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| REPORTS |
| Indigestion For Rennes 1st August Aston Villa 1 Stade Rennais 0 (Agg 2-2 Villa win on away goals) David Ginola showed his skill as Aston Villa went through to the final of the InterToto cup. The 34-year-old French man had only one defender to curl an inviting cross into the path of Dion Dublin, who slid the ball home to equalise the tie on aggregate in the fifth minute. Stade Rennais had lost an embarrassing 5-0 defeat in a league match at the weekend, however, this did not show when they kept fighting back for the place in one of three InterToto Cup finals. Ginola was obviously marked as a danger man by the French side, and a scything challenge from Cyril Yapi left the winger needing treatment. Rennes continued to look the more attacking side and were unlucky not to score in the first half. Aston Villa�s young goalkeeper Peter Enckelman had a good game and rescued some sloppy defending by Villa. A second goal was ruled out after Ginola provided another cross for a cut-back header from Hadji to Dublin only for it to be disallowed by an offside flag. In the one of three finals that will decide the qualifiers for the UEFA Cup, Villa will be playing Swiss side Basel, with the first leg away on the 7th August and at home on the 21st August, postponing Villa�s first home game with Charlton to a later date. ASTON VILLA Enckelman, Delaney, Wright, Barry, Alpay, Boateng, Kachloul, Dublin, Merson (Hadji), Hendrie (Stone), Ginola (Vassell). STADE RENNAIS Durand, Gregoire, Paisley, Escude, Diatta, Yappy, Danic, Vander (Le Roux), Bigne, Monterubbio, Chapuis. |
| Hendrie's Striking Show to Sven 21st July Aston Villa 2 Slaven Belupo 0 (Agg 3-2 Villa go through) England Manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, had a show today at Villa Park. Lee Hendrie, Villa's regular midfielder, was on the score sheet twice after their 2-0 win over Croatian team NK Slaven Belupo, which sends them into the semi-finals of the Intertoto Cup. Birmingham born Hendrie, 23, has only ever played for England seniot team once, however, after todays striking performance Eriksson may include Hendrie in the squad against England. Villa, hoping to reach UEFA Cup football through the Intertoto Cup, lost 2-1 in the first leg, away, with a lifeline goal siven by substitute David Ginola. Villa were favourites for todays game as three of their new signings were available. First half saw new signing 37 year old Peter Schmeichel, from Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, have very little to do. He picked up a weak shot in the 11th minute from Danijel Radicek and then fifteen minutes later was startled when a shot deflected off Marijo Dodik into his hands. Hendrie opened the scoring in the 19th minute and then a deflected shot saw the 23-year-old score again in the 41st minute of the game.In the second half, Peter Enckelman came on for Schmeichel as Slaven Belupo tried their hardest to get back in the game, with Dodik charging through tackles to see Enckelman get a hand to the shot and watch the ball roll out. Moustapha Hadji and Hassan Kachloul, Aston Villa's new signings both had a chance to impress their new fans and manager. Villa, with only two weeks training, were cautious, as Slaven Belupo had won all five of their games in the competition with dodik scoring six goals. Villa attacked and maintained the lead with Hendrie playing his best. Aston Villa underestimated the amount of suppoerters that would attend the game and a massive twenty eight thousand fans turned up. ASTON VILLA Schmeichel (Enckelman) Delaney, Alpay, Barry, Wright, Stone, Merson, Boateng, Hendrie, Kachloul (Hadji), Dublin (Angel). SLAVEN BELUPO Solomun, Crnac (Gerak), S Bosnjak, Kacic, Amizic, P Bosnjak (Kovacic), Radicek, Muzek, Ferencina, Dodik, Jurec (Kovacevic) |
| Villa Spice up Basel 21st August Aston Villa 4 Basel 1 (Agg 5-2 Villa win) Villa survived a first-half scare to beat Basel a massive 5-2 on aggregate and gain a place in Friday�s UEFA Cup draw. Record-buy Juan Pablo Angel proved his critics wrong with a second-half double, while French man David Ginola marked an impressive display with assisting the goals and a spectacular strike six minutes from time to lead Villa to a 4-1 win with Vassell scoring the first. Ginola was recalled to the squad after his performance in the first leg, together with Steve Stone, as Paul Merson and Hassan Kachloul dropped to the bench. Peter Schmeichel was given the captain�s armband to replace Merson. In defence, Gareth Barry and Steve Staunton replaced Alan Wright (suspended) and Olof Mellberg (ineligible) as expected. Angel could have given Villa the lead as early as the third minute, as he latched onto a through-ball from young striker Darius Vassell, but Basel�s keeper Zuberbbuehler just managed to clear it. Villa's good start and possession continued and three minutes later, Angel again saw his header from Steve Stone's cross cleared by defender Alexandre Quennox. Villa continued to dominate possession without really testing Zuberbbuehler in the Basel goal, while at the other end Schmeichel had little to do but kept himself busy by shouting instructions as captain to his team mates. In the 30th minute disaster struck as Basel�s Australian striker Scott Chipperfield fired the ball past Schmeichel from a cross from Gimenez to give Basel a priceless away goal. Villa went in search of the equaliser, but again Zuberbbuehler was never unduly tested. Vassell should have equalised earlier, after his shot went wide after latching onto a long ball from the Villa half. The striker more than made up for that miss on the stroke of half-time, latching onto Ginola�s through-ball, firing past the keeper to level matters and increase Villa�s chance of UEFA Cup football. Vassell almost turned provider two minutes after the restart, crossing from the left, only for Angel to head onto the roof of the net. Minutes later, Ginola tested Basel�s keeper, Zuberbbuehler with a free-kick from 35-yards, but the keeper got his body behind the ball and saved with ease. Ginola collaborated with Angel in the 54th minute, to produce that most important second goal. Ginola took a free-kick quickly from the left and Angel headed the ball home at the near-post. Schmeichel showed his reflexes are as sharp as ever, brilliantly tipping a Chipperfield header over the bar, shortly before Angel made it three. He followed Stone�s ball on the edge of the box, and the Colombian fired it past Zuberbbuehler. Ginola scored the last goal of the game with a solo effort from the edge of the box. Villa are now looking forward to the UEFA Cup draw held on Friday. Aston Villa: Schmeichel, Delaney, Alpay, Barry, Staunton (Samuel), Boateng, Hendrie (Kachloul), Ginola, Stone (booked 81), Angel (Dublin) FC Basel: Zuberbuhler, Quennoz, Kreuzer (Knez), Huggel, Varela, Koumantarakis, H.Yakin, Gimenez (Tum), M.Yakin, Chipperfield (Barberis) |
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| These reports are written by me. |
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| Come on you Villa boys |