© Reuters 2002

MILAN, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Rosenborg coach Nils Arne Eggen returned to the venue of his greatest triumph as coach of the Norwegian club but was left disappointed after a 3-0 defeat to Inter Milan meant elimination from the Champions League in his final away match in charge of the team.

Eggen, who has won ten Norwegian titles during his reign at the club, was in charge of Rosenborg back in 1996-97 when they beat AC Milan 2-1 at the San Siro to knock the Italians out of the competition.

The 60-year-old coach will stand down after Rosenborg's final game against French side Olympique Lyon in two weeks.

"I am not thinking about the personal things," he told reporters, "We were prepared to go out and so we are not going to get so upset about this. Now we want to get a good result against Lyon because that (5-0) defeat to them hurt a lot and we want to make up for that," said Eggen.

Eggen's side caused plenty of problems for Inter in the first half but trailed 1-0 at the break after Alvaro Recoba's 31st minute goal.

"We were a bit defensive but we created chances and if we had scored first it could have been different. But we had the worst possible start to the second half with a goal that was probably offside," he said referring to the own goal from Janne Saarinen in the 52nd minute.

"We don't score many goals and so we need those little things to go our way."

The Norwegians have won just three of their last 24 Champions League matches and Eggen believes the tournament has become tougher since the days when his team humbled Arrigo Sacchi's Milan.

"It is getting tougher and tougher at the top level because we are up against the big clubs who can pick from players from all over the world while we are practically limited to Norwegian players," said Eggen.

Eggen, a former Rosenborg player began coaching at Rosenborg in 1971 and his most recent spell with the club ran from 1988, although he took a year out in 1998. He has won 13 Norwegian titles during his career.