Ajax sink Roma as Inter edge out Bayer

FABIO CAPELLO’S AS Roma were clinging to Champions’ League survival last night after their second consecutive defeat in Group B of the second phase of the competition, this time a 2-1 loss at the hands of Ajax in Amsterdam.

With his side lying a lowly 11th in Serie A and showing an inability to score enough goals in the competition, Roma were always going to be under pressure against the Dutch outfit. That pressure was doubled for the Italians when, after a scrappy start to the game, they went a goal behind on the 11th minute when Zlatan Ibrahimovic took advantage of a terrible mistake by Antonioli in the Roma goal. He failed to gather de Jong’s shot from distance and the ball bounced up off his forehead and into the path of Ibrahimovic, who waited before side footing the ball past the stranded goalie.

Thereafter Ajax were prepared to sit back and wait for the breaks to come and they looked very dangerous on the break. Totti came close to equalising with a free kick in the 34th minute, but his shot just went over the bar. Roma saw more of the ball in the second half and Candela and Totti went close again, but in the 66th minute Jari Litmanen put Ajax two ahead when he was teed up by Ibrahimovic’s cut back and he chose his spot before curling the ball beyond Antonioli into the top right-hand corner.

Substitiute Gabriel Batistuta eventually got Roma on the scoreboard in the 89th minute when his header from just inside the box, from Panucci’s long ball, finally beat Stekelenburg in the Ajax goal. But it was too late for Capello’s men and their average of conceding two goals in each game in the competition came back to haunt them again. With an away tie to Valencia next up for them on February 18, Roma’s chances of going any further in the Champion’s League now look to be severely limited.

AJAX: Stekelenburg, Trabelsi, Bergdolmo, Maxwell, Pasanen, De Jong, Witschge, Pienaar, Van der Meyde, Ibrahimovic, Mido. Subs: Didulica, Litmanen, Yakubu, Van Damme, Seedorf, Wamberto, Boukhari.

ROMA: Antonioli, Cafu, Zebina, Samuel, Panucci, Dellas, Candela, Lima, Emerson, Totti, Cassano. Subs: Zotti, Cufre, Tomic, Guigou, Guardiola, Montella, Batistuta.

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany).

In the night’s other game, Bayer Leverkusen were probably very unlucky to come out 3 2 losers to Inter Milan at the San Siro. The German side dominated most of the play in the first half, but at the end of the 45 minutes they were two behind to the home side.

Luigi Di Baggio was the Inter hero in the first period, scoring two goals. The first came on 15 minutes when he got ahead of the Leverkusen defenders to flick the ball home from a Recoba corner and the second on 27 minutes when, after a great Inter move, he lashed home Recoba’s cross after a great run down the right by Zanetti.

Leverkusen were the better side, but they found themselves in an almost hopeless position until the 63rd minute when Zivcovic met Neuville’s corner on the half volley and flicked the ball into the Inter net.

Leverkusen strived for the equaliser, but their luck was against them in the 80th minute when goalie Hans Jorg Butt scored an own goal. He fumbled the ball under pressure from Hernan Crespo and it trickled agonisingly over the line.

Franca got a goal back for Leverkusen in the 91st minute with a header from Bierofka’s cross, but it was too late for the Germans who now have no points from their two games in Group A, while Inter Milan now face Barcelona on February 18.

INTER MILAN: Toldo, Cordoba, Gamarra, Pasquale, Javier Zanetti, Emre, Di Biagio, Almeyda, Crespo, Vieri, Recoba. Subs: Fontana, Sergio Conceicao, Guglielminpietro, Beati, Franchini, Napolitano, Kallon.

Bayer Leverkusen: Butt, Juan, Zivkovic, Placente, Kleine, Basturk, Balitsch, Schneider, Ramelow, Berbatov, Neuville. Subs: Juric, Simak, Bierofka, Ojigwe, Babic, Franca, Brdaric.

Referee: Hugh Dallas (Scotland).