Manchester Utd - Real Madrid

Manchester United 4 - Real Madrid 3

Manchester United: Barthez; Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre (Phil Neville 79'), O'Shea; Keane (Fortune 82'), Butt, Verón (Beckham 64'); Solksjaer, Giggs, Van Nistelrooy. 4-3-2-1.
Real Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Hierro, Iván Helguera, Roberto Carlos; Makelele, McManaman (Portillo 69'); Figo (Pavón 88'), Guti, Zidane; Ronaldo (Solari 67'). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 12. Ronaldo. Ran on to Guti pass and hit first time shot from right of area.
1-1. 43. Van Nistelrooy. Tap in close to goal after Solkjaer laid ball across.
1-2. 50. Ronaldo. From close up after Roberto Carlos crossed in from left.
2-2. 52. Iván Helguera (own goal). Deflected ball past Casillas from Verón shot.
2-3. 59. Ronaldo. Picked up ball near half way line and ran on to shoot over keeper.
3-3. 71. Beckham. Bent free kick in off bar from outside area.
4-3. 85. Beckham. Touched ball over line as shot bounced off Hierro towards goal.

Another amazing game between Manchester United and Real Madrid, with the English side winning by the odd goal in a seven goal thriller but the Spaniards going through to the semi-final thanks to their 3-1 win in the first leg. The match was preceded by all the talk of Beckham's possible move to Madrid this summer, and Sir Alex Ferguson added to the speculation leaving the England captain on the bench and giving his place to Solksjaer. With Scholes and Gary Neville also suspended, the manager switched his side around, playing central defenders Brown and O'Shea as full backs to try and close down the threat from Figo and Roberto Carlos down the wings.

Madrid were also missing one of their stars though, Raúl, scorer of two goals in the first leg, being taken to hospital during the week with appendicitis. As expected, Guti came in to his position, but what was more surprising was the inclusion of Steve McManaman for Flavio, the Englishman making his first start in two months.

The hat-trick hero of the night for Madrid though was Ronaldo, who opened the scoring in the twelfth minute with a long shot which Barthez should probably have got to. Earlier on Van Nistelrooy had tested Casillas, and he made it all square two minutes before half time after Giggs and Solkjaer combined to set him up. Immediately afterwards Casillas made a double save to keep out Van Nistelrooy again, and at the other end McManaman volleyed wide when free in front of goal.

Three minutes after the restart Figo gave the home fans a fright when he chipped against the bar from a wide angle, and a minute later his side were back in front, Zidane sending Roberto Carlos down the left wing for him to set up Ronaldo for an easy tap-in. Two minutes later Helguera turned Verón's shot into his own net, but Ronaldo restored the lead again on the hour mark with an individualist goal, picking up the ball in midfield and feinting past two defenders before crashing a shot over Barthez.

Ferguson finally brought on Beckham, and for a brief while he gave the home fans some hope with two goals, the first a text book free kick in off the bar and the second a scrambled goal almost on the goal line after Van Nistelrooy's shot had been blocked by Casillas and the rebound had cannoned off Hierro. However they still needed to more to win, and Madrid ran the clock down with relative ease in the end. They go on as Spain's only representative to defend their title against Juventus in May's two leg semi-final, and if they get through that then they will return to Old Trafford for the final against one of the two Milan sides.