Sammer 'furious' at costly error

By Manfred Christoph

BV Borussia Dortmund coach Matthias Sammer was left fuming at defensive naivety after seeing his side throw away victory late in a gripping UEFA Champions League Group C tie against Real Madrid CF at the Westfalenstadion.

Portillo leaves it late
With AC Milan already through from the section, Dortmund's chances of joining them in the quarter-finals were damaged in heart-breaking fashion when Javier Portillo collected a pass from Zinedine Zidane in added time and fired in to cancel out Jan Koller's 23rd-minute strike.

'Furious'
After seeing his side defend so stoutly throughout, Sammer could not restrain himself on the final whistle as Dortmund lost possession trying to turn defence into attack. "In the last few minutes you can't try stupid tricks, you have to defend the lead," Sammer said. "We had no reason to go forward so I am furious."

'Stupid'
The midfield player Torsten Frings echoed his coach's words. "With only seconds to go we had the ball, but instead of staying back, the team moved forward," he said. "We lost possession and were hit on the break. We were stupid."

Reina to blame
Sammer singled out substitute Giuseppe Reina for blame. "Marcio Amoroso was in possession and decided to dribble and lost the ball," Sammer said. "That can happen. What I can't understand is why Billy [Reina] charged forward. Marcio was in no need of any assistance. He could cope with the situation on his own. I am sure the goal wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been forced to take Dede off just before the end."

Costly error
Portillo's strike, just two minutes after he had come on as a substitute, was just reward for a frenetic display of attacking football from Madrid in the second half, but was rough justice on a Dortmund side who had defended brilliantly, backed up superbly by Jens Lehmann in goal. Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo and Raúl González were all thwarted by the keeper, but Sammer dwelt only on the late error which, with Madrid now one point clear of Dortmund with just two games to play, could cost the German champions a place in the last eight.

'A lot to learn'
"At this level every mistake is punished," Sammer said. "We saw that here today and we have still got a lot to learn. We shall not give up hope and try to get the points we need to go through from our last two matches against Milan and Moscow. I must, however, admit that Real are in the driving seat now."

'Work cut out'
But the Madrid coach, Vicente del Bosque, is not taking anything for granted. "The win here today has improved our situation slightly, but we still have two games left to play," he said. "Nothing has been decided and we have our work cut out if we want to reach the quarter-finals."

'Better chances'
Del Bosque also believed his team ought to have won the match. "We played really well after the break and created a lot of chances," he said. "If you take a close look at the game I think you will have to agree we should have won because we had the better chances."

'Very talented'
Thankfully for Del Bosque, Portillo was on hand to take the one chance that came his way. "Portillo is a very talented player and he took the goal well when the chance came," Del Bosque said. "He's still at the start of his career, but I'm sure Real Madrid will get a lot of pleasure out of him in the future." Not to mention the present.