Capello Shows Kluivert Who's Boss

Following Barcelona's tepid Champions League draw with Roma last week, Patrick Kluivert made two rash statements. First, he lambasted Fabio Capello as a defensive coach in extremis. Then, to put the boot in even further, he made it clear that Capello - currently the favorite to take over at Barcelona in the summer - was the last man he wanted to see deciding tactics at the Nou Camp.

Not the wisest move the Dutchman has ever made.

Last night, for the return match in Rome, Capello made a deliberate point by naming three forwards - Francesco Totti, Gabriel Batistuta and Marco Delvecchio - in his starting line-up. Then his Roma team made another one by thrashing Barcelona 3-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.

After a dull first half, Roma took control. Their first goal came on the hour, when Vincent Candela's wayward shot deflected off Brazil midfielder Emerson and skidded beyond Jose Manuel Reina.

Roma continued to dominate and went 2-0 ahead in the 73rd minute when substitute Vincenzo Montella cut in from the left and caressed a curler beyond Reina's outstretched hand.

Totti could have capped a brilliant individual performance with Roma's third goal when he was put through one-on-one by Montella, but he jabbed his shot just wide of the far post.

However in injury time Damiano Tommasi finally finished Barcelona off with a low 20-yard drive into the bottom corner.

No wonder Capello was gloating afterwards. "Barca looked fearful in the first half," he announced, before displaying his renowned tactical acumen. "They left my players too much room to play in the middle of the pitch, and Roma looked surprised about this and reacted by misplacing the simplest passes."

"In the dressing-room I told them to play football, and they were more aggressive and self-confident in the second half of the match. After the first 45 minutes we had so many things to change and we did it."

The result takes Roma top of Group B, a point ahead of Barcelona, but Capello is refusing to get carried away.

"Of course it's better to be on top of the group than being on the bottom, but we now face a hard match against Galatasaray - a team more aggressive than Barcelona," he said without even sideways glance at Patrick Kluivert. "It will be a tough and difficult match with the Turkish team."

Bayern bore their way through

Much is said of Galatasaray's impressive home record in Europe. However Bayern Munich's is even better - they haven't lost a Champions League match at the Olympic Stadium since 1997.

Early on in the second half, that record came under sever threat. First Boavista striker Alexandre Goulart hit the post with a shot that accelerated past Oliver Kahn. Then Bolivian Erwin Sanchez fired just wide when put through.

And Kahn needed to be at his best a few minutes later when Stefan Effenberg jumped out of the way of a Boavista free-kick. Following the save, Kahn jumped up to scream at Effenberg for his mistake. Bayern were jittery.

"Our strategy was to clamp down on them and not give them any room to operate and it worked excellently," Boavista trainer Jaime Pacheco explained. "We had four big fat scoring chances."

Unfortunately they didn't take them. And nine minutes from time they were punished when Roque Santa Cruz headed home a Bixente Lizarazu cross to give Bayern a 1-0 win.

The Germans are well-placed to make the quarter-finals. They are now on eight points, level with Manchester United at the top of Group A - not that Bayern's Brazilian striker Elber is too happy about how they are playing.

"There's no way we can be satisfied with this," he said afterwards. "We were lucky to win. It was important to get the three points. We have a super team but unfortunately we didn't play well."

Elber said that after a strong start his team had lost their focus. "We tried to get an early lead but it didn't work out and what we played you can't even call football."

Meanwhile Pacheco was still ruing a missed opportunity.

"We're very saddened by the result because we were not any worse than Bayern," he insisted. "We had a chance for more tonight."

"In the end Munich's grand international experience made the difference," he added, before sadly slipping away into the Munich night.