SPORTS

Sarajevo hit six in Champions League opener

By Mike Collett
July 19, 2007 11:11 IST
Bosnian champions Sarajevo crushed Marsaxlokk of Malta 6-0 in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier on Wednesday to set up a likely meeting with Genk of Belgium in the second qualifying round.

Sarajevo raced to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes with two goals from Admir Rascic and one by Emir Obuca with Marko Maksimovic, Obuca and a Malcolm Licari own goal making life even tougher for English coach Brian Talbot's side in the second half.

There was no joy for the Andorran part-timers of Ranger's either, but at least they were not disgraced in a 2-0 loss at Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova despite being reduced to 10 men after only 15 minutes when Salmeron was sent off.

The home side, who scored through Aleksei Kuchuk after 45 minutes and Yevgeni Gorodetsky 11 minutes from time,

also finished a man down after Teba was red carded four minutes from the end.

MSK Zilina of Slovakia earned a 2-1 win at Dudelange in Luxembourg and will almost certainly play Slavia Prague from the neighbouring Czech Republic in the next round.

Dudelange went ahead with a Joris Di Gregorio penalty in the 45th minute but MSK replied with a spot kick of their own from Robert Jez two minutes later before sealing victory with a second goal 16 minutes from time.

A total of 28 teams are taking part in the opening qualifying round. The first seven matches were played on Tuesday and all the return legs take place next week.

The competition proper begins in mid-September with this season's final taking place in Moscow on May 21 next year.

Mike Collett
Source: REUTERS
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