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Atletico Madrid president appeals for patience

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo on Monday urged fans to be “patient” after the club’s disastrous start to the season which has left it in the relegation zone after just 11 matches.

“We must be patient and start to win. We only have seven points, it is not normal. I hope that we will get out of this complicated crisis,” he said.

Atletico came fourth in La Liga last season to reach the Champions League but this season their form has been dismal and they have had their worst start to a season in 56 years.

The club has already been eliminated from the Champions League and currently lies third from bottom of the league table, just one point off basement side Malaga.

It has the worst defence in the Spanish league, having conceded 24 goals this season.

The club’s two star strikers, Argentina’s Sergio “Kun” Aguero – Diego Maradona’ s son-in-law – and Uruguay’s Diego Forlan, the Spanish league’s top-scorer last season with 32 goals, appeared to have lost their confidence.

And the dismissal at the end of October of Abel Resino as Atletico’s coach and his replacement by Enrico Sanchez Flores, a former Spanish international who has previously been in charge of Getafe and Valencia, has failed to give the club the expected boost it badly needs.

Deportivo La Coruna’s 2-1 win over Atletico over the weekend thanks to a controversial injury time penalty has deepened the pessimism swirling around the club.

Club officials have been criticised for not bringing in new players before the start to the season and they may take advantage of the winter transfer period to bring in new blood.

According to AS, Atletico is planning to sell its French striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle, who has struggled to find his place at the club and who has sparked interest from several French and English sides.

Atletico visit APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League on Wednesday. The club lie third in Group D, behind already qualified Chelsea and Porto, and need a win over the Cypriots to claim a place in the Europa League.

“Our immediate objectives are clear. We must beat APOEL, then Espanyol and Xerez. The solution is to win and the players know it. They have the feeling that things aren’t going right, and they don’t like it,” said Cerezo.

“We must look forwards and get out of this bad moment as soon as possible.”

MADRID (AFP)

Tags: Abel Resino, Argentina, atletico madrid, CHELSEA, club officials, cypriots, deportivo la coruna, diego forlan, diego maradona, Enrico Sanchez, enrique cerezo, flores, getafe, injury time, MADRID, Malaga, new blood, Nicosia, pongolle, PORTO, relegation zone, Sergio, sergio kun aguero, seven points, spanish league, strikers, time penalty, transfer period, uruguay, Valencia

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Carrick seals United comeback as Milan humbled

Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid kept up their 100 percent start in the Champions League on Wednesday – but the English pair both had to scrap for narrow wins over Wolfsburg and Apoel Nicosia.

Michael Carrick secured a 2-1 win for United as the English Premier League champions came back from a goal down to edge their German opponents at Old Trafford.

Carrick swept home a fine strike 12 minutes from the end, after Ryan Giggs’s deflected free-kick had cancelled out Edin Dzeko’s shock 57th-minute opener for the visitors.

United coach Sir Alex Ferguson, chasing his third triumph in the event after successes in 1999 and 2008, paid tribute to his side, and Giggs in particular, after the Welsh winger scored his 150th goal for the club.

“I thought it was just a matter of time before we did score,” Ferguson told ITV. “They never give in – they always keep on playing.”

Giggs, however, was dismissive of his landmark goal.

“Obviously, I was proud to do it, but it was more important we won the game,” said the 35-year-old, who added: “We showed great character to come back”.

The only dark cloud for United was the sight of Michael Owen going off at half-time with a recurrence of a groin strain that could keep him out for up to three weeks.

United’s vanquished 2008 final opponents Chelsea had a first-half goal from Nicolas Anelka to thank for a 1-0 win away to the Cypriots of Apoel Nicosia.

With five-times champions Liverpool having suffered a Tuesday setback at Fiorentina, the onus was on the English sides to showcase the Premier League and United and Chelsea did not disappoint, even if their winning margins were wafer-thin.

Carlo Ancelotti suggested his Chelsea had had an eye on a weekend league tussle with Liverpool as they managed to do just enough on Cyprus.

“I am not satisfied because we have to play better with more control and courage. We will not play like today (against Liverpool), we will play better for sure,” he stressed.

In United’s Group B, CSKA Moscow bounced back defeat at Wolfsburg to edge Turkish champions Besiktas 2-1, Alan Dzagoev and Milos Krasic scoring for the Russians with Ismail Koybasi on target for the visitors, already beaten at home by United.

Chelsea rivals Porto followed up a narrow loss at Stamford Bridge with a 2-0 success at home to Spain’s Atletico Madrid after late goals from Radamel Falcao and Rolando.

Elsewhere, former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice and Kaka once for Real Madrid as the Spaniards, desperate to add a tenth crown after seven barren seasons in Europe, dispatched Marseille 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But Group C rivals and seven-times winners AC Milan suffered a humiliating 1-0 home loss to Zurich of Switzerland.

