Fenerbahce flayed by switched on AC Milan

Written by Administrator

Wednesday, 30 November 2005

Any hopes Fenerbahce had of advancing to the next stage of the Champions League were blown away by AC Milan, when the Istanbul side was crushed by four goals at home Wednesday night. It was almost a case of the Yellow Canaries versus Andriy Schevchenko, with Fener coming out of the contest against the Ukrainian far the worst. In what turned out to be one of the worst performances by a Turkish team in European competition in recent years, Fenerbahce was shot to pieces, mainly by Milan forward Andriy Schevchenko, who scored all four of the visitor’s goals. Indeed, Schevchenko could have added to his tally but for some desperate last line defence on more than one occasion. Going into the game, Fener looked as it if would have settled for a draw, and with star Brazilian midfielder Alex de Souza out injured, and both Marco Aurelio and Fabio Luciano suspended, they didn’t have the firepower to hope for much better. French striker Nicolas Anelka, the subject of more transfer speculation, was left to play a lone hand up forward and was effectively blotted out of the game by the strong Milan defence. However, the night was more about Schevchenko’s brilliance than Fenerbahce’s weaknesses. Starting with a goal in just the 16th minute, when he beat keeper Volkan Demirel in a one on one contest, Schevchenko then rattled off further scores in the 52nd, 70th and 76th minutes. For Fenerbahce, the game was just another in a long line of failures against Italian sides, extending its record to ten matches when it has not recorded a win over teams from the Serie A. The loss also means that Fener has maintained its unwanted reputation for disaster in the group stage of the Champions League, having never progressed past that point in any of its campaigns.

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