Champions League 2001: Milan vs Leeds United
Milan, and Barcelona, and Kim Milton Nielsen, and UEFA, and probably Christos Michas, all stood between Leeds and six more lucrative group stage games.
2025/26 season marks 25 years since Leeds United were playing in the Champions League, and even if it does feel like yesterday, it's worth going back to check what happened.
Throughout this season I'll be writing about the Champions League campaign game by game, roughly around the anniversary of each match.
So far Leeds have battled through 1860 Munich, home and away, then in the group stage played Barcelona, Milan and Besiktas twice.
It was the cheek of it all, and the feeling that like in Thessaloniki in 1973 this was all outside Leeds United's control. Leeds would be playing AC Milan, but at what game?
In the European Cup Winners' Cup final the game had been whatever the referee, Christos Michas, wanted to make of it. Milan were awarded a free-kick for nothing, scored from it, and the favourable decisions lasted all night. Norman Hunter was ordered off and the local fans chanted 'Shame!' as Milan's players celebrated with the cup. Michas was investigated and never refereed for UEFA again.
In the 2001 Champions League group stage the instigators of the intrigue were Barcelona. If only Leeds had held their lead at Elland Road a few moments longer, the Catalans would already be out and the match in Milan would be a dead rubber. Instead Barcelona had an easy meeting with Besiktas in the Nou Camp, but needed Milan to beat Leeds to go through.
But Milan had already won the group, so they needed a reason to put the effort into beating Leeds. Barcelona, it was reported, were offering 1.6 million pounds' worth of reasons: £61,500 to each of their 26 players. The days before the match were dominated by talk of conspiracy. Had such an offer been made? Both clubs were denying it. Milan's Spanish forward Jose Mari, though, was not denying anything. "I'm one of those people who believe that offering financial incentives to win is not illegal," he was reported as telling the Catalan press. "If Joan Gaspart (Barca's president) wants to give us something we will accept it in good faith."
The key factor was the Catalan press, because whether an offer had been made or not, reporting one was enough. Milan's coach Alberto Zaccheroni had to defend his team's honour. "We have a responsibility to go out, play the match and do our best to win it," he said, and they didn't need bribes to do their best to beat Leeds. Professional pride was at stake, like in every match.
Then again, the professionalism of his players raised an alternative practicality. They, as professional footballers, wanted to win the Champions League. One anonymous senior player added, "And we know that if we reach the final stages we'd rather Barcelona were not among our rivals." They also might not fancy getting kicked around by the likes of Alan Smith and Olivier Dacourt if the match became a battle.
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