The UEFA Champions League semifinals will be kicking off soon and what better time than this to look back at some of the greatest semi-final matches of the recent past.
Season 1998-99. Manchester United vs Juventus
This particular tie will forever be in memories of every Manchester United fans, not only because of this being the treble-winning season, but also the never-give-up mentality hardened into the United players’ psyche, which is, of course, scarce these days. The tie saw Juventus getting an away goal in the first leg, which ended in a 1-1 draw. In the 2nd leg, United found themselves 2-0 down thanks to Inzaghi within the first eleven minutes of the game. But it was a famous United comeback where Keane, Yorke, and Cole scored to have an aggregate of 3-3, but United progressed on away goal.
Season 2002-03. Real Madrid vs Juventus
The two heavyweights had a high-pressure game with a comeback in the second leg. In the first leg, Real Madrid won at Santiago Bernabeu, but Juventus had an all-important away goal. Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos went on the scoresheet and Trezeguet found the away-goal near the half-time mark. In the second leg, Juventus was totally in control of the game. Trezeguet’s early goal at the 12th minute gave Juventus a dream start. They went up 2-0 at the half time when del Piero scored at the 43rd minute. Buffon saved a penalty from Luis Figo but Nedved found the net at the 73rd minute. Zidane’s goal at the 89th minute proved to be nothing but a consolation.
Season 2004-05. Liverpool vs Chelsea
This was one of those rare all English semi-finals in the UEFA Champions League, but that is not the only reason people remember it for. It had some drama and heartbreak for Chelsea among their new-found fortune in Europe and football in general. It had only one goal in the entirety of two legs and the only goal had a controversy around it. They beat Chelsea by 1-0 with a goal with Luis Garcia’s goal but there was a lot of controversy around whether the ball crossed the goal-line or not. The then-manager of Chelsea Jose Mourinho termed the goal as a “Ghost goal”.
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