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Juve, Sociedad share Group D lead
ATHENS, Greece -- Juventus and Real Sociedad maintained their winning starts in the Champions League to share the lead in Group D. Pavel Nedved struck twice against the run of play as Italian champions Juve, beaten finalists last year, escaped with a 2-1 win at Greek side Olympiakos. Spain's Sociedad also enjoyed a hard-earned 2-1 away win, with Darko Kovacevic and Xabi Alonso on target against Galatasaray in Istanbul. Olympiakos had taken the lead against Juve when Ieroklis Stoltidis beat Gianluigi Buffon with a looping header from Christian Karembeu's cross. But Juve levelled with their only attack of the half as Czech playmaker Nedved drove in a low freekick on 21 minutes. After the break the home team pressed relentlessly, but it was Nedved who scored again, sending a long range drive through goakeeper Fanis Katergiannakis' hands 11 minutes from time. "We got exactly what we expected from the start, we knew they would be strong on home turf," Juve coach Marcello Lippi said. "Obviously we have the experience to change the score. When we went behind we knew we had the whole game to turn it around." A second half strike by Spanish midfielder Alonso clinched the points for Sociedad in Istanbul after Hakan Sukur had cancelled out Kovacevic's opener on three minutes. Galatasaray's frustration boiled over when Hasan Sas was sent off for a late tackle on Bittor Alkiza. " Galatasaray are very dangerous," said Sociedad's Turkish striker Nihat Kahveci. "We have a great advantage with two wins from two games but there are four matches left and they'll all be difficult."
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