Nicolas Anelka and Luis Boa Morte grabbed two of the goals which left the Greeks humiliated in front of their own fans

Nicolas Anelka and Luis Boa Morte grabbed two of the goals which left the Greeks humiliated in front of their own fans. The other Arsenal strike was an own goal by the former Derby midfielder, Aljosa Asanovic.Panathinaikos who were beaten 2-1 at Wembley in September by Wenger’s first-choice team, failed to find any sort of form despite still having a chance of qualification for the quarter-finals.The Gunners should have had the lead on the stroke of half-time when Boa Morte, pouncing on Anelka’s brilliant cross from the right, pulled his shot wide with only the goalkeeper Josef Wandzik to beat.Seconds after the break, Anelka saw his shot blocked by Wandzik and then stuck out a knee to nudge the rebound against the post. In fact, Wenger was without no fewer than 13 of his squad, including the suspended Ray Parlour and Lee Dixon.But the Gunners’ manager, who has just signed a new four-year contract, could not have started his new term in charge more encouragingly. Kakha Kaladze, Vladyslav Vaschuk and Andriy Shevchenko scored for the Ukrainians after Lens’ Frederic Dehu had been sent off early on..

ARSENAL ROUNDED off their Champions’ League campaign with a fine win in Athens last night despite having to field an under-strength side. It was a result and performance to rank alongside anything the Gunners have produced at home or abroad – but what a shame it will not count for anything. Arsene Wenger’s side already knew they could not reach the quarter- finals after losing at Wembley to Lens two weeks ago, and they only came to the Greek capital to play for their pride.
Even that looked a forlorn task without Dennis Bergkamp, Tony Adams, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira and Marc Overmars. But a loss of concentration in defence in the final minute allowed Dimitri Khlestov to put the Russians back into the game and give Guus Hiddink’s side some anxious moments.Dynamo Kiev beat Lens 3-1 to qualify for the quarter-finals for the second successive season. Juventus finished top of Group B even though their 2-0 victory over Rosenborg Trondheim was their first in the section.

That put them on eight points, the same as Rosenborg and Galatasaray, but was enough to put them through ahead of the Norwegians and the Turks, who went out after losing 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao when needing only a draw.Inter, 2-0 winners at Sturm Graz of Austria, won Group C by a point from Real Madrid, who eased through with a 2-1 victory over Spartak Moscow.The European champions were always in command against a sluggish Spartak side and looked to be cruising to victory through headed goals from Raul Gonzalez and Savio Bortolini. Uwe Rosler, the former Manchester City striker, scored a hat-trick for Kaiserslautern.Group A ended with the Greeks, Olympiakos, in first place after their 1-1 draw at Croatia Zagreb. They will be joined in the draw next Wednesday by Olympiakos Piraeus, Dynamo Kiev and Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich and Manchester United – meaning that only half the survivors from the 24-team group stage are champions of their domestic leagues: Olympiakos, Juventus, Kiev and Kaiserslautern.
The Germans were the biggest winners on the night, crushing HJK Helsinki 5-2 to wrap up Group F which they had already won. He has been made aware that we don’t think what has happened is acceptable, and I am sure he has learned from this.”Tait was not present when the incident took place and launched the investigation after receiving correspondence from Fulham.Hartlepool are now hoping that the Football Association will not feel the need to make the matter any further by levelling a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.”I hope it won’t come to that and that the FA will let the matter drop,” Tait said. “The matter should have been dealt with internally and I hope the FA will be happy with what we have done.”. THE DEFENDING champions, Real Madrid, and the Italian pair, Juventus and Internazionale, all qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Cup last night. Something happened and he reacted wrongly.”I am hoping the matter will now be forgotten and Gus can get on with his football.

The 25-year-old Argentinian was disciplined and also left out of the team for Tuesday night’s Auto Windscreens Shield match at Chester City following an investigation by the Victoria Ground club.
Di Lella was accused of punching Morgan in the player’s lounge after last Saturday’s FA Cup second-round match at Craven Cottage, which Kevin Keegan’s side won 4-2.The Buenos Aires-born player was incensed and had to be substituted during the second half after suffering a cut eye, which he later claimed had happened when Morgan stamped on him.”We have acted quickly in fining Gus and suspending him from [Tuesday] night’s game, and Fulham are happy with what we have done,” the Hartlepool manager, Mick Tait, said yesterday.”Gus regrets what he has done and I don’t think it will happen again. THE HARTLEPOOL United midfielder, Gustavo Di Lella, has been fined two weeks’ wages by his club over an alleged attack on the Fulham defender, Simon Morgan. Ambrose is too experienced and valuable not to be chosen but he is unlikely to bowl at full throttle.In contrast, the South Africans have no worries except the distraction of the heated debate over the racial make-up of their team, whose all- white complexion have raised the hackles of prominent African National Congress politicians.The inclusion of Herschelle Gibbs, a mixed-race player from Cape Town, is the only change from the victorious eleven of the first Test.South Africa (from): H Cronje (capt), G H Gibbs, J Kallis, D Cullinan, J Rhodes, S Pollock, M Boucher, P Symcox, A Donald, D Terbrugge, P Adams.West Indies (probable): B Lara (capt), C Lambert, P Wallace, S Chanderpaul, C Hooper, St Williams, R Jacobs, NMcLean, M Dillon, C Ambrose, C Walsh.Umpires: D Shepherd (England), R Koertzen (South Africa).. Lara’s form and that of his team has been compounded by the latest injury concern, tennis elbow for Curtly Ambrose, who is being urgently treated.