Centre-back Hannu Tihinen scored with a neat first-half backheel to increase the pressure on AC Milan coach Leonardo, whose team have endured a miserable start to the season.

“We’re struggling to do what we want to do, we have the desire but we’re not managing to do it,” a disconsolate Leonardo admitted.

Real, in contrast, are on a roll, though they were ordinary for an hour before three goals in six minutes flattened Marseille.

Ronaldo nudged home the first after 58 minutes after running onto a lofted pass from Pepe – coincidentally just as Giggs was netting for United with the kind of free-kick the Portuguese would normally have taken before his 94 million-euro move to Spain in the summer.

Kaka netted from the spot after Souleymane Diawara had fouled Ronaldo to earn a red card and the contest was over on 63 minutes when, in a goal created by 200 million euros of fresh talent, Kaka fed Karim Benzema, who teed up Ronaldo five yards out.

In Group A, French playmaker Franck Ribery of four-time champions Bayern Munich did his utmost to prise open the defence of two-times winners Juventus but the Bavarians had to settle for a goalless stalemate, while French pace-setters Bordeaux had to wait until the closing minutes for Michael Ciani to head the winner against Israel’s Maccabi Haifa.

PARIS (AFP)

Tags: alex ferguson, apoel nicosia, carlo ancelotti, cska moscow, cypriots, dark cloud, English Premier League, free kick, german opponents, groin strain, league champions, michael owen, narrow wins, Nicolas Anelka, old trafford, onus, real madrid, ryan giggs, sir alex ferguson

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Chelsea struggle to beat APOEL

Chelsea came through a tricky Champions League tie in Cyprus on Wednesday against Cypriot underdogs APOEL Nicosia with a scrappy 1-0 victory to stay top of Group D.

After a hesitant start in the opening minutes Chelsea quickly found their stride with the intelligent running of Nicolas Anelka on the left and Frank Lampard probing through the middle of the park.

The home side seemed unfazed by the occasion – billed as the biggest game in the club’s 83-year history – but APOEL had little answer to combat Chelsea’s wing play.

And the Cypriots were undone by a weaving run from right-back Branislav Ivanovic, who broke into the box to set up Anelka to calmly curl the shot past keeper Dionisios Chiotis after 18 minutes.

The Frenchman was a constant menace, first on the left, then switching intermittently to the right as he seemed to find space easily behind the defence.

Before Anelka’s strike, Salomon Kalou had a chance to score but put his shot wide of the target and Ashely Cole could have made it two-nil after only 20 minutes gone but his header wide from six yards.

Despite Chelsea pressure the goal was the only shot on target with Chiotis not really called on to repeat the heroics of his clean sheet in Madrid.

His opposite number down the other end also had a quiet first 45 minutes with Petr Cech only called in to service to punch away a Constantinos Charalambides free kick. And the Cyprus international should have done better when he skewed a volley horribly wide when he had a sight on goal.

The Premier League title contenders came out after the interval eager to clinch a second goal that would inevitably kill the game off as a contest. But the extra goal never came while Chelsea were put on the back foot in the second half with some desperate defending thrown in.

And while the visitors failed to create chances, APOEL grew more confident, taking the fight to Chelsea.

They came close to a shock equaliser when a mix up in the defence gave Savvas Poursatides a scoring opportunity but Cech smartly saved with his legs.

Charalambides nearly had the last word in this tie, but his close range header from an angle went the wrong side of the bar five minutes from the end.

As the contest entered the final third, the London club seemed to lose shape and rhythm as passes went astray. Chelsea looked rather ordinary at that stage while the Cypriots played the better football that made a mockery of their minnow status.

This was not Chelsea’s best performance in Europe but manager Carlo Ancelotti demanded three points and his players delivered.

APOEL are only the second Cypriot team to reach the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition – after Anorthosis made it last season – and earned a credible 0-0 opening-day draw away to Atletico Madrid.

Chelsea wanted to cement their place at the top of the table with a second victory in as many games.

No Cypriot team had ever beaten an English side in European competition.

Yet this rarely seemed like a David v Goliath contest with Chelsea’s wealth of talent failing to overpower their hosts.

APOEL were buoyed by their vociferous ‘orange’ supporters, who created an intimidating atmosphere at Nicosia’s GSP stadium.

NICOSIA (AFP)

Tags: apoel nicosia, carlo ancelotti, cech, charalambides, CHELSEA, Cole, constantinos, Constantinos Charalambides, cypriots, Cyprus, D. After, David, equaliser, Europe, frank lampard, free kick, frenchman, heroics, ivanovic, league tie, london, MADRID, Nicolas Anelka, Nicosia, opposite number, Petr Cech, premier league, Salomon Kalou, Savvas Poursatides, target, title contenders, volley

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