Champions League semi-final, second leg

Two Spanish teams reached a European final together for the first time since Valencia played Zaragoza in the Inter City Fairs Cup 36 years ago. A Nicolas Anelka goal helped Real Madrid beat Bayern Munich 3-2 on aggregate, and Valencia went through thanks to an overall 5-3 against Barcelona, with Mendieta getting the away goal in the Camp Nou. See European section for fixtures and results.

Bayern Munich (0) 2 - Real Madrid (2) 1

Bayern Munich: Kahn; Babbel (Salihamadzic 59'), Andersson, Kuffour, Lizarazu; Jeremies (Fink 58'), Effenberg, Scholl; Jancker (Santa Cruz 78'); Elber, Paulo Sergio. 4-3-1-2.
Real Madrid: Casillas; Iván Helguera; Geremi, Julio César, Iván Campo, Roberto Carlos; McManaman (Baljic 91'), Redondo, Savio (Karembeu 80'); Raúl, Anelka (Sanchis 88'). 1-4-3-2.

Goals:
1-0. 11. Jancker. High volley into roof of net after ball headed back by Elber.
1-1. 31. Anelka. Powerful header past Kahn following cross from Savio on left.
2-1. 53. Elber. Glancing header across goal from Effenberg's free kick.

Nicolas Anelka gave Real Madrid a shot at their eighth European cup title with a precious away goal at the Olympic stadium in Munich. Anelka came into the side in the place of Morientes, although manager Del Bosque was going to play them both with Raúl behind them before Morientes aggravated an injury in training the day before the game. As a result Savio played on the left of midfield, with Iván Helguera staying as sweeper in a five man defence. Munich were confident that they could turn over the 2-0 first leg score line, and 65,000 fervent fans turned up on the night to create an electric atmosphere. Their captain Effenberg had now recovered from his injury, and was their inspiration in the German cup final victory against Werder Bremen. He came back in to the side, as did Jancker, with manager Ottmar Hitzfeld playing three forwards knowing that his team would have to get an early goal. The introduction of Jancker appeared to be a good decision as the German forward created havoc right from the start. Madrid were pinned back in their area, and first Helguera and then Casillas stopped efforts from the giant striker. It appeared to be a matter of time, and in the eleventh minute he finally broke through. Effenberg played a free kick to Jeremies on the left, and he chipped the ball across the goal. Elber headed back, and Jancker got ahead of Iván Campo and volleyed the ball high into Casillas's net. Madrid came out from the restart and Roberto Carlos hit a house special free kick which Kahn let slip out of his hands, although the danger was quickly cleared. That was just a brief break in the storm however, and halfway through the half Real Madrid got a stroke of luck when English referee Graham Poll controversially disallowed a goal from Elber for offside. Elber followed up after an uncharacteristically shaky Casillas failed to hold on to Scholl's shot, and if there was an offside it was positional from another Bayern forward. Things were starting to go Madrid's way, and after Raúl headed over the bar, Anelka rose to head Savio's cross majestically wide of Kahn and into the far corner of the net. Later the French striker admitted that this was the first headed goal of his professional career (difficult to believe - maybe you Arsenal fans could confirm?). The crowd were silenced for a moment, but Effenberg urged his players to respond and the supporters came back on song. Anelka was on song too by this time, and just before half time he produced a startling run, cutting in from the right and leaving a trail of defenders behind him before forcing a great save out of Kahn. After the interval it was more of the same, with Madrid defending tooth and claw to defend their result. Within eight minutes Bayern were 2-1 up, Casillas once again a little slow to get down to Elber's glancing header from Effenberg's free kick. Fink came on for the limping Jeremies and Salihamadzic replaced Babbel, and a couple of minutes later McManaman cleared off the line from Elber after Casillas had blocked Jancker's shot. The Madrid keeper was getting back to his old form, and he tipped over a shot from Salihamadzic which was bending goalwards. Madrid were keeping a minimum of six men around their own penalty area, and time and time again they were first to reach the high balls that Munich pumped into the area, with Helguera superb at the back. Slowly the game was slipping away from the Germans as Madrid did everything they could to slow the game down, with Sanchis and Baljic coming on as substitutes in the last couple of minutes. In the dying seconds of the game Effenberg missed the easiest chance of the night with Casillas stranded, and Poll put them out of their misery. Real Madrid celebrated, having beaten last year's champions and runners up in successive rounds. Anelka's goal was worth at least ten million Swiss Francs, the additional prize money that Real Madrid get for reaching the final, and their investment in the 19 year old is not looking quite so bad now. With a goal in each leg, he has now been accepted by the rest of the squad, and for once everyone went to congratulate him on his goal. Will he do it again in the final? We'll find out on the 24th of this month.

Barcelona (1) 2 - Valencia (4) 1

Barcelona: Hesp; Abelardo (Litmanen 76'), Frank De Boer; Reiziger, Guardiola (Sergi 68'), Zenden (Simao 62'); Xavi, Cocu; Figo, Kluivert, Rivaldo. 2-3-2-3.
Valencia: Cañizares; Angloma (Gerardo 85'), Djukic, Pellegrino, Carboni; Farinós (Juan Sánchez 83'), Mendieta, Gerard, Kily González (Albelda 75'); Angulo; Claudio 'Piojo' López. 4-4-1-1.

