Monaco lack key players for clash

MONACO, OCT 20: Monaco's key players Fabien Barthez, Marcelo Gallardo and Marco Simone are out of the UEFA Cup clash at Polish side Widze...

MONACO, OCT 20: Monaco’s key players Fabien Barthez, Marcelo Gallardo and Marco Simone are out of the UEFA Cup clash at Polish side Widzew Lodz on Thursday. Coach of the principality side Claude Puel named a 17-strong squad without keeper Barthez, recovering from a leg operation, Argentina’s midfielder Gallardo, who has a groin problem, and Italian striker and right-shoulder victim Simone.

Tony Sylva, just 24 years old, is expected to take over from Barthez, who got adead leg during Monaco’s last league game and had an operation to remove a bruise.

English Premiership club West Ham have had the all-clear to play at Steaua Bucharest after an appeal against their participation was rejected. Croatian side NK Osijek, beaten 6-1 on aggregate by West Ham in the first round of the UEFA Cup, lodged an objection after the team fielded defender Igor Stimac. Stimac however must sit out both legs of the Bucharest tie.

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Stimac, a Croatian, was hit with a two-match ban while playing for Croatian side Hajduk Split in aEuropean competition in 1995, but the ban had mistakenly been forgotten.

UEFA have now cleared West Ham and its Board of Appeal turned down NK Osijek’s appeal against that initial ruling. UEFA concluded that an administrative error on their part had led to West Ham fielding Stimac in good faith. Celtic’s Israeli international Eyal Berkovic will miss Thursday’s match at French club Lyon after getting injured in their 7-0 thrashing of Aberdeen in Saturday’s Scottish Premier League clash.

2ND ROUND, 1ST LEG MATCHES ON THURSDAY: Atletico Madrid (Spa) v Amica Wronki (Pol); PAOK Salonika (Gre) vs Benfica (Por); Parma (Ita) vs Helsingborg (Swe); Steaua Bucharest (Rom) vs West Ham (Eng); Hapoel Haifa (Isr) vs Ajax Amsterdam (Ned); Lyon (Fra) vs Celtic (Sco); Roda JC (Ned) vs VfL Wolfsburg (Ger); Graz AK (Aut) vs Panathinaikos (Gre); FC Zurich (Swi) vs Newcastle (Eng); Leeds (Eng) vs Lokomotiv Moscow (Rus); MTK Hungaria (Hun) vs AEK Athens (Gre); Anderlecht (Bel) vs Bologna (Ita); Teplice (Cze) vs RealMallorca (Spa); IFK Gothenburg (Swe) vs AS Roma (Ita); Levski Sofia (Bul) vs Juventus (Ita); Werder Bremen (Ger) vs Viking FK (Nor); Inter Bratislava (Svk) vs Nantes (Fra); Widzew Lodz (Pol) vs Monaco (Fra); Slavia Prague (Cze) vs Grasshopper-Zurich (Swi).

RESULTS

At Udinese, Italy: Udinese (Ita) 1 (Sosa 28) Legia Warsaw (pOL) 0

At Salonika, Greece: Aris Salonika (Gre) 2 (Andreoli 44, Kyzeridis 68) Celta Vigo (Spa) 2 (Karpin 41, 42)

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At La Coruna, Spain: Deportivo La Coruna (Spa) 3 (Pauleta 17, Djalminha 50-pen, Maakay 53) Montpellier (Fra) 1 (Delaye 6)

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