Shevchenko sinks Real as Juve share spoils with Deportivo

TWO classic games highlighted the entertainment factor in the champions’ League last night when AC Milan narrowly held on to a 1-0 result against Real Madrid in Group C and Juventus came from two down to level it at 2-2 with Deportivo la Coruna in Group D.

The game between Milan and Real at the San Siro was a real nip and tuck affair.

Both sides showed a willingness to attack, although for the opening period of the game Milan dominated the majority of the possession while Madrid were forced to demonstrate what a stylish counter-attacking side they can be.

Indeed, Madrid probably had the majority of the chances in the first half with Morientes, Figo and Seedorf all going close, while Milan were always looking to put Shevchenko in behind the Spaniards’ defence.

Indeed, it was this ploy which worked for them in the 40th minute of the game when a Rui Costa pass put the Ukrainian in behind the Real defence and he fired in a glorious shot from the edge of the area, low and hard to Casillas’ right, giving the goalie no chance.

At that point Milan sat back a little and while the likes of Shevchenko and Rui Costa were always dangerous on the break, Madrid could not break down a belligerent rearguard.

Even though Zidane and Raul had chances, the increasingly slippery conditions left them slip sliding to their first loss of the second phase of the competition.

At the Riazor stadium in Coruna, the home fans were sent into complete ecstasy on nine minutes when Diego Tristan scored a wonderful opener for the local side against Turin giants Juventus.

Joan Capdevilla picked up the ball on the left a put in a terrific cross for Tristan, who beat Buffon with a well placed header from seven metres.

The atmosphere in the stadium intensified even more when, just two minutes later, Capdevilla once more was Juventus’ tormentor.

He raced down the left once more and his low cross was met beautifully by Dutch international Roy Makaay, who beat Buffon from 10 metres.

However, the Italians were far from beaten and after a period of sustained pressure, Juve got one back with an extraordinary goal from Birindelli on 38 minutes.

He received the ball on the left and cut inside, taking on three defenders in the process.

The Deportivo players backed off and unwittingly gave him space before seeing him unleash a curling 30-metre shot which clattered into the net off Juanmi’s post.

Deportivo were still in the driving seat, but in the second half Juventus were pressing for the equaliser and it came in the 57th minute when

DiViao collected the ball on the edge of the Coruna area and teed the ball up for Pavel Nedved to lash home.

In the other game of the night, two first-half goals were enough to give Borussia Dortmund a well-earned 2-1 win over a tired-looking Lokomotiv Moscow in their Champions League second round group C clash.

Dortmund went into half-time leading despite Lokomotiv having most of the best chances and opening the scoring with a superb Sergei Ignasevich strike from a Ruslan Pimenov pass after 31 minutes.

But some shoddy Lokomotiv defending allowed Torsten Frings to bring the visitors back into it after 33 minutes and Jan Koller was gifted Dortmund’s second goal 10 minutes later he strolled through the home defence.

The German champions never looked particularly troubled in the second half and had chance after chance as Lokomotiv looked to be flagging after last week’s dramatic end to their triumphant domestic campaign.