Epress.am News from Armenia
Gennaro Gattuso’s violent attack on a Tottenham coach after AC Milan’s 1-0 loss overshadowed the European goalscoring record Raul Gonzalez set during Schalke’s 1-1 draw with Valencia in Champions League matches on Tuesday, AP reports.
Seven-time European champion Milan conceded the only goal to Champions League newcomer Tottenham in the 80th minute when Peter Crouch completed a superb counterattack started by Aaron Lennon.
Before Crouch’s goal, Gattuso received a booking for a foul on Steven Pienaar that ruled him out of the second leg. He then shoved Tottenham assistant coach Joe Jordan on the touchline.
Tempers flared again at the final whistle, with Gattuso charging toward the Tottenham bench and headbutting Jordan, who played for Milan in the early 1980s. It prompted a scuffle involving several players and members of the clubs’ staff and left Gattuso facing a UEFA investigation.
“I was wound up after exchanging words with Jordan,” Gattuso was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. “He was winding me up throughout the game, but I was wrong to do what I did to someone older than me. I will have to await what they (UEFA) decide.”
The night’s other match in Valencia was more subdued despite Schalke midfielder Lukas Schmitz being sent off for a second booking toward the end.
Raul canceled out Roberto Soldado’s 17th-minute goal for Valencia with a second-half equalizer to overtake AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi by one goal in the overall UEFA tally, having scored 71 goals in European club competitions.
The second set of last-16 matches is on Wednesday when Barcelona travels to Arsenal and AS Roma hosts Shakhtar Donetsk.
Tottenham returned Tuesday to the scene of one of the most startling results in Europe this season. The competition newcomers recovered from 4-0 down at the San Siro to narrowly lose 4-3 to Inter Milan in the group stage.
But this time, Tottenham was without speedy midfielder Gareth Bale, who scored a hat trick against Inter.
Spurs were aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty in the opening minutes when Alessandro Nesta appeared to use his arm to block Rafael van der Vaart’s cross.
After a tight first half, Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes pulled off fine saves from two Mario Yepes headers to keep his side in the match.
Mathieu Flamini was fortunate not to be sent off after a two-footed challenge on Tottenham defender Vedran Corluka, who was carried off and later re-emerged on crutches with his right foot heavily wrapped.
“How has he not got a red card for that?” Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said. “It’s an absolute disgrace, they (UEFA) should look at that, surely, and do something about it. It’s a dangerous, dangerous tackle. They lost their heads a bit at the end.”
Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri added: “Flamini’s tackle was quite a bad one but the foul on Gattuso on his knee (by Pienaar) was also a bad one,” Allegri said.
The deadlock was broken when Lennon sprinted from inside his own half through the Milan defense before sweeping the ball across for Crouch to score his sixth goal in eight European matches this season.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic thought he had equalized in stoppage time, but his overhead kick was ruled out for a two-handed push into the back of Tottenham captain Michael Dawson.
The drama in Italy took attention away from the 33-year-old Raul’s record-breaking night in his native Spain.
Raul, who already holds the Champions League goal-scoring record, earned the overall European record when he held off defender David Navarro before slotting a shot inside the far post beyond outstretched goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
“It was no fluke—that’s a genuine goalscorer we are seeing here,” Schalke coach Felix Magath said. “His marker has to come the long way round and Raul knows it—he knows exactly where he’s going to put it. The special thing about him is that he works so much for the team as well.”
Substitute Junmin Hao came close to grabbing a winner for Schalke in the 90th but he was denied by Guaita’s fingertip save.