Gunners go to wire
Arsenal dodges bullet on late goal from Bergkamp Iaquinta nets hat trick in Udinese’s Champions debut
LONDON— Dennis Bergkamp scored in the 89th minute to help Arsenal salvage a 2- 1 win over Swiss underdog FC Thun yesterday in the Champions League, while Benfica and Ajax also benefited from late strikes. Bergkamp scored his first Champions League goal in three years to help the Gunners to victory at Highbury.
Wesley Sneijder scored a lastminute equalizer to earn fourtime champion Ajax a 1- 1 draw at Sparta Prague, and Italian striker Fabrizio Miccoli had an injury- time winner for Benfica in a 1- 0 victory over Lille.
Also, Vincenzo Iaquinta scored ahat trick as Udinese marked its debut in the competition with a 3- 0 victory over Panathinaikos. Serie A champion Juventus won 2- 1 at FC Brugge despite having Patrick Vieira sent off a minute from the end. Other powerhouse teams started with victories. German champion Bayern Munich, with Calgary- raised midfielder Owen Hargreaves in the lineup, won 1- 0 at Rapid Vienna and FC Barcelona topped host Werder Bremen 2- 0. Manchester United, however, was held 0- 0 at Villarreal and had to play the final 26 minutes without Wayne Rooney, who was ejected for ironically applauding referee Kim Milton Nielsen after a caution. Rooney, whose temper has started to boil in recent games for England, had little support from United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“ You can’t applaud the referee,” Ferguson said. “ He’s a young man and didn’t give himself a chance. He’s a fiery character and, when he’s thinking he’s been done an injustice, he reacts like that.”
At Highbury, Nelson Ferreira tied it for Thun two minutes after Gilberto Silva scored for Arsenal, which saw Robin van Persie sent off for a high kick in first- half injury time. A 1- 1 draw looked likely as the game went into the final minute but Bergkamp dug the ball out of a scramble and scored the winner.
“ We created some chances in the first half and the sending- off made it difficult for us to get going,” Bergkamp said. “ But we did and we got a goal. They equalized but we kept fighting and there was a good spirit. Maybe in the end we would have been happy with a point, with it being 10 against 11.” With Sparta Prague and Ajax drawing, Bergkamp’s goal put the Gunners atop Group B after the first round of games.
Pavel Nedved and David Trezeguet scored within nine minutes of each other as Juventus won 2- 1 at FC Brugge.
“ The two yellows were very severe,” Vieira said after his first expulsion in a Juve shirt. “ What was important was the three points.” Peru striker Paolo Guerrero scored Bayern’s winner in Vienna to leave the champions of Italy and Germany atop Group A.
Iaquinta, recently called into the Italian national squad, scored all three for Udinese against Panathinaikos, netting his first in the 28th minute and adding two more in a threeminute spell in the second half. The result moved Udinese above Barcelona on goal difference, although goals by Deco and Ronaldinho gave the Spanish league champion a 2- 0 triumph at Werder Bremen.
Miccoli’s late strike for Benfica was the only goal in Group D, although he missed other chances in the win over Lille.