Perrin mourns missed chances

By Matthew Spiro in Marseille

Olympique de Marseille coach Alain Perrin was left feeling frustrated after seeing his team bow out of the UEFA Champions League despite turning in an impressive performance against Real Madrid CF.

Missed chances
The French side dominated the game for long periods but were made to rue a series of missed chances, as goals in each half from David Beckham and Ronaldo handed Madrid a 2-1 win. "The reason that we are out is because we lost our two matches against [FC] Porto," Perrin explained. "If we had played as well against them as we did tonight, we would have been in a position to qualify."

Perrin proud
Already-qualified Madrid top Group F by three points ahead of Porto, whom they meet on Matchday 6. Marseille are third, one point ahead of FK Partizan, against whom they must avoid defeat on 9 December to ensure a UEFA Cup spot. Nevertheless Perrin insisted that his players had nothing to be ashamed of. "I am proud of them tonight," he declared. "We created lots of chances and posed problems. But you need luck to beat Real Madrid and we did not have any tonight."

Beckham makes history
Several Marseille opportunities had gone begging when Beckham converted a free-kick on 35 minutes. It was the 600th goal that Madrid had scored in European competition, and the piece of history was not lost on the England captain. "The most important thing was that it helped us win the game, but it is always nice to make history in the process," Beckham said.

Runje caught out
Marseille goalkeeper Vedran Runje admitted he was fooled by Beckham's eyes. "To start with they had Roberto Carlos and Beckham standing over the ball," Runje recalled. "So already I did not know if it would be a left or right-foot shot. When I saw that it was going to be Beckham, I thought he was looking to my right side, so I moved to narrow the angle. But he hit it the other way and I saw the ball come over the wall very late." 

Mido's dream
Despite the setback, Perrin's team came out fighting in the second half and eventually scored a deserved equaliser through Ahmed Hossam 'Mido'. "To score against Madrid is a dream for me," he told uefa.com. "It felt great, but the fact that it did not save the match takes the gloss off. We learned tonight that if you do not take your chances against Real Madrid you lose. But we feel like we are finding our form again and we will do our best to qualify for the UEFA Cup."

'Good result'
Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz praised his players for the professional manner of their performance. "It is a good result because it means we can breathe easier going into the last game," Queiroz said. "The players know that it is important for us to finish top of group and they were very disciplined tonight."

Zidane's homecoming
Queiroz also praised Zinedine Zidane, who was making an emotional return to his home town. "Zizou showed flashes of genius in the first half but then took a knock which meant that he had to play within himself after the break. Nevertheless he kept going and even played an important part in the winning goal."