ARRIGO SACCHI'S first match in charge of AC Milan ended in disaster in the San Siro last night when they were beaten 2-1 by Norwegian side Rosenborg and crashed out of the Champions League.
Vegard Heggem's 69th minute winner sent Rosenborg through, after Christophe Dugarry's equaliser on the stroke of half time cancelled out Harald Brattbakk's 29th minute opener.
A draw would have been enough to send Milan through, but uncharacteristically careless defending from their usually solid back line left them stranded in third place and out of a competition they have dominated in recent years.
Sacchi, who only took over from Oscar Tabarez on Monday, has a huge task to rebuild the team's morale. He made no attempt to downplay the gravity off the situation.
"It's serious," he admitted. "It's serious for the club and for the players. Now we've just got to pull ourselves together and start thinking about the league championship. At the moment, it's a team which is suffering.
The pressure came from Milan, but the luck was with the Norwegians. For their opening goal, Roar Strand completely miskicked his shot from the edge of the area and the ball took two deflect ions before falling to the feet of Brattbakk, who lashed it past a helpless Sebastiano Rossi in the Milan goal.
The knockout blow came in the 9th minute when sole attacker Heggem outjumped skipper Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and goalkeeper Sebastiano Rossi to head home a long, hopeful cross into the middle.
Rosenborg play Group C winners Juventus in the quarter finals in March, while Group D winners FC Porto face Manchester United. Juventus fulfilled their promise to help United by beating Fenerbahce 2-0 with goals from Michele Padovano and Nicola Amoruso. Juventus coach Marcello Lippi had said before the match: "Alex Ferguson and my friend Brian Kidd, his number two, can relax. We will do our duty right through to the end."
Meanwhile, Porto confirmed they will present Alex Ferguson's side with their toughest challenge yet with another victory, 2-0 at Gothenburg, who finished bottom of the group. Porto have won five out of six in the Champions League this season and, in keeping with Juventus, are unbeaten in the group stages.
Goals from Mario Jardel after 64 minutes and Edmilson a minute before time were enough for another convincing victory.
Elsewhere, a first half strike by Dutch international Patrick Kluivert gave Ajax Amsterdam a victory over Grasshopper Zurich to secure them a place in the last eight in Group A. Nothing less than a win would have been enough for the Dutch side, struggling domestically this season, and they will be grateful to have edged out a Swiss side whose overall, performance deserved a better result.
Rangers' 2-1 defeat at Auxerre means Grasshopper are out, finishing third in a group they actually led overnight. Ajax play Atletico Madrid, while Auxerre will meet Borussia Dortmund.
Marlet scored superb 31st minute goal for Auxerre against Rangers. Laslandes had opened the scoring. Richard Gough scored a consolation goal for Rangers.
The German champions recorded a remarkable 5-3 win over Steaua Bucharest in their final Group B match, though their qualification was already secured. Atletico Madrid defeated Widzew Lodz 1-0 in the night's remaining fixture, to confirm their dominance of the group with Dortmund.
