Champions League

The champion's league final qualifying round second leg was played last week, with mixed results for the two Spanish teams:

Valencia (2) 2 - Hapoel Haifa (0) 0
The tie had virtually been decided in the first leg two weeks ago when Valencia won in Israel with second half goals from Claudio López and Farinós. Juan Sánchez scored a goal in each half to put Valencia comfortably through to the league stage.

Mallorca (0) 1 - Molde (0) 1
Mallorca came back from Norway after a goal-less draw feeling confident that they would win the second leg in the Son Moix stadium. The referee appeared to have given them a helping hand in the 20th minute when he awarded them a controversial penalty which Stankovic transformed. However the Norweigian champions came back strongly, and they equalised six minutes from time, also from the penalty spot after Fernando Niño had handled unnecessarily in the penalty box. With away goals counting double in the event of a tie, Mallorca were eliminated from the champion's league, although they will still play the UEFA cup in September.

The champions league draw for the first stage has brought together some old rivals and some old friends. Barcelona have been drawn against Italian club Fiorentina, home of Amor (ex Barça) and Mijatovic (ex Madrid), and Arsenal, who have rently signed Suker (ex Madrid). Madrid will face ex Barça players Giovanni and Baia at Olympiakos and Oporto respectively, and also come up against Mallorca's victors, Molde. Barça will play Arsenal at Wembley, scene of their historic (and only) European cup win. The groups involving Spanish teams are as follows:

Group B: Barcelona, Fiorentina, Arsenal, AIK Solna
Group E: Real Madrid, Olympiakos, Oporto, Molde
Group F: Valencia, PSV Eindhoven, Bayern Munich, Glasgow Rangers