Terim lauds reborn Barcelona
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Your support makes all the difference.Fatih Terim grudgingly revealed he is becoming a big fan of Barcelona after his Galatasaray side were beaten by the Spaniards in Istanbul.
Barcelona won 2-0 on Tuesday night at the Ali Sami Yen stadium, perhaps the most intimidating arena in European football, but one they quickly silenced. Patrick Kluivert fired the first goal after 27 minutes, with Luis Enrique heading the second in the 58th minute.
They also beat Club Bruges 3-2 last week and look to be on their way to the second round. "I think Barcelona have showed that they are a much better side than in recent years and I said that before the game," Terim said.
However, he was disappointed by the way his players ran out of steam so early in the game. "Apart from the first 20 minutes, we didn't play to win," he added. "Christian had a chance at the start of the second half, but we did nothing to win the game."
The Barcelona coach, Louis van Gaal, was under pressure earlier this month when his team lost to Third Division Novelda in the opening round of the Copa del Rey. But sound form since then has given no more cause for concern.
The Lens coach Joel Muller accused his team of playing "like juniors" in the first half of their game with Bayern Munich. They eventually scraped a 1-1 draw after a half-time dressing-down. Bayern went ahead through Thomas Linke, but Lens equalised through John Utaka.
Muller said: "I cannot be satisfied with the result since we must win all our matches at home to have hope of playing the second round. In the first half we played like juniors, we were clearly dominated by the Germans who also needed maximum points.
"Fortunately we reacted well in the second half and I think that we largely deserved that equaliser. Now we will try to go and get a point at least from our game against Deportivo La Coruña next week."
The disappointment was just as severely felt in the Bayern dressing room. Champions' League winners in 2001, they are in grave danger of falling at the first hurdle this season, with coach Ottmar Hitzfeld admitting his side had lost their way after half-time. He said: "We showed great things in the first half but my team started to slow down in the second and, naturally, Lens tried to fight back. We fell under their control. We've thrown away two points. We were well on our way. But then we started having trouble at set-pieces."
Bayern are top of the Bundesliga but finding the going tough in Europe. "Lens have a side full of big men and it makes it difficult to get your defensive headers in," added Hitzfeld. We were at fault for the equaliser, the striker [Utaka] should never have got a free header like that. Now we have to go out and beat Milan in a week's time."
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