With a spring in his step and purpose in his stride Blackburn’s new arrival

With a spring in his step and purpose in his stride, Blackburn’s new arrival from Nottingham Forest involved himself in everything, offering a clever pass here, a change of direction there – quite the variety the champions’ midfield has often lacked.Troubled, apparently, neither by the bitterness he left behind in Nottingham over his cut-price transfer nor by the shadow cast over it by the suspended Rune Hauge, Bohinen even managed a debut goal, heading in Stuart Ripley’s 19th-minute cross. The England coach might ask Blackburn for a video, ready for the next time someone says he is a fool to leave him out.The man of this match, ironically, was a Norwegian, one of those whom England, without Le Tissier, did not have the craft to beat in Oslo last week Lars Bohinen could not have cut a more contrasting figure. But this Le Tissier was the one who slinks around the periphery of the play, shedding his cloak of anonymity only once in a while. His performance spoke for him; and the message to potential suitors was clear: do not waste your money.
It was hardly intentional, of course, but, had Southampton’s gifted captain set out deliberately to dampen Jack Walker’s enthusiasm, he could not have been more effective. If the gossip is to be believed, Walker would happily spend pounds 10m on bringing Le Tissier to Ewood Park but on this showing he might consider 10 pence too much.Last season, on the same ground, Le Tissier scored a goal to rival any of those in Tony Yeboah’s current repertoire, raising the clamour for Terry Venables to build England’s future around him to deafening levels.

Blackburn Rovers 2 Southampton 1

For once, words were unnecessary. Matthew Le Tissier, the man who wants to stay where he is, did not need to spell it out. The Argentine midfielder, Diego Simeone, scored Atletico’s winner on the stroke of half- time.. A goal in each half from the midfielder, Jocelyn Blanchard, kept Metz three points clear of Lens.In Spain, Atletico Madrid beat Deportivo La Coruna 1-0 to stay two points clear of Barcelona, who beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 After eight matches, both teams are still unbeaten. Bayern, who scored a consolation goal in the last minute through Jean-Pierre Papin, saw their lead in the Bundesliga cut to three points after second-placed Borussia Dortmund drew 2-2 at Werder Bremen. After starting the season with seven consecutive wins, Bayern have lost their last two games.Unfashionable Metz kept up their surprise start to the French League, beating Bordeaux 2-0 to remain unbeaten in 13 games this season. Effenberg, who was sent home from last year’s World Cup after making an obscene gesture at the crowd, struck a superb long-range shot in the 20th minute as Borussia Monchengladbach secured a notable 2-1 victory.An own goal from Bayern’s Austrian international, Andreas Herzog, in the 81st minute helped the visitors seal their first triumph in Munich in 30 years.

Inter were reduced to 10 men by the 55th minute dismissal of Marco Delvecchio.The infamous German, Stefan Effenberg, scored a spectacular goal on his old hunting ground to hand the German league leaders, Bayern Munich, their first home defeat of the season. Milan, who were without Roberto Baggio, Dejan Savicevic and Demetrio Albertini, were forced to survive a tense finale before a capacity 83,000 crowd after Alessandro Del Piero pulled a goal back in the 81st minute for Juventus.
At the Olympic Stadium, Lazio beat Padova 2-0 to claim third place in Serie A, while Internazionale’s new English coach, Roy Hodgson, saw his side draw 1-1 away to Atalanta after conceding a late goal. It leaves Milan two-points clear of Parma, 1-0 winners over Udinese with a late goal from Alessandro Melli. Marco Simone and Liberia’s George Weah each struck in the opening stages of yesterday’s top-of-the-table match to give the Italian League leaders, Milan, their first victory – by 2-1 – over Juventus in five years at the San Siro. Substitutes not used: Whelan, Beesley.Arsenal (4-4-2): Seaman; Dixon, Adams, Bould, Winterburn; Merson, Keown, Parlour, Helder; Wright, Bergkamp. Substitutes not used: Hartson, Jensen, Bartram (gk).Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).. One Wright is louder than the other but they’ve hit it off.”Just as Rioch’s team appear to be hitting it off with the neutral.

There were still chants of “Boring, boring Arsenal” on Saturday, only this was coming from their own fans. But, then, they are having to make huge adjustments.Goals: Merson (43) 0-1; Bergkamp (55) 0-2; Wright (85) 0-3.Leeds United (5-3-2): Lukic; Kelly, Couzens, Wetherall, Pemberton, Dorigo; Palmer, Tinkler (Wallace, 60), Speed; Yeboah, Deane. Terry Venables has his own opinions about players but if he had Ian in his England squad, even on the bench, he would have someone who can do the unexpected. Maybe pull off a result for him.”Rioch was extolling Wright’s individualism yet it is his partnership with Bergkamp that excites him “They have struck up a tremendous rapport,” he said “In training, during the week, they spend time together. John Lukic made a hash of clearing a back pass and from 35 yards Merson beat his former colleague with a low shot that underlined his speed of thought.Bergkamp was equally nimble in mind and limb to flick in Steve Bould’s header 10 minutes after half-time but the pick was Wright’s, a chip of such delicate precision Ernie Els would have been delighted to have executed with his sand wedge at Wentworth yesterday.”It was executed brilliantly,” Bruce Rioch, the Arsenal manager said, “an absolute gem He’s a player who can make something out of nothing. By the end the scoreline could have read 0-5 although, to be fair to Leeds, two late headers for Brian Deane might have made it 2-3, too.The turning point was Merson’s goal in the 44th minute. By comparison to the dizzying switches in play before them, the home team, admittedly without the injured Gary McAllister, looked one dimensional and laboured.