By beating them we’ve shown we are not that far behind and that we

By beating them we’ve shown we are not that far behind and that we are the same class of side,” Ahmet said.Barcelona enjoyed long stretches of possession but proved unable to penetrate a packed and often scrambling Besiktas defence and the safe hands of their Nigerian goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu.In Group G, Manchester United’s section, a deflected free-kick in the dying minutes gave the Belgian champions Anderlecht a slightly fortunate 1-0 victory over the Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in Brussels.With the game seemingly petering out towards an uninspiring 0-0 draw, the defender Didier Dheedene’s free-kick from just outside the box rebounded off PSV’s Theo Lucius and left the Dutch goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus stranded. “Perhaps we were a bit lucky tonight, but that’s life,” said Anderlecht’s veteran captain, Lorenzo Staelens.A game short of imagination and creativity suddenly came to life late on, and PSV came close to equalising in the final minute of normal time when their captain Mark van Bommel shot just wide with only the Anderlecht goalkeeper Filip de Wilde to beat.. The Monaco technical director, Henri Biancheri, gave Rangers an added incentive to topple his side in their Champions’ League Group D encounter tonight, after he described the Dutch international Ronald de Boer as “a poor man’s Gheorghe Hagi”, and Jörg Albertz as “slow”. Biancheri, who saw the Ibrox club’s 1-0 victory over Hearts on Sunday, also says he believes their sole tactic is to pass the ball to De Boer. The Monaco technical director, Henri Biancheri, gave Rangers an added incentive to topple his side in their Champions’ League Group D encounter tonight, after he described the Dutch international Ronald de Boer as “a poor man’s Gheorghe Hagi”, and Jörg Albertz as “slow”.

Biancheri, who saw the Ibrox club’s 1-0 victory over Hearts on Sunday, also says he believes their sole tactic is to pass the ball to De Boer.
Monaco’s apparent contempt for their Scottish opponents appeared to grow when the coach, Claude Puel, admitted that he has not seen Rangers play in person. Despite acknowledging that his future with the club is in doubt after a string of indifferent results, he said he had not had the chance to travel to Glasgow.Biancheri did, however, describe the Scottish champions as a team that is becoming increasingly strong and he was particularly drawn to De Boer during the 1-0 defeat of Hearts.He said: “He’s like Hagi, with a bit less talent but a better attitude His team-mates try to give him the ball all the time. With him, they have a chance.”As for Albertz, he added: “He’s has great vision and a strong shot from as far out as 40 metres – but he is a bit slow.”Rangers may be without Albertz, as the German has an eye infection, while Monaco are without the playmaker Marcelo Gallardo and defenders Ousmane Dabo and Franck Jurietti, who are all suspended. A thigh injury has ruled out the defender Philippe Christanval.

He will be replaced by Julien Rodriguez who will play alongside the Mexican Rafaël Marquez in central defence.. Real Madrid will be without their striker Raul for the first home match in the Spanish side’s defence of the Champions’ League title. Real Madrid will be without their striker Raul for the first home match in the Spanish side’s defence of the Champions’ League title.
The Real coach, Vicente del Bosque, said the club’s leading marksman had been left out of tonight’s line-up against Spartak Moscow at his own request because he had not recovered fully from the lower back and thigh problem that has prevented him from training properly since last week.Real are already missing Fernando Morientes, who has been out injured for the best part of a month. “The loss of Raul, like that of Morientes, will be painful, but we can deal with it,” Del Bosque said.