Date: Wednesday, 9th August 2000.

Venue: Elland Road, Leeds.

Competition: ECL, 3rd Qualifying Round, First Leg.

Score: Leeds United 2 TSV 1860 Munich 1.

Scorers: Leeds United: Smith, Harte (pen). TSV 1860 Munich: Agostini.

Attendance: 33,769.

Teams:

Leeds United: Martyn; Kelly, Duberry, Radebe, Harte; Bakke, Dacourt, Bowyer; Smith, Viduka, Bridges (Mills). Unused Subs: Molenaar, McMaster, Evans. Huckerby. Hackworth, Robinson.                           

TSV 1860 Munich: Hoffmann; Cerny, Zelic, Kurz, Stranzl (Winkler); Hassler, Votava, Mykland, Bierofka (Passlack); Agostino, Max. Unused Subs: Ehler, Jentsch, Borimirov, Reidl, Beierle

Referee: Costas Kapitanis (Cyprus).

 

Bizarre refereeing and a late German goal took the shine off United’s victory over TSV Munich 1860. Thanks to their seeding, due to past performances in the UEFA Cup and it’s predecessor, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, United had been exempt from the preliminary qualifying stages of the ECL until the Third Qualifying Round and were pared with the fourth club in the Bundesliga for the right to progress into the money-spinning ECL first Group stage.

 

There had been a feast of goals in pre-season friendlies, with Mark Viduka, Mark Bridges, Alan Smith and Ian Harte prominent, as twenty-four goals were scored and eight conceded in winning all six games, against mixed opposition, but it honed their skills for European Championship Qualifying Round against the highly-rated German side TSV 1860 Munich. With Harry Kewell, David Batty and Jason Wilcox sidelined by lengthy injuries, as well as Jonathan Woodgate, Stephen McPhail, Michael Bridges and Matthew Jones, United could not pick from full strength. But goals from Alan Smith and an Ian Harte penalty was enough to give United a slender 2-1 advantage after the home leg, which was marred by the unwarranted sending off of Eirik Bakke and Olivier Dacourt for the home team and Ned Zelic for Munich, and were all unavailable for the return leg. A monument to incompetent, over officious refereeing!

 

Despite all their injuries United had a couple of new faces making their debuts in Frenchman Olivier Dacourt, a £7.2 million purchase from Lens, and Australian Mark Viduka, a £6 million buy from Celtic and both were expected to add a touch of class to the young Leeds outfit. The tie brought Mark Viduka into opposition with fellow Australian Internationals Ned Zelic and Paul Agostino who figured prominently in the Munich team that had finished fourth in the Bundesliga the previous season. They had the League’s top scorer, Martin Max, as their twin striker with Paul Agostino and in midfield they had the experienced German International Thomas Hassler and Erik Mykland, who was Eirik Bakke’s midfield partner for Norway.

 

United took the lead in the fortieth minute of what had been a mundane first half when Alan Smith scored from a Mark Viduka flick-on. Alan Smith, who was a constant menace to the Munich defence but it was Mark Viduka’s pressure on defender Martin Stranzl which forced him into a poor header back towards his goal and Alan Smith cashed in on an hesitant Munich defence. Munich were then reduced to ten men when Ned Zelic was ordered off after a second booking for a late tackle just before half-time. Ian Harte got a second from the spot after seventy-one minutes, when the officious referee handed United a penalty that was hotly contested by the visitors and Ian Harte struck the penalty kick firmly past goalkeeper Michael Hoffmann and United appeared to be coasting to the kind of lead they had envisaged that they should have taken to Munich as a cushion for the Second Leg, against the ten-man Munich.

 

Then the referee became over-officious and in the space of ten minutes Olivier Dacourt picked up a second yellow card for a harsh booking after seventy-four minutes, and then his midfield partner, Eirik Bakke, was shown a red card for handball with six minutes left on the clock. Things then became shambolic as nine-man Leeds took on ten-man Munich with vast spaces emerging all over the park. Because of all the stoppages these sending offs had caused, the referee added a further four minutes and it was in the very last of those minutes that Paul Agostino headed a goal for the visitors and the whole complexion of the tie changed as United had now only a single goal buffer to take to Germany with them.

 

 

Match Action:

 

Michael Bridges and Alan Smith watch the ball go in the net for the first goal

 

Michael Bridges and Alan Smith watch the ball go in the net for the first goal

 

Alan Smith turns to celebrate his goal pursued by Michael Bridges and Lee Bowyer

 

 

Alan Smith celebrates his goal                 Alan Smith is congratulated by his teammates

 

Ian Harte gets Leeds’ second goal from the spot

 

Ian Harte celebrates his goal

 

 

Ian Harte beats Thomas Hassler

 

Ian Harte beats Thomas Hassler

 

  

Lee Bowyer takes on Ned Zelic

 

Mark Viduka waltzes through the Munich defence

 

Mark Viduka added class and posed lots of problems for Munich

 

 

 

Teams:

 

Leeds United: 2000-01

Back Row: Michael Bridges, Michael Duberry, Robert Molenaar, Danny Milosevic, Nigel Martyn,

Paul Robinson, Jonathan Woodgate, Eirik Bakke, Mark Viduka, Matthew Jones.

Middle Row: Dave Hancock (Physio), Sean Hardy (Kit Manager),

Steve Sutton (Goalkeeping Coach), Gary Kelly, David Batty, Ian Harte, Danny Mills, Lee Bowyer,

Eddie Gray (Assistant Manager), Roy Aitken (Coach).

Front Row: Alan Smith, Darren Huckerby, Harry Kewell, Peter Ridsdale (Chairman),

Lucas Radebe, David O’Leary (Manager), Jason Wilcox, Olivier Dacourt, Stephen McPhail.

 

TSV 1860 Munich: 2000-01

Back Row: Pacult (Assistant Coach), Ehlers, Stranzl, Greilich, Kurz, Zelic, Votava, Pfuderer,

Passlack, Winkler, Aygün, Schroth, Frank (Physio) Rainer (Physio).

Middle Row: Boden (Goalkeeping Coach), Cizek, Lorant (Coach), Lacic, Holzer, Max, Prosenik,

Bierofka, Pürk, Beierle, Tapalovic, Borimirov, Agostino, Hackl (Kit Supervisor)

Gandlgruber (Kit Supervisor).

Front Row: Hassler, Fröhlich, Týce, Hofmann, Hoffmann, Jentzsch, Riedl, Cerny, Mykland.

 

Players:

 

            

Alan Smith and Ian Harte scored the Leeds goals                                                                       Paul Agostino replied for Munich 

 

  

Eirik Bakke and Olivier Dacourt received red cards for Leeds and Ned Zelic suffered a similar fate for TSV Munich

 

       

Mark Viduka’s flick set up the first              Harald Cerny and Martin Stranzl were the full backs

 

  

Michael Hoffmann was in goal for Munich         Ned Zelic and Marco Kurz operated in central defence

 

  

Martin Max and Paul Agostino were the strikers                                                                                  Eirik Mykland,

 

            

                                German International Thomas Hassler and Daniel Bierhofka were in midfield along

 

              

with Tomas Votava                                                   Bernard Winkler and Stephan Passlack came on as substitutes