19 APRIL 2000
MAN UNITED 2-3 REAL MADRID
Beckham 64 Keane 20 (og)
Scholes 88 (Pen) Raul 50, 52
Gary Neville failed to cut out a long ball to Roberto Carlos and he sprinted
clear before setting up Morientes who should have given Real the lead.
Giggs done a number on Salgado and Campo but Yorke missed a header
from his cross. Van der Gouw spared Gary Neville's blushes, brilliantly
coming off his line to block Roberto Carlos after Neville played him in with
a hospital pass. Keane gave Real Madrid the lead when he turned in Salgado's
cross. Yorke wasted another header, this time Cole supplying the cross.
Karanka made a great block as Yorke was set to pull the trigger from another
superb cross, from Irwin. Casillas made the first of many excellent saves,
from Beckham, brilliantly played in by a killer pass from Scholes and an
identical chance fell to Keane minutes later from Cole's back heel but again
Casillas saved. Man United should have been awarded a penalty, Karanka
handled Cole's header on the line with Casillas stranded. Raul wasted a
glorious opportunity to put Real 2-0 up just before half time, shooting
high over the bar as Stam's attempted clearance landed at his feet.
Minutes into the second half Man United got caught on the counter attack,
Salgado picking out McManaman with a powerful header, he released Raul
on the right flank and he carried the ball 50yds before turning inside Silvestre
and brilliantly curling a shot past Van der Gouw. Keane then continued his
treachery, shooting over from six yards after a great one-two with Cole.
Redondo charged down the left flank, destroyed Berg with an outrageous back
heel which he then ran onto himself and pulled the ball back for Raul to
tap-in. Awesome, awesome, awesome goal. Speaking of awesome goals,
Beckham received a pass from Scholes, smocked Roberto Carlos with a great
dummy, jinked past Karanka and blasted the ball into the roof of the net.
Scholes flashed a shot wide of the post. Scholes converted a penalty for a
'foul' on Keane by McManaman but no 90th minute miracles for United this
time as Yorke again wasted a header.
Giggs was off the charts awesome, equally as brilliant as the performances
served up by Figo this season. Beckham seemed afraid to engage in a contest
with Roberto Carlos, on the only occasion he actually went at Carlos he got
past him and scored but Roberto Carlos was excellent defensively, believe it
or not. Keane had an outstanding match - for Real Madrid, not only did he
score an own goal but missed an absolute sitter at a crucial time in the
game. It's hard to single out a single Real Madrid player for praise, they
were all magnificent. Brilliant tactical display from Real Madrid, even more
impressive than Barca's display against Chelsea.
Man United played some of the best football seen in this competition this
season but couldn't find a way past Casillas and crucially forgot how to
defend. What goes around comes around and this match was football's way
of paying Man United back for last season's miraculous victory over Bayern
Munich. Things always seem to even themselves out in this great sport.
Real Madrid win 3-2 on aggregate
Attendance : 59,178
BAYERN MUNICH 2-1 PORTO
P Sergio 15 Jardel 93
Linke 90
Santa Cruz failed to make contact with Tarnat's brilliant cross but Paolo
Sergio didn't, his half volley deflecting off Esquerdinha past Hilario. Slack
marking allowed Jardel a chance from a free kick but Kahn made
a fantastic save. Santa Cruz latched onto a fantastic ball from Elber,
burst through the Porto defence and stayed on his feet despite a blatant
foul in the box but Hilario threw out his right boot to save.
Capucho's miss hit cross came back off Khan's crossbar. Elber blazed inches
wide when released by Santa Cruz's header. Jardel predictably headed in the
equaliser from an outstanding cross by Esquerdinha. Linke won it deep into
injury time with a fabulous diving header from Scholl's free kick.
Bayern Munich win 3-2 on aggregate
Attendance : 47,000
18 APRIL 2000
BARCELONA 5-1 CHELSEA
Rivaldo 24 Flo 60
Figo 45
Dani 83
Rivaldo 98 (Pen)
Kluivert 104
Rivaldo lifted the boredom when his free kick took a wicked deflection off
Babayaro leaving De Goey wrong footed. Flo wasted a header when left
unmarked from a corner. Kluivert blasted a shot against he post following
a destructive run by Figo, Figo coolly curled in the rebound.
