and to stop me feeling bad."
Midfielder Ribery headed home Samir Nasri's cross in first-half injury time
to haul Marseille level and Israeli defender Ben Haim touched Habib Beye's cross
into his own net to book Marseille a meeting with Zenit St Petersburg.
The Russian side knocked out Norway's Rosenborg Trondheim 4-1 on aggregate.
Roma hardly missed the presence of injured playmaker Francesco Totti, goals
from Brazilian Mancini and Cesare Bovo enough to beat Bruges 2-1 at the Olympic
stadium for a 4-2 aggregate victory.
Serie A's in-form side, who could set a league record of 11 successive wins
by beating Lazio this weekend, can now look forward to a last-16 tie with
Middlesbrough.
EARLY GOAL
The English side, 2-1 up from the first leg against VfB Stuttgart, conceded
an early goal at the Riverside to Christian Tiffert but held out to progress on
away goals.
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