Bellamy and Riise tee-up Reds glory night
Sheva earns draw in Porto
Watford miss out
—– You just couldn’t script it!
Following a week when the headlines have been dominated by Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise’s alleged off-field conflict involving a golf club (notably, a headline in The Sun newspaper portrayed Bellamy as ‘The nutter with the putter’), the duo score the goals as Liverpool pull off a famous 2-1 win at Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League tie.
The Reds come from behind to gain the half-way advantage in the meeting of the last two winners of Europe’s premier club competition.
Deco’s opener is the first goal that Liverpool have conceded in four visits to the Nou Camp but manager Rafa Benitez warns the job is not yet done: “Barcelona have got some very good attacking players and we need to do our best at Anfield. We have to be prudent, nothing is decided yet.”
They remain the only English club to have won at Barca.
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—– An Andriy Shevchenko goal earns Chelsea a 1-1 draw on manager Jose Mourinho’s return to FC Porto.
It leaves the Premiership champions in a strong position to reach the quarter-finals, but it’s not all good news.
Captain John Terry is carried off with an ankle injury and appears to be ruled out of Sunday’s Carling Cup Final with Arsenal.
Mourinho remains typically upbeat: “We’re second in the league and still in the FA Cup, Carling Cup and the Champions League. Considering our injuries and problems, this is my best season here so far.”
Premiership referee Mike Riley equals a Champions League record.
The Yorkshire whistler shows eleven yellow cards in the tetchy Roma v Lyon goalless draw, so matching the record set by Dutchman Dick Jol in 2000.
—– Watford miss the chance to move off the bottom of the Premiership.
Fellow strugglers Wigan Athletic are reduced to ten-men after 20 minutes at Vicarage Road.
Watford soon take the lead but are denied all three points by equaliser from new Latics signing Caleb Folan.
Tottenham Hotspur clinch their first away win in the Premiership since mid-December with a last minute Jermaine Jenas strike at Everton.
—– Derby County suffer a significant setback in their promotion bid.
The Championship leaders are beaten 0-2 at home by Stoke City so, having recently held a six-point lead, six points now cover the top five teams.
—– Bolton Wanderers become the first Premiership club to announce that they will reduce season ticket prices next season.
Their current most expensive season pass will drop to £449 from £499.
A child’s season ticket will fall to £99 - an average of only £5.21 per game.
Football Supporters’ Federation spokesman Malcolm Clarke gives the initiative a cool welcome: “We will give Bolton only one and a half cheers because it is not very much in relation to the money they will get in [from the new TV deal].
“They could let everyone in free and still have as much money as they have got today.”
The FSF recently launched an on-line petition demanding a maximum adult away admission price at Premiership games of £15 and, generally, using the money from televised games to subsidise ticket prices.
—– Chris Roberts resigns as chairman of Torquay United after only four months in charge of the Devon club.
The Gulls are currently six points adrift at the bottom of League Two and appear destined to drop out of the Football League in May.
In our Football Obituaries section, we aim to record the passing of the famous and not so famous and their contribution to the game.
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February 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
Local businessman Keith Richardson was named the new chairman of Torquay United on 23 February.