Wiltord decides Bordeaux passage in 100th match

Bordeaux now top Group G with 10 points, and, with second-placed Sparta Prague and third-placed Spartak Moscow due to play each other, Bordeaux are assured at least second spot.

Johan Micoud put Bordeaux ahead in the 21st minute but Andrei Tikhonov equalised nine minutes after the break.

Bordeaux reached the landmark of their 100th match in European competition against the six-time Russian champions of the last seven seasons.In the other Group G match, Sparta Prague scored a last-minute winner to beat bottom club Willem II of Holland 4-3.

Mariano Bombarda of Argentina and then Russia’s Dmitri Shoukov gave Willem II a 2-0 lead after just five minutes, though Pavel Novotny pulled one back in the18th minute.

When Mark Schenning of Willem II scored a third goal just after break, it looked as if they would win their first points of the competition. However, Vladimir Labant’s penalty, another goal by Miroslav Barbanek, and then a further Labant spot kick earned Prague the points.

English club Chelsea, in their Group H match in Istanbul, thrashed Galatasar 5-0, with two goals from Borway’s Tore Andre Flo and one apiece from Italy’s Gianfranco Zola, Dennis Wise and Italian Gabriele Ambrosetti.

Chelsea moved up into second spot in the group, behind Hertha Berlin, who won 1-0 at home to AC Milan with a goal by Dariusz Wosz.

Flo notched the first goal in the 32nd minute until which time the Turks had looked dangerous with a noisy and fanatical crowd behind them.

Zola was again the creator for Flo’s second four minutes after the break, picking out Poyet at the far post where the Uruguay international did well to head the ball back across goal towards his Norwegian sidekick.

The big strikercontrolled the ball with his chest and turned in a flash to strike a volley into the far corner.

Galatasaray then folded when Zola broke the offside trap on 54 minutes to dance around Mehmet and roll the ball into an empty net.

Wise finally got in on the act with the fourth, set up by Flo 12 minutes from time and Gabriele Ambrosetti made it 5-0 with three minutes left to rub in Chelsea’s almost embarrassing superiority.

In the other group game, Wosz scored the winner for Hertha Berlin after 41 minutes when he ran unmarked toward Milan’ goal and slipped the ball past keeper Christian Abbiati, who was a weak link for the Italians all evening.Excluding two half-hearted efforts on either side of the break by expatriate German Oliver Bierhoff Milan could not claim a single shot on goal of merit until the 88th minute Federico Giunti sneaked through Hertha’s last line of defence.

Ukrainian forward Andrej Shevchenko, running alone at full tilt, claimed the most promising opportunity on the stroke of halftime, but instead of winning a penalty when he flew over the body of sliding ‘keeper Gabor Kiraly, he was booked for diving.

FC Porto beat Real Madrid 2-1 to go to the top of Group E by two points.Brazilian Mario Jardel put Porto two goals ahead though Emilio Peixe scored for second-placed Real with an own goal. It was Real’s first defeat of the tournament.

Norwegian side Molde won their first points of the competition, beating Greece’s Olympiakos 3-2 after being two goals down.

Dimitrios Mavrogenidis and then Slovenian Zlatko Zahovic put Olympiakos two goals up at the break. Two goals from Andreas Lund and a third by Daniel Berg Hestad, earned Molde their win though they remain bottom of the pool.

Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers shot to the top of Group F with a 4-1 victory over PSV Eindhoven. Lorenzo Amoruso, Michael Mols, who got two, and a further effort by Neil McCann earned the scots a fine victory.

Valencia, who drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich, are in second place, ahead of the Germans on goaldifference.

Romanian striker Adrian Ilie put the Spaniards into a 12th-minute lead before a 30,000 crowd but the advantage lasted just six minutes as former German international Stefan Effenberg levelled from the spot.

Valencia ‘keeper Andres Pallop fouled Brazilian forward Giovane Elber in the box and Effenberg promptly blasted home the penalty-kick.