Champions League 2001: Leeds United vs Besiktas

Barcelona, Milan, the glamour and excess of returning to Europe's top competition, and then the descending thump of sickness about the final opponent: Besiktas, meaning a return to Istanbul, where Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight were murdered before the UEFA Cup semi-final against Galatasary not even months, still weeks before.

First Besiktas had to come to Leeds, determined to prove the contrast between themselves and their cross-city rivals. At their last home game Besiktas fans held up a banner reading, 'Leeds and Besiktas — United Together'. Their supporters' representative said, "This match is a chance for peace, for English and Turkish fans to be hand-in-hand at a football game." They would be bringing flowers, "as a symbol," and so would the players. "We know that the Leeds fans are good people, not hooligans," he said. "And we know what it is like to want Leeds to win, because we wanted them to beat Galatasaray last season."

In the end only seventy Besiktas fans bought tickets for the game in Yorkshire, so rather than take so few, their club cancelled the trip instead. West Yorkshire Police's security was for a small party of select supporters, players' relatives and friends, about ten officers per guest.

Leeds' manager David O'Leary was saving his welcome for Mark Viduka, who arrived back in Yorkshire from the Sydney Olympics on the morning of a disappointing 1-1 draw at Derby. He was yelled at and sent to run off his jet lag with Leeds' Under-15s. Australia had been knocked out after their second group match and O'Leary had expected Viduka back to help his club amid its struggles with injuries, its Champions League adventures, its faltering Premier League campaign. Viduka hadn't scored a goal, for Leeds or Australia, and had to start scoring soon. But, "If I had come home early I felt I would have been letting the rest of the (Australia) team down," Viduka said. "We had not had a good tournament. I would have felt like I was walking out on my mates, and it would have been much worse doing it in Australia."

He was expected to be banished to the bench against Besiktas, but O'Leary started him ahead of Michael Bridges. Then it was hard to tell if Viduka changed the way Leeds played so much for the better or if they had Besiktas to thank for that. The Black Eagles were coached by Nevio Scala, who had been in charge of Parma when Tomas Brolin, Faustino Asprilla and Gianfranco Zola made them one of the most exciting teams in Europe. He believed in the psychology of football. "I want my team to be eleven friends who respect and love each other, and not just eleven people who work to the same goal," he said. But it was clear to see he was having problems at his new club. "My hardest job here so far has been communicating with the players directly because I need an interpreter all the time."