Alavés 3 - Inter Milan 3

Alavés: Herrera; Contra, Eggen, Téllez, Geli; Desio, Pablo (Magno 70'); Astudillo (Ibon Begoña 30'), Jordi Cruyff, Tomic; Javi Moreno (Iván Alonso 70'). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 44. Javi Moreno. Headed down into net after corner from Ibon Begoña.
1-1. 45. Recoba. Ran on to through ball and placed shot over advancing keeper.
1-2. 50. Recoba. Took ball on right of area, cut in and beat Herrera.
1-3. 64. Vieri. Received ball unmarked, dribbled keeper and shot into empty net.
2-3. 73. Téllez. Received short free kick and drilled ball past Frey.
3-3. 75. Iván Alonso. Diving header after long cross from Contra on right.

Alavés have an outside chance of making it a full house for Spanish teams after coming back from two goals down to draw 3-3 with the mighty Inter Milan. A capacity 17,000 crowd were given a commemorative scarf to celebrate the occasion as the team came out in the pink shirts printed with the names of all their season ticket holders. Good marketing, shame about the colour. Mané put out a full strength line up, missing only his injured captain Karmona, although he lost Astudillo to an injury on the half hour mark. Still his replacement Ibon Begoña did his bit, swinging across a corner from the left two minutes from half time for Javi Moreno to head them into the lead. The fans were looking forward to a good half time celebration, but Milan had other ideas, and Alavés paid for their lack of concentration when Recoba ran past the offside trap and placed a shot over the advancing Herrera into the back of the net.

Shortly after the restart the Uruguayan star put the recent passport scandal momentarily behind him and demonstrated why he is now the highest paid player in the world, again getting free on the right and leaving Téllez stranded before shooting low past Herrera. Alavés were leaving too many gaps at the back, and it was no surprise when Vieri added a third goal after finding himself alone in front of the keeper once again. Mané made a double change, bringing on the fresh legs of Magno and Iván Alonso, and within four minutes they were back in the game, Téllez first of all receiving a short free kick on the edge of the area to drive the ball past Frey, and then Alonso throwing himself at Contra's long cross from the right to head the ball past the keeper. The crowd couldn't believe it, and neither could Milan, Cauet coming on as Tardelli decided that he was happy under the circumstances to take back a high scoring draw for the second leg. It will be an uphill struggle, but Alavés must fancy their chances having drawn at home and won away in all the previous rounds. There is a lot of difference between Inter Milan and Lillestrom, but they can still dream. That's the magic of football.