Goals:
0-1. 69. Mendieta. Controlled cross from Piojo with right foot, and scored with left.
1-1. 78. Frank De Boer. Got in front of Cañizares to head in Figo's corner.
2-1. 92. Cocu. Scored from close range after pass from Figo on left.

Valencia cruised through to a first ever all-Spanish Champions League final in a match which they controlled from the start almost to the finish. Coming in to the match with a 4-1 lead from the first leg, Héctor Cúper's side could have just sat back and defended their position. However that is not how Valencia play right now, and given that Barcelona are always dangerous at home, the visitors went out looking to score the vital way goal, and eventually did so through their best player on the night, Mendieta. Cúper stuck to the side who won the first leg so easily, despite the fact that six of their players were within one yellow card of being suspended. Angloma passed a late fitness test, and Kily González had also fully recovered from his injury. Barcelona manager Louis Van Gaal was missing young right back Puyol who strained a muscle in training, and with Gabri suspended and Litmanen not fully recovered from a knock, Xavi was brought in to play out of position on the right of midfield. Ronald De Boer was still not fit enough to play, having had little time to exercise as he had a full social calendar this week, playing in a celebrity golf tournament at the weekend, visiting the Spanish grand prix on Sunday and promoting his new line of sports clothes together with his brother Frank. On the other hand, Luis Figo did make the team and was to play the 90 minutes, despite reservations by the club doctor who said that it was dangerous for him to play the full match after picking up a bad leg injury ten days ago. The superlative effort made by Figo to get fit for this game was applauded by the local press, who also criticised Ronald De Boer for his apparent lack of interest in doing so. Curiously Van Gaal also called up out of favour Amunike into the squad, although in the end he didn't even get a place on the bench. The Nigerian forward has been at loggerheads with the manager and the club over the last few months, and had been suspended from the team for several months. Forty eight hours before the game, queues had started to form in front of Valencia's Mestalla stadium hoping to buy tickets for the final in Paris (assuming their team would qualify), and another 30,000 of their fans were inside their ground watching the match on giant screens. Another small group were amongst the capacity 95,000 crowd in the Camp Nou stadium, although all the rest were season ticket holders of Barcelona hoping for a repeat of the come back against Chelsea in the quarter finals a few weeks ago. This time however it was not to be, as their team put on a disappointing performance which left their fans baying for the heads of Van Gaal and president Josep Luis Nuñez at the end. Although Barcelona started attacking, they were void of ideas, and when they did get a chance in front of goal they were either off target or Cañizares or his defence were there to intervene. The only danger to Cañizares' goal in the first half came from a shot from Rivaldo which the keeper pushed around the post for a corner, and eventually they were limited to long shots from outside of the area. In the second half. Valencia were playing simple, effective football, and they could have taken a deserved lead early in the second half when Mendieta picked up a return pass from Claudio López and shot just wide of the post. The warning signs (and the white handkerchiefs) were out, and a few minutes later Mendieta ended any hope Barcelona may have had with a beautifully taken goal, controlling Claudio's cross with his right foot, leaving a defender stranded before beating Hesp with his left. Some supporters had had enough and started to leave the ground as Valencia attacked again, and with Hesp beaten Abelardo somehow got his head to Angulo's strong shot to clear off the line. Valencia didn't need it anyway, and with a difficult league match at Celta coming up, Cúper made changes, resting Kily and Angulo. Barcelona made their changes, with a poor Zenden being whistled off the pitch and Guardiola, having one of his bad nights, following. The Barcelona fans were incensed, although it didn't justify the disgusting behaviour of some of them, throwing a hail of objects at ex Real Madrid goalkeeper Cañizares every time he went to collect a ball. In the last few minutes Valencia relaxed, and Barcelona took advantage, with Figo (the only man trying) now playing on the left putting across first a corner and then a cross for Frank De Boer and Cocu to make the result look respectable. Nobody was fooled however, and the fans started to chant 'Van Gaal out, Nuñez resign', with around 300 or so waiting for the two of them after the match. At the end however most fans stayed to applaud the Valencia players for their performance, probably wishing them well in the final against their arch-rivals Real Madrid. In their first ever appearance in the top European competition, Valencia have now reached the summit, and merit has to be put on manager Héctor Cúper, who took Mallorca to a Spanish and a European cup final (the cup-winners cup) in his two years in charge of the modest club, and has now taken Valencia all the way. The only down side of the day for them was the yellow card given to Carboni by Portuguese referee Melo Pereira, which means that he will miss the final. Barcelona meanwhile are in a major crisis, and they will probably have to win the league if Van Gaal has a chance of staying on for next season. At the moment there is a real chance that they will miss out on the Champions League next season all together, with only four Spanish teams to qualify and the European champions qualifying automatically. That leaves one direct entry to the league stage for the Spanish league champions, and two more to enter a play off round in early August, two weeks before next season's league starts. If Barcelona don't win at Real Sociedad on Sunday (and Real need points to avoid relegation), they could be caught by the teams below them and end up playing the UEFA cup, a fate worse than death for the fanatical Barcelona crowd. It promises to be an interesting fortnight.