Panathinaikos Knock-Out Nine-Man Juventus
ATHENS (Reuters)(DS) - Panathinaikos sent Juventus tumbling out of the Champions League after the Italians were reduced to nine men for the second successive European match.
Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar was sent off in the 55th minute for bringing down Nikos Liberopoulos in the area and Darko Kovacevic was dismissed after picking up a second yellow card in the 72nd minute.
The defeat meant Juventus finished bottom of Group E without even the consolation of a place in the UEFA Cup, Europe's second club competition.
Panathinaikos coach Angelos Anastasiadis said it had been the biggest game of his life. "We have shown over the six games that none of the teams in our group were better than us," he added.
The Greek hosts got off to a flying start thanks to a sharply-taken Paulo Sousa freekick in the sixth minute. The former Juventus favourite spotted Van der Sar drifting away from his near post and lashed a right-foot shot into the top corner.
Panathinaikos keeper Antonis Nikopolidis never looked comfortable competing for aerial balls and it was this problem that let the Serie A team back into the game.
In the 24th minute a mix-up with defender Leonidas Vokolos gifted the ball to Yugoslav striker Kovacevic in the box and he slipped it to Filippo Inzaghi for a simple tap-in.
The hosts were forced to restart the second half without Sousa who had taken a heavy knock but they tore into an increasingly ragged Juventus defence.
The match turned 10 minutes after the break following a brilliant piece of skill from Liberopoulos who spun his marker just outside the area.
Van der Sar came out to meet him but hauled the striker down in a vain dive for the ball.
The Dutchman was shown the red card and Angelos Basinas stepped up to drill the spot kick past replacement Michelangelo Rampulla.
Liberopoulos then settled the match when he set up a straightforward goal for strike partner Krzysztof Watrzycha seven minutes later.
Two weeks ago Juventus lost two players when Zinedine Zidane and Edgar Davids were both expelled against Hamburg and Carlo Ancelotti's men found themselves in the same desperate situation when Kovacevic was sent off for a second yellow on Wednesday.
Substitute Goran Vlaovic had chances to extend the lead as Angelos Anastasiadis's side played out time to reach the second phase. Anastasiadis singled out Liberpolous for special praise, adding "All of the players were magnificent but Liberopoulos I am obviously very happy
with."
