Real Zaragoza claimed a precious away victory at the expense of Turkish champions Fenerbahce on Thursday to give themselves an excellent chance of qualifying for the last 16 of the UEFA Cup.<br /><br />The visiting Spaniards scored the only goal of the match in the second half through the unlikely source of Brazilian Alvaro Maior de Aquino.<br /><br />It ensures they will hold a narrow lead over the Turks when the clubs meet in Spain next Thursday in the second leg of this round-of-32 tie, but perhaps they will yet live to rue the fact they could not get the second goal their play merited.<br /><br />In the early stages Fenerbahce were in charge with Zaragoza defending in numbers as they looked to counter the Turkish threat.<br /><br />However, the first real chance of the match fell the way of the Primera Liga club.<br /><br />David Generelo fired in a dangerous shot which clipped the post of the goal defended by Rustu Recber.<br /><br />Next it was the turn of Alvaro to go close for the visitors with Rustu pulling off an important save for the hosts.<br /><br />At the end of the first-half the crowd at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium appealed for a penalty when Nicolas Anelka challenged for a ball with Gabriel Milito and the ball appeared to strike the hand of the Argentinian but the pleas were turned down by Danish referee Nicolai Vollquartz.<br /><br />In the second half the play continued to ebb and flow and after an hour Zaragoza almost scored when Luciano Galletti fed Generolo who forced another brilliant save from Rustu.<br /><br />With 11 minutes remaining Zaragoza's pressure paid off as they took the lead.<br /><br />Galletti appeared to be fouled by the Fenerbahce defenders but Alvaro picked up the ball and crashed his shot past a helpless Rustu.<br /><br />It was the first goal the Brazilian had scored since the opening day of the Primera Liga season.<br /><br />A spate of late bookings for Fenerbahce in the closing 20 minutes showed how frustrated they were becoming but there was no way back for Christoph Daum's men.<br /> <br /> <small>[ 18. February 2005, 05:40 AM: Message edited by: imparator_fatih_terim ]</small>

Well we saw clearly again today that money isn't always everything. They spent so much money on Nicolas Anelka and said "This is the player that will make us win the UEFA Cup" Well if Anelka plays every match the way he played today then Fener will be luck to get 1 point.

What a dissapointment for its followers, looking back and thinking how the hell they spent many million dollars/euros for this! can not even beat a below average spanish team! <br />We still remember the Cim Bom's Champions League & UEFA Cup seasons...It's joy of our life...There is NO other team but GALATASARAY makes the Turks proud of being in there....Hava a nice & Fenerless day...

LOL fsking, your so right!!<br /><br />HER ZAMAN HER YERDE EN BUYUK CIM BOM