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31 October 2001

LILLE 1-1 MAN UNITED

A brilliantly timed run by Solskjaer broke Lille's offside trap and from wide left of goal he let rip with a Kily Gonzalez style left foot shot into the top corner, phenomenal finish. N'Diaye played the ball into Cheyrou he turned, side stepped May and shot past Carroll.

Assist : N'Diaye


OLYMPIAKOS 1-1 DEPORTIVO

Alexandris' shot deflected in off old man Donato. I cannot understand why he still plays. Olympiakos 'keeper Georgiou missed Djalminha's corner and Capdevila headed Depor level.

Assist : Djalminha


23 OCTOBER 2001

DEPORTIVO 1-1 LILLE

Depor were awarded a penalty when Ecker went through Tristan. Big Diego converted. Cheyrou's penalty drew Lille level, awarded for handball. The expected slaughter failed to materialise.

Assist : Tristan


MAN UNITED 3-0 OLYMPIAKOS

Van Nistelrooy saw his penalty brilliant saved by Eleftheropoulos after Patsatzoglou handled in the box. Van Nistelrooy's superb dribble and pass inside the box gave Solskjaer a 100% chance and he didn't miss. Man United survived another blunder by Clown Barthez shortly thereafter. Giggs settled the homes side's nerves late on from Veron's superb pass. Beckham, Giggs and Veron combined to give Van Nistelrooy a tap-in.

Assists : Van Nistelrooy, Veron (x2)


17 OCTOBER 2001

MAN UNITED 2-3 DEPORTIVO

A deflection off Donato gave Van Nistelrooy the opener. Deportivo equalised following trademark inept Man United defending. Sergio played a one two with Tristan and ran into the box with Brown for company. Sergio eventually lost the ball Brown stupidly left it for Barthez and he didn't get there in time. Mr Liability Gary Neville made one of his non-devastating runs into attack, Depor broke and Beckham was left marking Tristan. He could only watch as the striker headed in Hector's cross. Veron attempted to release Beckham down the right, the ball bounced off him to Van Nistelrooy and his muscled his way past two defenders before lifting the ball over Molina. Clown Barthez then gave Deportivo the points. As Brown ran down a loose ball Barthez flew out of his box sliding to meet the ball, it rolled under him and Tristan chipped it into the net. Cole missed an open goal late in the match.

I've said for a long time Ferguson is tactically naive. This match was more evidence of that. In fact this season is evidence of that. Greatest Manager of all time my arse. If you're wondering why Lazio sold Veron this match was the answer. He isn't a reliable big game player.

"It was disappointing to lose the game but the quality of the game made it a lot more palatable because we could have scored six or seven goals and at European level that's a lot. There were a lot of pluses about our play and what was disappointing was that we lost two bad goals." Alex Ferguson

Assists : Beckham, Hector


OLYMPIAKOS 2-1 LILLE

Bassir took out Cheyrou with a superb dummy before placing the ball under the 'keeper. Class finish. Alexandris almost killed himself when challenging Wimbee for a loose ball but was rewarded for his bravery with a goal. A long ball out of defence by Amanatidis and Lille's attempts at playing the fashionable 50yd offside trap left Niniadis alone in front of goal, 2-1.


10 OCTOBER 2001

LILLE 1-1 DEPORTIVO

A super individual goal gave Deportivo the lead early in the second half. Valeron picked up the ball on the half way line, dribbled past the entire Lille midfield and placed the ball into the bottom corner. Lille launched the ball into the box, Bakari knocked it down and Olufade lashed it into the top corner.

Assists : ?, Bakari


OLYMPIAKOS 0-2 MAN UNITED

Beckham flicked Giggs' cross past Eleftheropoulos. A one-two between Van Nistelrooy and Cole opened up Olympiakos allowing Cole to tap into an empty net.

"I thought it was a marvellous performance. We played some great football and kept our patience which is important in big games. All the players worked very hard. I thought our collective football was very, very good." Alex Ferguson

Assists : Giggs, Van Nistelrooy


25 SEPTEMBER 2001

DEPORTIVO 2-1 MAN UNITED

Giggs carried the ball 50yds and passed to Scholes who in turn passed to Van Nistelrooy. The Dutch striker got the ball caught in his feet but Scholes smashed it past Molina. Valeron chipped a ball into the box, Blanc raised his arm appealing for offside but someone forgot to tell Gary Neville (maybe they forgot to tell him how to defend as well), Pandiani controlled the ball on his chest and shot past the bald dwarf. Valeron sent a low cross into the box, Emerson stepped over the ball and Naybet smashed in the winner. Brilliant goal.

Man United duly paid for poor finishing by Giggs and Keane in the second half. Ferguson deserves special praise for taking the brave decision to play counter attack with such a shite defence.

Assists : Van Nistelrooy, Valeron (x2)


LILLE 3-1 OLYMPIAKOS

Bakari scored after a series of rebounds in the box. Anatolakis got outrageous lift on his jump as he headed the ball away from Bakari unfortunately it fell straight to Cheyrou, he controlled it on his chest and sent a half volley ripping into the net. Eleftheropoulos caught Bakari's cross then dropped it straight at Tafforeau's feet, 3-0. Giannakopoulos scored in injury time with a deflected shot.


18 SEPTEMBER 2001

DEPORTIVO 2-2 OLYMPIAKOS

In a thrilling closing 10 minutes Olympiakos came within a few seconds of clinching their first ever away win in the Champion's league however Valeron spoiled their joy with a late strike deep into injury time.

Deportivo looked the better team on the night, however they weren't able to capitalize on numerous chances throughout the first half most notabely those of Tristan and Pandiani. They were able to score one in the 22nd minute after Sergio fired a bullet passed the sprawling Eleftheropoulos from a Victor cross. Olympiakos remained aprehensive to push forward until late in the second half when a second attacker Ghanian Oforiquaye was brought on to supplement lone Giovanni. It was Oforiquaye's solo effort and shot on the 80th minute that forced Molina into pushing the ball in front of Giannakopoulos who simply tapped in the equaliser. Deportivo remained stunned and even more numb four minutes later when Giovanni received a through ball from Karembeu on the counter who in turn layed off the ball for Oforiquaye who surely deserved a goal for his hard work in the 84th minute. From there on Deportivo pressed forward with Olympiakos losing a splendid chance with Djordjevic to seal the game, that later resulted in the formentioned equaliser.

Assists : Pandiani, Giovanni, M Silva