FOOTBALL: WE WERE DON; HERFOLGE...0 RANGERS...3.
JOHN JENSEN was left praying for a miracle last night after his team's woeful display against Rangers - but it isn't divine intervention the Herfolge boss needs.He should just find a better Scottish-based spy and ignore the advice of Aberdeen manager Ebbe Skovdahl.
Jensen tapped into the mind of Skovdahl for help before facing Rangers last night in the first leg of a third-round Champions League qualifying tie and lost heavily.
Jensen's lot were like amateurs for much of the game and after slumping to a 3-0 defeat he said: "Skovdahl's information didn't help at all. Nothing he told me was any good."
The poor man seemed surprised to have discovered this but when he recovered it was to declare that his team still have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League - but only a small chance.
"About one per cent in 100," he added. "But I have been in this position before. In 1997 while at Brondby we played Karlsruhe and lost 3-1 at home but won 5-0 in Germany.
"But I think Rangers will be too good to allow us to do that."
Skovdahl had warned him not to give Rangers space in midfield and about the power of Albertz's long-range shooting.
"He said Albertz always shoots straight and this time his shot bent," Jensen lamented.
"Also, we gave Rangers too much space in the first half. We didn't play very well at all.
"The first goal was from about 40 yards but it wasn't hit with too much power and my goalkeeper made a mistake, I think.
"But I won't congratulate Rangers yet because we have a small chance. At least we don't need to be scared. We can also learn from the next match and it might help us in the UEFA Cup."
While Jensen was looking a bit shell-shocked, Rangers coach Dick Advocaat was relaxed and confident knowing his team are already in the money-spinning Champions League for a second successive year.
He said: "I think 3-0 was a good result away in Europe against the Danish champions. The first 60 minutes were full of good quality play even if in the end Herfolge were more physical than we had expected. But we managed to deal with that.
"There were some excellent moments for us and Bert Konterman was much better than last week. Also, Amoruso and van Bronckhorst have improved after another couple of weeks training. We are not the finished article yet, but no team in Europe is at the moment."
Asked if he will continue to search Europe for a new striker, he said: "Maybe we already have one in the dressing room - Mols."
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| Title Annotation: | Sport |
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| Author: | Traynor, James |
| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Aug 10, 2000 |
| Words: | 443 |
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