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Football: Rosenborg's dream vanishes with 89th-minute equaliser

Catherine Riley
Thursday 11 December 1997 01:02 GMT
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There were clenched teeth and busy pocket calculators all over Europe last night, as the permutations for the last eight in the European Cup changed and changed again.

In Greece, Rosenborg Trondheim looked set to spoil Juventus' party, but an 89th-minute equaliser by Predrag Djordjevic of Olympiakos ensured the Norwegian side missed out. The cheer which greeted this news at the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin was as loud as the one which greeted Filippo Inzaghi's late goal there.

Prior to the start of the Olympiakos match, uniformed police officers had held protest placards and banners as they marched around the stadium. Their unprecedented protest is indicative of the growing public backlash against escalating fan violence at Greek games.

Paris St-Germain can also consider themselves unlucky after last night's results. A 2-1 defeat of Turkey's Besiktas at the Parc des Princes gave them second place in Group E behind Bayern Munich, who had already qualified along with Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United and Dynamo Kiev, but although they had the same number of points as Juve, the Italians' superior goal difference gave them the edge.

A 2-2 draw between Bayer Leverkusen of Germany and Monaco gave both teams a berth in the quarter-finals, but the French champions had to battle back from 2-0 down, substitute Thierry Henry giving them parity nine minutes from time. Leverkusen joined Juve as the two best second-placed teams to progress.

In Spain, Real Madrid's signed off their campaign in style with a 4-0 trouncing of Portuguese side Porto.

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