The world turned upside down

By Paul Simpson

"Football! Bloody hell!" Sir Alex Ferguson's eloquent verdict on the 1999 UEFA Champions League final is the best way to sum up one of the most remarkable weeks in the tournament's history.

Bizarre results
It is not often you see the current leaders of Serie A, the Primera División and the Premiership knocked out of the competition in the same week especially as AC Milan, Real Madrid CF and Arsenal FC all held an edge - ranging from massive to slight - over their opponents as the second legs kicked off.

Improbable line-up
Of the four left standing, only FC Porto have been European champions before - in 1987. Porto coach José Mourinho said the competition was now completely open: "We believe we can beat [RC] Deportivo [La Coruña], Deportivo have beaten Milan so they believe they can beat us, Chelsea [FC] have beaten Arsenal and think they can beat [AS] Monaco [FC], but Monaco have beaten Real Madrid and will believe they can beat Chelsea."

Optimistic coach
In my last column, I asked whether anyone could stop Milan. Deportivo answered that question more than adequately at the Riazor. Only fools, optimistic die-hards and Depor coach Javier Irureta believed his side had a chance after losing 4-1 at the San Siro. "In football miracles often happen, things that you might not expect from the rational mind," said the coach.

Incredible scenes
His own players, 3-0 up at half-time, did not quite believe it - they were so excited they were babbling at each other in the dressing room at the interval. Deportivo had staged resurrections like this before - fighting back from 3-0 down to defeat Paris Saint-Germain FC 4-3 in 2001 - but never have they made reigning European champions look so ordinary.

Superb display
At times, the attacking fluency of their play, the instinctive way the ball moved into the right space at the right time for a player who had made the right run, was a joy. It wasn't, as Tom Finney said of the great 1953 Hungarian side, "telepathy on a football pitch" but it was close.

Uncharacteristic mistakes
You do, though, have to feel for Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti. It can't have been easy watching as Dida, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta and Gennaro Gattuso all made crucial, uncharacteristic, mistakes to give Deportivo chances. One of the sub-plots of this season's competition has been the failure of Italian defending to meet the standard expected of a nation which perfected the catenaccio system. S.S. Lazio, FC Internazionale and Milan have all now conceded four or more goals in a game in this tournament with Lazio and Inter shipping four and five on their home turf.

Chelsea challenge
But the Italian tradition is not dead. One semi-finalist does defend with traditional Italian miserliness, conceding only one goal away from home in the competition so far. And that team is Chelsea, still managed - despite endless press hysteria - by the former AS Roma player Claudio Ranieri. They are now, tentatively, tipped to become the first London team to become European champions but, after the quarter-finals, you cannot rule out a rematch of the 8-3 thriller between Monaco and Deportivo.

Paul Simpson is editor of Champions, the official magazine of the UEFA Champions League. Click here to subscribe now.

The views expressed in this article are of the individual contributor and do not necessarily reflect the views of UEFA.