Aris upsets Atletico in Europa League
Published:Friday | September 17, 2010 | 8:53 AM
Atletico Madrid's defense of their Europa League title got off to a bad start yesterday in Greece, losing 1-0 to home team Aris, due to Spanish midfielder Javito's second-half goal.
Javito controlled the ball with his chest between two defenders before firing past goalkeeper David de Gea to score a classy goal in the 59th minute in the Group B match.
Atletico substitute Diego Costa missed with two headers in the 78th and 79th minutes.
Over in England, David Ngog scored twice as Liverpool opened their campaign with a 4-1 victory over Steaua Bucharest at Anfield.
Liverpool next face FC Utrecht in two weeks. The Dutch side was held goalless by Napoli in the other Group ‘K’ match today.
In Portugal, hosts FC Porto made a confident start with a 3-0 victory over Rapid Vienna of Austria in their Group L game and over in Italy, Artjoms Rudnevs completed his hat trick in injury time to give Lech Poznan of Poland a 3-3 draw with Italian side Juventus in Group ‘A’.
In another Europa League game, David Silva and Jo gave Manchester City of England a 2-0 win at Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, in their opening Group A match.