P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
Deportivo	6	2	4	0	10	8	10
Man United	6	3	1	2	10	6	10
Lille		6	1	3	2	7	7	6
Olympiakos	6	1	2	3	6	12	5

Phase 2
UEFA Cup


31 OCTOBER 2001

LILLE				1-1			MAN UNITED
Cheyrou 65						Solskjaer 6

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 51						Capdevila 84

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
Tristan 14 (Pen)						Cheyrou 20 (Pen)

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
Solskjaer 79
Giggs 88
Van Nistelrooy 94

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
Van Nistelrooy 7, 40					Sergio 37
							Tristan 39, 60

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
Alexandris 53						Bassir 38
Niniadis 64

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
Olufade 87						Valeron 49

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 66
							Cole 82

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
Pandiani 86						Scholes 41
Naybet 90


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 33						Giannakopoulos 91
Cheyrou 44
Tafforeau 79

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

MAN UNITED			1-0			LILLE
Beckham 90

Scholes side-stepped Van Nistelrooy's deflected cross and Beckham swept the
ball past Gregory.

"We've worked hard for it. We didn't have a lot of chances but you've got to give
credit to them because they're a good defensive side." - Alex Ferguson

Dennis
dionysis2@hotmail.com


DEPORTIVO			2-2			OLYMPIAKOS
Fran 28							Giannakopoulos 75
Veleron 90						Ofori Quaye 77

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