Hesp gifted Chelsea a goal, kicking a back pass straight to Flo and he
steadied himself before picking his spot. Barca immediately went on the
offensive, De Goey struggled to deal with two teasing crosses before
Kluivert blasted a header against the crossbar. Di Matteo blew a '100%
chance' when slipped in by Morris inside the box, he bottled it and took
two touches allowing Gabri, who did a lot of donkey work, to clear. Dani
then made an unbelievable miss, somehow heading wide from Figo's perfectly
flighted free kick. They combined again minutes later but this time Dani was
denied by a fabulous save from De Goey. Dani finally got it right, heading in
another laser precision free kick, this time from Gaurdiola. Chelsea hit back
immediately, Hesp forced to scramble away two crosses. Another Figo cross
and another 'goal' Kluivert was flattened in the box by Lebouef but to his
credit didn't even think of appealing for a penalty and while still on his
arse he somehow squeezed the ball between Desailly and Babayaro but the
ref blew for a penalty, why didn't he send off Lebouef? Rivaldo stepped up
and incredibly shot wide, probably giving a few people hearts attacks in the
process.
In a moment of mindless stupidity, King of the Donkey's Lambourde, who
makes Costacurta look like Thuram, ran with the ball across his own goal
predictably Dani stole it and smashed a shot at goal but De Goey saved and
Lebouef cleared. Babayaro was sent off for bringing down Figo in the box, he
didn't actually make contact but the intent was definitely there. This time
Rivaldo converted, bravely going for the same corner. Kluivert put the nail
in the coffin with a header from Dani's cross just before the end of the
first period of extra time. Even though Barca stepped off the gas in the
second period the impressive Gabri could have added another two goals.
Chelsea invited pressure in the first half but Barca really didn't play well
despite taking a two goal lead. The second half was a different matter.
Chelsea started brightly but after taking the lead they were under siege.
To be fair it would have been a travesty if Chelsea won this match, such was
the dominance of Barca, they could have won by seven or eight goals.
Babayaro and Lambourde were absolutely awful, as was Chelsea's defending
from set pieces. Figo is the best player in Europe right now but a yellow card
means he misses the first leg against Valencia.
Barcelona win 6-4 on aggregate
Red Card : Babayaro 98
Attendance : 85,000
LAZIO 1-0 VALENCIA
Veron 51
I only saw second half highlights.
Canizares made an excellent save with his feet to deny Inzaghi as he slid
in to meet Conceicao's cross. Soon after Veron gave Lazio hope, Boksic
passed to him and ran into the box looking for the return but Veron had
other ideas and hit a nuclear strike past Canizares from 30yds. Inzaghi went
close with a header but Canizares tipped it over the bar and Canizares came
to the rescue again brilliantly saving from Conceicao as Valencia were caught
on the break following a rare foray into attack. Pancaro should have scored
after being gifted an opening from a slack clearance but shot straight at
Canizares. Gerard had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, great finish
but he then blew two un-missable chances. More poor finishing at the other
end, Salas weakly volleying at Canizares in injury time but of course by
then it would have been too late.
Attendance : 60,000
5 APRIL 2000
CHELSEA 3-1 BARCELONA
Zola 30 Figo 64
Flo 34, 38
De Goey punched out Rivaldo's free kick, Chelsea failed to clear the ball
and Rivaldo whipped in a cross, Kluivert make his usual pathetic attempt to
head the ball but missed, Gabri turned and fired at goal but De Goey saved.
