Blackburn limped to a shock 2-0 away defeat to Greek minnows Larissa in the Uefa Cup.
Rovers crash to Greek minnows
Blackburn limped to a shock 2-0 away defeat to Greek minnows Larissa in the Uefa Cup.
Larissa, who booked their place in the Europe courtesy of a shock win in the final of the Greek Cup over Panathinaikos, upset the form book again with two goals in the space of 77 first half seconds.
Larissa took a surprise lead in the 33rd minute when former Everton striker Ibrahima Bakayoko, who scored two against Rovers at Ewood Park in his time with the Toffees, shrugged of David Dunn and fired an effort from 25 yards which deflected off Ryan Nelsen to loop over Brad Friedel.
Two minutes later, with Blackburn still in shock, Brett Emerton played in Nektarious Alexandrou with a calamitous back pass and following a goalmouth scramble between Friedel and Bakayoko the ball fell to Silva Cleyton who curled in.
Rovers, who suffered their first defeat of the season, had controlled the first-half but failed to conjure a real chance with only Robbie Savage driving at goal from long range.
The trend continued after the interval and Rovers, who were lacklustre throughout, were grateful to Friedel who saved from close range to deny Clayton from inflicting further damage.
Blackburn created their best opportunity of a wretched match in the 19th minute when a long throw from Morten Gamst Pedersen was taken on the chest by Benni McCarthy on the edge of the six-yard area.
In one swift movement McCarthy swivelled onto the ball, striking a volley goalwards that smacked into the face of German defender Marco Foerster.
Two-goal blast
Then came those 90 miserable seconds as Rovers found themselves two goals adrift and staring at an unlikely early exit from the competition.
Bakayoko's opener was a touch fortunate as the 30-year-old let fly from 30 yards, only for his shot to take a slight deflection off Ryan Nelsen.
That was enough to help beat Brad Friedel, who was standing on the edge of his six-yard box, as he could do nothing but paw at thin air as the ball flew over
him and into the roof of the net.
Moments later and further travesty followed, this time courtesy of Blackburn's
own making, and in particular a woeful back pass from just inside his own half
from Brett Emerton.
Seizing onto the underhit ball, Nektarios Alexandrou was initially denied by a
spread-eagled Friedel, while Andre Ooijer then blocked Bakayoko on the rebound. The loose ball, though, ran to Giorgos Fotakis who teed up Cleyton and the Brazilian delightfully curled home a fine second from 12 yards.
A clawing save from Friedel from Fotakis' 20-yard free-kick denied Blackburn
further embarrassment at the start of a second half in which they were distinctly second best.
Injury
The loss of captain Nelsen just before the hour added to Rovers' woes, forcing them onto the backfoot as last-ditch defending on occasions became the order of the day.
Nelsen's replacement Zurab Khizanishvili, David Dunn and Ooijer were all forced to block shots inside their own area as Larissa looked to kill the tie.
That should have been accomplished in the 70th minute when the lively Bakayoko teed up Cleyton from eight yards for a sidefoot shot Friedel brilliantly blocked.
Rovers now face an uphill battle to turn round the game in the second leg at Ewood Park in a fortnight's time.
| Larissa FC |
Team Statistics |
Blackburn Rovers |
| 2 |
Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 6 |
Shots on Target |
5 |
| 6 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 3 |
Corners |
4 |
| 18 |
Fouls |
22 |
| 2 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 68.9 |
Passing Success |
62 |
| 23 |
Tackles |
23 |
| 73.9 |
Tackles Success |
60.9 |
| 47.3 |
Possession |
52.7 |
| 52.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
47.9 |
|
