Camacho offers to quit Real

REAL MADRID coach Jose Antonio Camacho offered his resignation to club president Florentino Perez, Spanish state radio reported yesterday.

Real lost 3-0 to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday and were beaten by Espanyol in the Primera Liga on Saturday. Despite that result, Real are just a point off the top of the league standings with six points from three games.

Camacho was appointed as Real coach in place of Carlos Queiroz after the club’s failure to win a trophy last season.

Playing without the injured Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo, coach Jose Antonio Camacho dropped David Beckham and skipper Raul following the devastating loss in Germany and called-up Juan Fran to replace the England captain.

Michael Owen was handed the first start of his Spanish career but was eventually replaced by Fernando Morientes in the second half.

To make matters worse for Real, their Spanish international goalkeeper Iker Casillas was injured in the warm-up and they finished with 10 men and having seen Ronaldo miss a penalty.

“I didn’t see Real Madrid play football,” said Camacho. “There were some players who were injured on Wednesday and it was also a chance to rest others because they didn’t have time to recover. The changes should have meant freshness in the side but it was a shock to see so many errors.”

Espanyol seized their chance against a dispirited Real and four minutes from the interval scored the only goal of the game when Argentinian Maxi Rodriguez picked up a pass from skipper Raul Tamudo to score past Cesar. Tamudo could have put his side in front earlier in the first half, but he missed a twice-taken penalty.

In Saturday’s other early match, Osasuna beat Real Betis 3-2 to go second also with seven points.

Later, Valencia moved into a share of second place with a 3-1 victory against Real Sociedad with Marco Di Vaio scoring twice and Mista grabbing the third.

Atletico Madrid held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw last night as the last two remaining 100% records fell in Spain.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst put Barcelona ahead in the 23rd minute but Fernando Torres grabbed the equaliser early in the second half and Atletico held on to claim a valiant draw. The result left Atletico and Barca among six sides level at the top on seven points from three games.

In the late game in Spain, Deportivo La Coruna defeated Athletic de Bilbao 2-1.

Bayern Munich scored two goals in the final two minutes to snatch a sensational 2-2 draw with arch rivals Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalen Stadium. With 88 minutes gone, Bayern trailed 2-0 after Brazilian striker Ewerthon had netted in both halves but Bayern had saved their best for last. Brazilian World Cup winner Lucio reduced the deficit with two minutes of normal time remaining and Dutch international Roy Makaay headed an incredible winner at the death to the disbelief of the capacity 83,000 crowd.

Elsewhere Bayer Leverkusen continue to perplex their supporters struggling to a 2-2 home draw against FC Nuremberg just three days after thrashing nine-time European champions Real Madrid 3-0 in the Champions League. A penalty from goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt (76) and another strike from in-form Bulgarian international Dimitar Berbatov four minutes later rescued Bayer from the jaws of defeat.

“It was always going to be difficult ...after our superb performance against Real Madrid,” added Augenthaler. “We have to learn to be patient in games such as this and be willing to win 1-0.”

With Bayern and Bayer both dropping points, champions Werder Bremen took advantage courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Hannover.

Unfashionable VfL Wolfsburg are the new leaders of the German top flight with a 2-1 win over nine-man Hansa Rostock.

As Roma suffered a surprise 4-3 defeat at promoted Messina despite a hat-trick from striker Vincenzo Montella in Serie A yesterday. Thanks to Montella Roma led 3-2 before goals from Domenico Giampa’ and Riccardo Zampagna gave the Sicilians, playing their first top-flight home game for 39 years, a memorable victory.

Champions AC Milan left it late at Bologna with an 84th minute penalty from Andriy Shevchenko and an injury-time strike from Brazilian Kaka securing a 2-0 win.

Two goals from David Trezeguet led Juventus to a comfortable 2-0 victory at home to Atalanta while Lazio were held to a 1-1 draw against visiting Reggina.

On Saturday, Inter Milan could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Palermo.

After two games Juventus are the only team in Serie A to have a maximum six points.