Soccer-Elber stunned by goal on Bayern return
( 2003-11-06 09:47) (Agencies)
Surplus to requirements at
Bayern Munich and under fire in France, Giovane Elber answered his critics in
emphatic fashion and shocked himself by scoring Olympique Lyon's winner on his
return to Munich.
The Brazilian striker showed there is life in his small
31-year-old frame on Wednesday by tucking the ball past his old team mate Oliver
Kahn to give Lyon a 2-1 victory and propel them to the top of Champions League
Group A.
"This is crazy. I had not scored for Lyon in the Champions League
and now I have done it against Bayern," said Elber, the German Bundesliga's
joint top scorer last season.
"It's a strange feeling, to come back after
playing for Bayern for six years. I had the impression I was in the wrong
dressing rooms," he said.
The Brazilian striker, still Bayern's leading
scorer in the Champions League with 21 goals, was deemed the one striker too
many in Bayern's pack after the Germans bought Dutch marksman Roy Makaay from
Deportivo Coruna.
However, while Makaay left with his team mates to boos, the
59,000 capacity crowd gave their former darling a standing ovation when he was
replaced with 12 minutes to go.
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said he had no
hard feelings towards Elber and no regrets at releasing him.
"We sold him and
that's that, but it's not really about Elber alone being the opponent," the
Bayern coach said.
However, he did concede that the shock of conceding a
second goal was doubled by the fact that Elber was the scorer.
"It wasn't
just that we were 2-1 down, but that it was Elber. It just took our legs away
from us," he said.
Lyon coach Paul Le Guen acknowledged it was a special
moment for his new signing within a solid performance from the French
champions.
"I'm really pleased for him. I see it can be very beneficial for
him and also for us," he said.
Elber, with a relatively modest four goals in
his eight games before Wednesday, had come in for some criticism in his new
home, but he too preferred to stress the team's performance.
"We knew that it
would be tough and that we would have to make the most of the few chances we
had. That's exactly what we did," he said.
However, while critical of the
home side, he also showed some sympathy to the club that employed him for six
fruitful years, including last season's German championship and the 2001
Champions League triumph.
"Bayern showed too little initiative. You have to
do@than that to win a game. You have to put more pressure and take more risks
than they did, especially when you're playing at home," he said.
"Still, I
hope they will not be eliminated in the group stage."
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