Football: Real in real trouble at lowly Tenerife

Rupert Metcalf
Sunday 22 February 1998 20:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Real Madrid were winning 2-1 away to a 10-man Tenerife side with six minutes to go on Saturday - and they still lost.

It was an embarrassing return to the Heliodoro Rodriguez stadium for Real, who lost two Spanish titles thanks to dramatic defeats there in 1992 and 1993. The Dutch forward Roy Makaay equalised for lowly Tenerife in the 84th minute and three minutes later he was brought down to give the Bosnian striker Meho Kodro the chance to score his second penalty of the match.

Real finished the match with nine men: Fernando Redondo and Manuel Sanchis were both shown red cards in the last three minutes and followed Tenerife's Juanele down the tunnel before full-time.

All this chaos overshadowed a remarkable goal at the start of the second half from Real's Roberto Carlos, which cancelled out Juanele's opener for Tenerife. The Brazilian swerved an extraordinary shot from a narrow angle over the home goalkeeper, Marcelo Ojeda.

Barcelona beat Compostela 2-0 at home last night, thanks to goals from Luis Figo and Luis Enrique, to replace Real at the top of the Primera Division, which they now lead by two points with a game in hand.

In Italy, the Serie A leaders Juventus suffered only their second league defeat of the season: goals from Aldo Firicano, Luis Oliveira and Anselmo Robbiati giving Fiorentina an emphatic 3-0 home win. Internazionale lost by the same score at Lazio, where Diego Fuser, Alen Boksic and Pierluigi Casiraghi were on target. Juventus are four points clear of Lazio and Inter.

In Portugal the Lisbon derby went the way of Benfica, who thrashed Sporting 4-1. Two recent recruits from the Premiership by the Benfica coach, Graeme Souness, were on the scoresheet: Karel Poborsky, set up by a fine cross from the former Chelsea defender Scott Minto, and Brian Deane, who also made a goal for Jose Sousa. Benfica's veteran captain Joao Pinto struck the fourth goal.

In Burkina Faso, South Africa, Egypt and the hosts joined the Democratic Republic of Congo in the semi-finals of the African Nations' Cup. A spectacular late goal from David Nyathi earned South Africa a 2-1 win over Morocco yesterday. On Saturday Burkina Faso saw off Tunisia in a penalty shoot- out and Egypt, who now face the hosts in the last four, beat the Ivory Coast by the same method.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in