Z/Web

Excellent game. Started off slow, with Lazio missing lots of chances and Shak keeper Yiriv Virt (great name, eh?) making a number of excellent shots. Shak got on the board late in the first half with a terrific angled shot by Vorobyey from twenty-some yards out. In the second half Lopez almost immediately put in a goal for Lazio, and that started the rout. Six minutes later Favali did a great move, nutmegging a defender, running around him to catch up with the ball, and putting it between the keeper and a defender to go 2-1. Just a minute or so after that, Veron added to the score with a fantastic free kick from the side that seemed to defy gravity. Picture this: he’s on the right side of the penalty area. The ball goes around the three man wall on the right, so you’d expect it to continue the same curl and go away from the goal and into the center of the penalty area. Instead, it goes into the goal! Crazy! Shakhtar got some chances after that, but in the 68th minute Claudio Lopez got another. On a clearance from a Shakhtar corner, Lopez received the ball all my himself at the halfway line. He ran, alone, with the ball, all the way to the penalty area, dribbled it to the side, allowing Virt to dive and miss, and Lopez calmly put the ball into the empty net. Lopez got his hat trick in injury time, putting the matter well beyond doubt. Final: 5-1 Lazio.

This was a taped game from this weekend, but it proved Leeds substitute keeper Robinson was no fluke in yesterday’s Champions League match against Barcelona, as he did the same in this game, make a number of terrific saves. But it wasn’t enough, as Yorke put one in late in the first half, and David Beckham’s specialty, the free kick, proved too much early in the second half. Late in the game even Robinson’s teammates turned against him, with Jones accidentally putting the ball in his own net. Final: 3-0 Manchester United.