Every week until Christmas, I will be posting a new piece, working through the 5 best Champions League matches I’ve ever seen. We continue this week with #3.
Defending champions AC Milan were the bookies’ favourites to lift the European Cup again in 2004 but despite the squad staying together over the summer, they had a rocky time escaping from a closely contested group H. Going down to shock back to back home defeats against Club Brugge and early 2000s giant killers, Celta Vigo. They started the knock-out phase in similarly unconvincing fashion, lumbering to a 0-0 draw away at relative minnows Sparta Prague. However, they finally found their feet in the return tie. An Andriy Shevchenko brace seeing of the Czech side 4-1. Finally, with some momentum, Carlo Ancelotti’s Rossoneri marched on to the quarter finals and became part of one of the most remarkable cup ties ever witnessed.
Number 3- Deportivo La Coruña 4 v 0 AC Milan, Quarter Final 2nd Leg 2003/04
Milan had looked nervous at the start of the first leg, succumbing to an early Walter Pandiani header, with Deportivo looking every inch the team that had dismissed Juventus in the previous round; but a stunning eight minute spell at the start of the second half saw Milan demolish a stunned Depor. Ancelotti had made tactical changes at half time. Withdrawing Massimo Ambrosini in favour of the more creative Clarence Seedorf and utilising an adjusted 4-2-2-2 formation. The impact was instant. Cafu immediately set up Kaka after the half time break with a clever cut back. The Brazilian scored his second on 49 minutes in between beautifully worked goals from Shevchenko and Andrea Pirlo. 4-1, a devastating blow for the Spaniards who had started the game so brightly. The full time whistle rang out and they shuffled off the pitch, heads down, aghast at what had transpired. A fortnight and a what seemed like a lifetime later, Depor would have their revenge in devastating fashion and write themselves into the history books.
Milan arrived in Galicia on a wave of optimism, already looking beyond the quarter finals and who could blame them? The 21 year old Kaka was on top of his game and they had shown enough in the second half at the San Siro to worry any team left in the competition. However, the mischievous gods of Cup football had their gaze focused on the Estadio Riazor that night. The Spaniards had promised to go at the defending champions like a hurricane sweeping in from the Atlantic and they were as good as their word.
Deportivo started brightly for the second game in succession and were rewarded even earlier this time. Again, the Uruguayan Pandiani was the benefactor. Swivelling on a left wing cross he brought the ball under control, turned the Milan captain Maldini and fired a clean strike through the legs of Dida in goal. The stadium burst into life, a possibly embarrassing tie had turned instantly into a possible classic. This electrifying start signalled 45 minutes of Spanish assault on the Milan goal with Nesta and Maldini made to look decidedly ordinary. Victor Sanchez had been incredible in the first half, at the centre of every Depor attack he dominated Gattuso and Pirlo, no mean feat.
They say that right before half time is the best time to score, but it’s even better if you score two and that’s exactly what Deportivo did. On 35 minutes, Albert Luque surged down the left and lofted a fairly tame cross towards the back post, but Dida, in a moment of madness, completely misjudged the weight of it. He came to collect but got horribly under it, leaving the unmarked Juan Carlos Valeron to nod in a rare header at the back post.
It was damage limitations for Milan, they had seen their 3 goal advantage almost evaporate in 35 minutes of scintillating football from Depor. They needed to see out the remaining mintues, regroup and then break out from their own half after the break. However, the Galician team had no intention of taking a 2 goal lead into half time and in the dying minutes, they struck a critical blow to the heart of Milan. Alessandro Nesta had looked shaky on his return to action, but it got a whole lot worse for the Italian on 44 mintues. A tangle in midfield saw the ball roll towards the Milan defence. Nesta came to collect, but just as his goalkeeper had done moments earlier, he got it horribly wrong; labouring getting to the ball, he allowed Luque to nip in and steal it. With the Milan defence horribly out of position, the Spaniard raced towards goal and crunched an unstoppable drive past Dida and into the corner. The impossible had happened. Records tumbled with Luque’s strike. No team had ever overturned a 3 goal deficit in a knock-out match but as the half-time whistle blew, Depor were going through on away goals. Milan emerged from the dugout for the second half with intent but only had one real chance of note. A young Andrea Pirlo dragging wide from a good position. However, the Rossoneri’s fate was sealed when a tiring Luque was replaced by the dynamic Fran. In the twilight of his career, the midfielder drew the curtain on an historic night in Galicia when he rifled a shot past Dida, with a little help from Cafu’s outstretched leg.
To this day, Deportivo La Coruna are the only team to overturn 3 goals from the first leg in the Champions League knock-out stage. Doing it against the reigning champions makes it all the more impressive. Depor would go on to narrowly lose to Jose Mourinho’s Porto in the next round but it was still an excellent campaign for a often underrated European side that saw them elimate both of the previous season’s finalists. They have been in decline ever since but I would imagine that Sanchez, Luque, Pandiani et al will stay in the record books for some time, thanks to a truly remarkable night in North Western Spain.
I hope everyone enjoyed this article and comes back next week to see which match claims the silver medal. Please follow the blog on Twitter @FootballTop5s for all the latest updates.
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