Chelsea broke from the resulting corner, Zola played in Morris but he panicked
and shot into the ground when unmarked outside the box. Thome made a
fantastic sliding tackle to prevent Kluivert from giving Barca the lead. Hesp
made an incredible save as Desailly powerfully met Zola's cross. Figo was
booked for deliberate handball on the edge of the box and Barca were further
punished when Zola brilliantly dropped the free kick into the bottom left
corner of the net. Ferrer beat Figo to a slack pass from Mulder I mean
Petrescu and played in Zola with a great pass, Zola centred and Flo swept
the ball first time past Hesp. Excellent goal. Deschamps caught the abysmal
Barca defence cold with a long ball over the top, Flo ran between two
defenders and with Hesp poorly positioned lifted the ball into the net.
Figo pulled a goal back for Barca following a sweet move, he passed to Cocu
who sprayed wide to Rivaldo with a beautiful reserve pass and his first
time cross was met by Figo. De Goey spilled a tame drive by Rivaldo but Thome
came to the rescue. In a rare second half Chelsea attack Zola flicked on a
header(!), Flo smoked Abelardo but his shot went closer to the corner flag
than the goal. Figo should have pulled another goal back for Barca late on
but shot way over the bar following a great counter attack.
Needless to say a fantastic performance by Chelsea. Barca couldn't cope with
the pressing but Chelsea couldn't keep up the workrate in the second half.
Desailly and Thome were outstanding, Thome is possibly a better defender
than Lebouef. Figo was simply brilliant, as he has been throughout this
competition. A monumental second 2nd leg in prospect.
Attendance : 33,662
VALENCIA 5-2 LAZIO
Angulo 1 Inzaghi 28
Gerard 4, 39, 79 Salas 86
Lopez 90
Angulo found Lopez with a fabulous 50yd slide rule pass, Lopez sent
Mihajlovic crashing onto his arse before smashing a shot at Ballotta who
made a great save but was helpless as Angulo arrived to put in the rebound.
Gerard ran onto Juan Sanchez's awesome back heel, sold Negro with a
brilliant dummy and shot past Ballotta. Another wonderful move should have
resulted in a goal but Kily shot wide after tearing through the Lazio
defence. Inzaghi scored a carbon copy of his goal against Chelsea, sliding
in to meet Nedved's cross. Gerard headed in his second from Lopez's free
kick.
Ballotta gave Gerard his hat-trick, punching Kily's cross straight to his
feet. Salas miss controlled a great cross by Boksic but just about managed to
beat Angloma to the ball and put it past Canizares as he lost his balance.
Salas should have been booked for diving when in a good position despite
the fact that Djukic didn't even touch him, dirty bastard. Lazio got what
they deserved when Mihajlovic failed to cut out an easy through ball which
allowed Lopez to run through and place the ball into the corner.
Lazio are f****** without Nesta. It's hard to see them overturning a three
goal deficit in the 2nd leg especially given how great Valencia are on the
counter attack.
Attendance : 50,000
4 APRIL 2000
REAL MADRID 0-0 MAN UNITED
Bosnich made a brilliant point blank save from McManaman's header. Stam
flicked on a Beckham corner but Cole headed over the bar with the goal
at his mercy. Bosnich made a complete mess of a corner but fortunately for
Man United Helguera headed wide. Raul picked out Morientes with a brilliant
pass, Morientes played it first time to McManaman, his cross eventually found
Balic who seemed to have an eternity to set himself up for a shot but Bosnich
saved. McManaman ran onto Morientes' back heel but once again Bosnich
made a fantastic save with his feet.
Bosnich had one of those games in which he looked World Class, same goes
McManaman. Not a great match.
Attendance : 77,000
PORTO 1-1 BAYERN MUNICH
Jardel 47 Paulo Sergio 80
Jardel flicked on Hilaro's goal kick to Capucho, he held off Lizarazu and
Andersson but chipped the ball wide as Kahn flew off his line. Having wasted
a great cross by Drulovic in the first half Jardel made no mistake in the second,
punishing slack marking by Kuffour to head past Kahn. The same players
combined for the next chance, once again Jardel found himself unmarked in
the box but Kahn came to the rescue. Effenburg caught the Porto defence cold
with a brilliant 50yd pass to Paulo Sergio who half volleyed past Hilario.
Attendance : 30,000
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