Champions League 2001: Leeds United vs Lazio

By the end of the second group stage, Leeds United's progress through the Champions League was bringing something romantic for everyone. There are different kinds of romance, and Leeds themselves were the story of choice for anyone willing to love an underdog — and overlook the subplots in Hull's County Court.

Another kind of romance, pleasing the football purists, had come in the calibre of opponents Leeds were taking on. Barcelona and Milan in the first group stage were reminders of good and bad times, but glorious times, in the 1970s. Playing Real Madrid home and away fulfilled a dream. Then there were the players, which was where Lazio came in.

Diminished as a club while failing to defend their scudetto, and unable to progress from the second group stage, they were nonetheless stuffed with stardom. Legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff was now their manager, in place of Sven-Göran Eriksson. They had players like Diego Simeone, Alessandro Nesta, Juan Veron, Simone Inzaghi and Dino Baggio.

And all of them, all those star names, were left behind in Rome when Lazio travelled to West Yorkshire for the meaningless final group match against Leeds. Losing to Bologna at the weekend had left them eleven points behind city rivals Roma's lead of Serie A. Their upcoming league match against Juventus was far more important, so even though Hernan Crespo and Marcelo Salas travelled, they were put on the bench.

Roma, from a position of strength, were making eyes at Leeds United's striker Mark Viduka and offering him a future alongside their star names. Reports said their manager Fabio Capello was sending someone to watch Viduka against Lazio, to see if he could become a new partner for Gabriel Batistuta. Francesco Totti, Cafu and Aldair would be there to help, and the thought of joining those players for the following seasons Champions League campaign was alluring. "It is an ambition of mine to play in Italy," Viduka said. "If it is true it is very flattering."

But he wasn't immune to the romance of the Champions League campaign he was already enjoying. "The potential at Elland Road is massive and you don't get involved in too many teams like that. I'm extremely happy at Leeds and I believe the team is on the verge of winning things."

The match against Lazio, as it wore on, suffered for the lack of star names like Crespo or Batistuta. Lazio were prompted into a 21st minute lead by the excellence of Pavel Nedved, who beat Jason Wilcox and Ian Harte to cross, and by the movement away from Danny Mills of a player who was well known by the Elland Road public, Fabrizio Ravanelli. A flash of his white hair, nodding the ball in from close range, was as recognisable in Lazio blue as it had once been in Middlesbrough's red. And just as annoying.

During Middlesbrough's relegation in 1996/97 Ravanelli was not just their highest paid player, but the Premier League's, on top of a £7m transfer fee. He repaid with seventeen goals and two cup finals, but also an incredible amount of moaning about everything. Now, rather than teeing up a festival of carefree football in a rare dead rubber match, the attention of his goal, and his trademark of thrusting his face into the belly of his shirt performed in front of a near silent Peacock Ground, was the precursor to a night of bottom-of-the-league mundanity, no more romantic than an argument in a Teeside pub.

Lee Bowyer tried to lift the standard by equalising just before the half-hour, steadying himself after Harry Kewell kept the ball alive with a deft header from Lazio's byline and lobbing it, first time and over his own shoulder, over the goalie into the far top corner.

But this was only a brief respite from Ravanelli. He'd begun his night by wailing to the referee about Dominic Matteo's tapping of his ankles. Thirty seconds after Bowyer levelled, Ravanelli went straight up the other end in pursuit of a long ball and threw himself down in the penalty area under the slightest touch of Matteo. He won the penalty, but didn't stop there, pointing to various limbs and screaming that Matteo should be sent off. The kerfuffle brought Lazio's goalkeeper, Luca Marchegiani, up to the Kop end from his distant box. And after Sinisa Mihajlovic hammered the penalty past United's keeper, Paul Robinson reignited the trouble by booting the ball into the scrum of celebrating players.

United's captain, Gary Kelly, didn't wait long to retaliate. At the next high ball, he took his studs for a ride down the back of Ravanelli's calves. As the striker went down screaming near the dugouts, Leeds attacked, until Fernando Couto brought an end to that with a rugby tackle on Bowyer that carried them both out of play. Now the Lazio players as a group wanted to fight Kelly, while Ravanelli continued pleading for medical help. Elland Road started singing, 'Ravanelli is a wanker' and booing his every touch, and he was a satisfying villain, but there was something tawdry about all this. Leeds were in the Champions League to compete with Europe's elite, not to fight running battles with some bejewelled Bernie Slaven.