Valencia humbled at home

Iversen: Two-goal salvo

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A Steffen Iversen-inspired Rosenborg inflicted a second 2-0 defeat on Valencia inside the space of a fortnight to leave the Primera outfit on the brink of elimination from the competition.

Despite being in Valencia's backyard, and Ronald Koeman's first match in charge of the Spaniards, the victory was no less convincing than that in Norway a fortnight ago with Rosenborg outplaying their disjointed opponents for long periods.

Iversen struck in both halves - his first UEFA Champions League group stage goals for some 11 years - to secure a result which leaves Trond Henriksen's side with realistic ambitions of a first trip to the latter stages of the competition.

Valencia were much the quicker out of the traps but had little to show for their early endeavour bar a wildly inaccurate Joaquin volley and a wasteful Ivan Helguera header.

Having survived the first 20 minutes the visitors came into the game and served notice that they had no intention of sitting back in an attempt to hold out for a goalless draw, Youssef Kone having their first attempt of note when he broke a couple of weak challenges in the box and trundled a shot goalwards.

David Villa was Valencia's most potent, in fact, only real offensive weapon in the first half and the Spain international - absent in recent weeks through injury - demonstrated what the Che have been missing of late with a smart piece of chest control and turn before flashing a shot across goal.

Mestalla stunned

Helguera made a much better fist of another header from a corner and forced goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld into a sprawling full length save to maintain parity on 28 minutes, but Rosenborg stunned the Mestalla as they opened the scoring two minutes later.

Valencia had been on the attack, but having won the ball on the edge of their own box the Norwegians broke rapidly through Per Skjelbred and Marek Sapara, the latter eventually playing the ball into Iversen on the edge of the area who turned sharply and fired a low shot past Timo Hildebrand via the inside of a post - his first in the competition proper since he struck against Gothenburg in September 1996.

It could and should have been two moments later after another incisive attack, but Kone got slightly ahead of Mikael Dorsin's inviting deep cross from the left and headed the ball down and over the bar with the goal seemingly at his mercy.

The striker was then denied by Hildebrand's legs after darting clear of the offside trap and, despite the lively Villa again testing Hirschfeld, Valencia predictably went off to a chorus of boos.

Staring down the barrel of an early exit from the competition, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the hosts would have roared back after the break with Koeman's scathing half-time team-talk ringing in their ears.

But it was Rosenborg exuding confidence and authority and not flattered when they doubled their advantage on 57 minutes with Iversen nodding home from close range after Hildebrand flapped ineptly at a right-wing corner.

Koeman responded by throwing on Nikola Zigic, but the giant Serbian striker did little to placate an evermore incensed home crowd as he headed well wide from a Miguel cross before bizarrely attempting to punch in another centre, this time from Vicente.

Indeed, as the hosts pushed on in increasingly forlorn style it was Rosenborg who almost added to the scoreline with Hildebrand denying Iversen a hat-trick and Helguera somehow getting away with a rugby tackle on Kone who was subsequently only able to scuff the rebound on to a post.

The striker will have been left wondering quite how he left the pitch without a goal to his credit as an excellent reflex save from Hildebrand frustrated him deep in injury time, the German shooting an arm out to divert a close-range half-volley over the bar.

But he and his team-mates were smiling shortly afterwards as the final whistle sounded, in stark contrast to the home fans who predictably vented their fury in the direction of the directors' box after arguably the blackest night in the club's European history.