Klinsmann hits back

WHILE Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bosnich was making his ill judged Nazi style salute in response to the chanting of Juergen Klinsmann's name, the German international skipper scored twice as Bayern Munich beat Cologne 4-2 to go second in the Bundesliga at the weekend.

Oblivious to Bosnich's performance in London, Klinsmann who has had a poor spell recently silenced his critics with two goals as Bayern won 4-2 at Cologne on Saturday to draw level with VfB Stuttgart at the top of the table.

Klinsmann headed Bayern's opening goal in the 35th minute and then hit a crucial third goal midway through the second half. The victory put Bayern on 23 points, level with leaders Stuttgart who could only draw 2-2 at lowly Hansa Rostock.

In Italy, Inter Milan, down to 10 men after England midfielder Paul Ince was sent off, beat Piacenza 2-0 to go top while champions Milan slumped to a rare 3-0 defeat at Roma.

Ince was sent off in the 37th minute after he apparently felled Piacenza's Gianpietro Piovani while waiting for a corner to be taken. Piovani was himself sent off later for elbowing an opponent.

In yesterday's big match, previous leaders Juventus, who also had a man sent off, lost 2-1 at Vicenza.

Marcelo Otero opened the scoring for Vicenza in the 19th minute only for Ciro Ferrara to equalise a minute after the break. But Massimo Beghetto made it an afternoon to forget for Juventus by hitting the winner.

Coach Marcello Lippi said afterwards. Certainly we were worse in the second half, but I think we deserved a draw overall," he said.

Dutch league leaders Feyenoord were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Waalwijk but maintained their two point lead over nearest challengers PSV Eindhoven who drew 1-1 at Fortuna Sittard.

Champions Ajax squandered a chance to close the gap on the leaders when they drew 1-1 at Utrecht.

Barcelona were left as leaders of the Spanish first division after Real Madrid managed only a 2-2 draw at Racing Santander last night.

Barcelona's emphatic 5-1 win at Compostela on Saturday included two memorable goals from Brazilian striker Ronaldo. The former PSV player also hit the post and gave such an outstanding performance he was even applauded off the field by the sporting home fans.