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Middlesbrough will again have to do it the hard way after losing 1-0 to Steaua Bucharest in the first leg of their Uefa Cup semi-final.
Nicolae Dica's thumping volley on the half-hour settled the issue in the Romanian capital and Boro will be grateful to return to Teesside having conceded only once.
The tie was a scrappy affair with neither keeper seriously tested during the first half-hour, with long-range shooting the order of the day.
Dica lifted one attempt over his head and wide, while Steaua captain Matei Radoi was nearer the corner flag with an ambitious effort.
Boro should have made more of an opportunity on 26 minutes when Yakubu Aiyegbeni ran from the halfway line, but the Nigerian selfishly opted to shoot when he should have slipped in James Morrison.
The Premiership side fell behind on the half hour following a straightforward move executed clinically. Radoi turned a throw-in into the feet of Dica and he swivelled sharply to ram a volley into the top corner.
Just before half time, Boro twice came close to levelling with George Boateng's cross turned onto the crossbar, seemingly by Steaua defender George Ogararu under pressure from Yakubu.
From the resulting corner, Steaua failed to clear and the ball fell to Morrison, whose snap-shot was smartly saved by Alberto Carlos.
The second half saw Boro struggle and they were indebted to the presence of Australian goalkeeper Schwarzer for keeping the score down.
Gabriel Bostina's corner from the left bounced off the thigh of Dorin Goian and Schwarzer had to react quickly to tip the ball over the bar.
A mistake from Stuart Parnaby almost gifted the Romanians a second goal just past the hour mark when he failed to deal with a routine ball, but Schwarzer was on hand to save low to his left when Dica should have scored.
Steve McClaren brought on Massimo Maccarone and Ray Parlour in an attempt to turn the game in Boro's favour, but there remained consternation in the visitors' box.
Schwarzer and stand-in captain Ugo Ehiogu collided in mid-air and only a superb last-ditch clearance from Matthew Bates prevented Goian applying the finish.
Steaua wasted a golden opportunity 10 minutes from time when Petre Marin played a delightful one-two with goalscorer Dica, only for his finish to betray the sublimity of the build-up as he poked his effort wide with only Schwarzer to beat.
An away goal would have been ill-deserved for Boro, but substitute Maccarone's fizzing shot was fumbled by Carlos and then grasped before the subdued Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink could snaffle the rebound.
Boro will now be hoping to repeat their quarter final heroics when they overturned a first leg deficit to knock out Swiss side Basel. |
Source: Sky Sports |
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