AEK star hits four goals as bigger names struggle

Three time Champions Cup titlist Ajax Amsterdam failed to hit the target and went down 1-0 at Lausanne, Inter Milan was held to a 0-0 tie at home by Vitesse Arnhem and Liverpool missed a Robbie Fowler penalty before Emile Heskey netted the winner two minutes from the end against modest Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic. Brazilian star-forward Marcio Amoroso scored his first UEFA Cup goals as he led Parma to a 2-0 victory against Dinamo Zagreb and Goran Drulic scored the only goal as Red Star Belgrade scored a useful 1-0 first leg victory over Celta Vigo of Spain.

Vincenzo Montanella scored 17 minutes from time as Italian league leader AS Roma, playing against 10 men in the second half, produced a dull performance to edge lowly Boavista 1-0 in Oporto. But it was another depressing night for Inter Milan. In front of only 9,000 fans in the 80,000-seater San Siro stadium, the big-spending Milan team, eliminated from the qualifying round of the Champions League and with a poor record of two losses and one win in three league matches, continued its series of unimpressive performances. Although rotating in front such stars as Ivan Zamorano, Alvaro Recoba, Hakan Sukur and Robbie Keane, Inter failed to score and faced humiliation in the second-leg in the Netherlands on Nov. 9.

Liverpool's Fowler fired a penalty over the crossbar at Anfield but the spot kick appeared harsh on Liberec, a team from north Bohemia in its first season in European competition. The Czech team appeared to be holding on for a deserved goal-less tie when Emile Heskey fired home in the 88th minute after a Nicky Barmby shot had been blocked. Javier Mazzoni's first-half goal was enough to give Lausanne a 1-0 victory against an Ajax team short of seven players because of injury. Veteran French striker Christophe Dugarry gave Bordeaux the lead against Celtic only for Swedish forward Henrik Larsson to gain a 1-1 tie for the Scottish league leader.

(AP)