Plzen pick up point against AC Milan
Reuters - Tuesday 06 December 2011, 22:28
Two late goals gave
tournament newcomers Viktoria Plzen a 2-2 draw with AC Milan in
their final Champions League Group H match on Tuesday and
secured a place for the home team in the Europa League.
Alexandre Pato opened the scoring for Milan, who had already
reached the last 16, in the 47th minute when he collected a
cross from Robinho and beat Plzen goalkeeper Marek Cech.
The Brazilian pair switched roles a minute later and this
time Robinho was the scorer.
Milan appeared to be heading for a comfortable win and had a
few more chances, with Pato hitting the post.
But a minute from fulltime, Marek Bakos passed to an
unmarked David Bystron who revived Plzen's chances for a point.
Prague's Eden Stadium went crazy when Marian Cisovsky lobbed
the ball to substitute Michal Duris, who beat Milan goalkeeper
Marco Amelia three minutes into injury time.
"We mainly blew the first half. We did not really let Milan
do anything, we had about four chances," said jubilant Plzen
coach Pavel Vrba.
"Then in three minutes we conceded two goals which were
both very cheap. But we showed some strong will, we wanted to
show attacking football which was risky because it opened space
for breakaways but it paid off."
Czech champions Plzen finished the group in third place
behind Milan, with Barcelona on top and BATE Borisov in fourth
place after their 4-0 hammering by the Spanish champions.
Milan rotated their squad slightly having been assured of
second spot and handed a first start of the season to defender
Philippe Mexes, who has recovered from a cruciate ligament tear.