Ajax-Juventus match shows best of European soccer
By Vic Mills
LONDON (JP): Last week saw the tense and often tempestuous concluding second-leg ties in the three European Cup competitions.
Pride of place went to Ajax of Amsterdam in the Champions Cup. Its 3-0 defeat of Panathinaikos in front of 80,000 fanatical Greeks in the Olympic Stadium took it back to the final, where it will fall to Juventus to try and block its seemingly inevitable progress towards retaining its title.
The Italians' task on May 22 is huge. Ajax was massively impressive in Athens and dismissed Panathinaikos with ease. Over- confidence, and an opportunist Warzycha goal, led to its 1-0 defeat in the first leg, but there was no sign of that in the return as it took a grip from the start.
It led after just four minutes, Jari Litmanen calmly slotting in a shot after Apostolakis, the Panathinaikos right back, had cleared off the line.
Leading the attack in place of the sidelined Kluivert, Litmanen could have made it two before half-time -- so, too could Kanu and Davids -- but did so anyway eight minutes into the second-half with another cool finish. Wooter, a second-half substitute, added a third four minutes from time.
Victory in Athens was achieved with a calm assurance that has characterized its away form all season and brought impressive wins 5-1 against Ferencvaros in September and the 2-0 defeat of Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in November.
Missing from the game in Athens, influential center-forward, Patrick Kluivert, was in hospital undergoing knee surgery.
The encouraging news from Amsterdam is that only light work was necessary and the likelihood is that he will be named as one of the substitutes in Rome.
In his absence, Litmanen led the line in exemplary fashion, the flying Finn ably assisted by the dynamic African duo of Finidi George and Nwanko Kanu.
Add this forward power to the inventive midfield promptings of Edgar Davids, Frank de Boer and Kiki Musampa, and little wonder Ajax is firm favorite.
Juve rebounds
In contrast to the Dutch club, the progress of Italian champion, Juventus, was a tortuous affair. Two goals up from the first leg, it seemed comfortable when Vialli made it 3-0 on aggregate early in the first-half. However, Nantes rallied with late goals to take the tie 3-2 and leave Juventus battling hard to survive the closing minutes.
In a frenetic week of football, Juve achieved a far more impressive result 72 hours later with a 2-1 away win against arch-rival, Inter Milan. A victory that left it seven points adrift of AC Milan at the top of Serie A.
More goal than gold rush for Ajax last weekend as it preserved its five point lead over PSV Eindhoven at the top of the Dutch league with a 4-3 win at Groningen.
Evidence, if any where needed, that a Champions Cup shoot-out that pits Litmanen and Kanu against Vialli and Del Piero promises to be a special night, one to rival if not surpass the many great finals of the past.
Two weeks earlier on May 8, Brussels will host the European Cup Winners Cup final between Rapid Vienna and Paris St Germain.
An attractive game in prospect, Rapid, after drawing 1-1 against Feyenoord in Rotterdam, had the semi-final tie won after only 34 minutes of the second leg with two goals from Jancker and one from Stumpf.
A far more tense game in Paris saw the home side, a precious away goal to the good from the first leg in Spain, extend its lead against Deportivo La Coruna and indeed take the tie with a lone 58th minute strike from Loko.
A month of finals kicks off on May 1, with the first leg of the EUFA Cup between Bordeaux and Bayern Munich, the second leg set for May 15.
UEFA Cup
A little less romantic perhaps than the Champions Cup, the EUFA Cup, and in particular the participation of Bordeaux, is no less intriguing.
For the French club gained admission to the competition via the much maligned Intertoto Cup. That, for the uninitiated, an extra tournament inflicted on the lesser clubs of Europe to fill the idle three weeks or so of the summer.
From a campaign that began on July 1, Bordeaux has gone on to beat the likes of Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Rotor Volgograd (second round conquerors of Manchester United), the prize scalp, however, being its quarter-final defeat of AC Milan, and this from a two goal first-leg deficit.
It is a remarkable turnabout for a club which five years ago was demoted to the Second Division after going into receivership with debts of nearly 40 million poundsterling (US$ 60.8 million).
This season's profits should give it financial clout in its struggle to retain three of its best players, the French internationals Christopher Dugarry, Zinedine Zidane and Bixente Lizarazu. The latter two already on Arsenal's shopping list.
Bordeaux progressed to the final with a 2-0 semi final aggregate win over Slavia Prague, its eleventh opponent of the campaign. It will not enter the final as favorites, however, this goes to Bayern Munich, conqueror of Barcelona.
Denied a home first leg win by a late goal from Gheorge Hagi, Bayern swept all before it at the Nou Camp with a superb 2-1 victory. A result that eclipsed its 5-1 quarter-final second leg demolition of Nottingham Forest.