Panathinaikos - Rosenborg 2-1
By Håvard Lindheim, 15 September 2004, 09:48
Until the last second, RBK had the chance to grab hold of some points in Athens. But when one spoils all chances given, it just didn't help that Rosenborg played their best away match in Champions League since 1999.
UNFAIR: After a heap of misused RBK chances, Panathinaikos managed to score on their second chance in the match - thypical!
Photo: Sportime
Ola By Rise surprised with his starting 11: Harald Brattbakk and Daniel Braaten both were left out, while Øyvind Storflor and Jan Gunnar Solli came in. Especially placing Storflor in his favourite position, the left wing, turned out to be a clever move.
Brilliant Storflor "Big Øyvind"'s follower, the South African right back Nasief Morris, was dizzy after two minutes, and it was not to improve. With fast, delicate two-foot dribbles, Morris was finted off time and again by the RBK-winger.
After five minutes, Rosenborg created their first chance. Eirk Hoftun was allowed to stand alone at the back post on a corner kick, and managed to fire away a shot. Keeper Mario Galinovic saves easily, tough. The first big chance for RBK came three minutes later. Storflor had already made Morris hazy and was easily able to make a pass. In front of the goal, Roar Strand raised - but the heading hit the bar and went out.
Johnsen-miss 1 RBK continued to play good. After half an hour, the best player on the pitch, Øyvind Storflor, was at it again. This time, he passed a 45 back towards Fredrik Winsnes, after having passed Morris for the umpteenth time. Winsnes sent the ball to Frode Johnsen, but alone with the keeper, the RBK forward missed: He didn't take the ball before it bounced, and in the end, he couldn't fire away a shot until the ball had passed.
In this period, Panathinaikos had a really hard time, but Zevs & Co was at their side: The Greek cleared a free kick from Winsnes, but the ball ended at Ørjan Berg, who fired away at half bounce. The shot from the midfield maestro hit the crossbar bang on, tough.
The margins weren't on RBK's side!
Cold shower before the break Hence, it looked to be a goal-less first half at the intimate Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium. But again, these margins... Vidar Riseth was on his way to clear a ball away, when Panathinaikos playmaker Ezequiel Gonzáles grabbed hold of the ball. The young Argentinia passed the RBK defender, and with elegance lobbed the ball over and past an outcoming Espen Johnsen - and into the goal. Unfair, flat and simply!
Panathinaikos coach Yitxhak Shum has a thing for German defensive organizing, and just that awaited RBK when the teams entered the pitch for the 2nd half. The hosts pulled back and used as much time as possible whenever the game paused - something that pulled the tempo out of the game. They were quite cynikal.
Johnsen-miss 2 As a result, they managed to break down Rosenborg's initiative. And still RBK managed to create chances in the second half. The far largest chance came after 52 minutes. Strand and Solli combined nicely on the right. The ball eventually ended at Frode Johnsen, who yet again stood alone in front of the goal. But even tough the RBK top scorer managed to take the ball down, he didn't score this time either. Instead, a weak shot above the goal came.
"Not scoring on chances like these is unforgiveable," Johnsen stated to Norwegian broadcaster NRK after the match.
2-0 As the second half went by, Panathinaikos got several good chances. Espen Johnsen was involved in two of these. First, he made a good save when he stood at ten metres alone with the Cypriot centreforward Pantelis Konstantinidis. Then, he gave the Greek a free opportunity: Johnsen tried to start an attack fast by sending the ball to a covered Robbie Russell. Not surprisingly, Johnsen got the ball back, and only luck prevented a goal: Johnsen's kick was blocked by a Greek, but the ball bounced outside the posts.
Minutes later, tough, Espen Johnsen had to pick the ball out from the net. As on the 1-0 goal, Gonzáles managed to crawl trough RBK's middle defence. This time, Vidar Riseth was finted away, before the Argentinian steered the ball up into the cross. Simply beautiful.
Final sprint to no avail With ten minutes to go, the match seemed settled, and the Rosenborg players knew it too. But then, at overtime, renewed excitement: In the 90th minute, Panathinaikos goalkeeper Mario Galinovic fumbled a weak 40-metres shot into the goal!
Naturally, RBK thrusted into attack, and nearly succeeded. First, a free kick in front of the goal - but the Winsnes shot snuck outside the goalpost, after having touched a Greek. On the following corner kick Vidar Riseth had all chances to make up for the goals against. The RBK defender broke free, but standing all alone he made a weak header - over.
"It was a bigger prestation than to put it into the net. I feel bad now. This was a very bitter defeat," Vidar Riseth concludes to Norwegian Internet daily VG Nett.
