Rivaldo's barren debut
AFP, La Coruna
Olympiakos newcomer Rivaldo failed to achieve a dream win at the expense of his former club Deportivo La Coruna on his first outing with the Greek side with both sides having to settle for a goalless draw in their Champions League Group A match here on Wednesday. The Greeks, who have a woeful away record in this competition with 19 defeats from 23 games, achieved the same result as the last time they visited Galicia in 2001. But they failed to produce the game to see off a Deportivo depleted by injuries and who struggled to get past Irish champions Shelbourne in the qualifying round. Rivaldo had his first outing for the Greek side and the former Deportivo striker got off to a lively start. The 32-year-old Brazilian had an effort knocked back after just five minutes, and another ambitious overhead kick just going over the bar ten minutes later. Spanish Defender Cesar Martin had Deportivo's best chance of a goal after 21 minutes when the right-back hooked on to a free kick from Sergio Gonzalez but his diving header went just wide. Six minutes later it was the Greeks who missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring when former Deportivo player Gabriel Schurrer nudged just wide after Deportivo goalie Jose Molina failed to hang on to a Rivaldo free-kick.
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