Real Madrid (2) 3 - Galatasaray (3) 0

Real Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Hierro, Karanka, Roberto Carlos (Solari 91'); Figo (Savio 86'), Iván Helguera, Makelele, McManaman; Guti (Flavio Conceiçao 75'), Raúl. 4-4-2.
Galatasaray: Taffarel; Umit, Asik, Bulent, Fatih; Emre, Suat (Akin 46'); Okan, Hasan (Arif 67'), Hagi; Jardel. 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 15. Raúl. Got ahead of keeper to turn in Salgado's cross from right.
2-0. 28. Iván Helguera. Header on near post after corner by Figo from right.
3-0. 37. Raúl. Placed to keeper's right after McManaman through ball.

Real Madrid did what was expected of them, beating Galatasaray comfortably in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium to overturn the 3-2 result from the first leg. The poor reputation of Turkish teams away from home went before them, but even though Popescu was missing through suspension as well Del Bosque was taking no chances and put out his first choice side for this game, with the on form Guti keeping his place alongside Raúl up front. With Real Madrid leading the Spanish first division and the prospect of an exciting match to come, tickets for the 75,000 capacity stadium had been sold out several days before the kick off (even the king of Spain was there), with a small but noisy contingency of Galatasaray supporters making their presence felt.

Madrid wrapped up the game in the first half, with Raúl back on his sharpest form and McManaman as director of the orchestra. The Englishman set up Salgado down the right wing with a quarter of an hour gone for him to swing the ball across on to Raúl's boot for the first goal of the night, taking Madrid into the lead in the tie. A few minutes later Helguera made it two with his sixth goal of the competition (not bad for a defender), rising on the near post to head Figo's corner over Taffarel and in to the roof of the net, and before half time Raúl had added his second and the team's third after McManaman played the ball through for him to place the ball low past the keeper. Just before half time the visitors had their first attempt at goal, Bulent heading over the bar from a corner.

Lucescu brought on Akin for Suat at half time, with Madrid well aware that Galatasaray had scored three in the second half in Istanbul two weeks ago to turn the game around. This time it was not to be though, with Jardel off target and Hagi a shadow of the player who played some of his best games for Real Madrid in this stadium. The second half though was anything but a game of football, with the Galatasaray players going in hard having decided not to take prisoners. Figo had to leave the field temporarily with a broken and bleeding nose after catching a flailing arm, and Roberto Carlos was asking to be substituted for fifteen minutes before he was finally taken off after hurting himself in a tackle.

Taffarel upset the Real Madrid Ultra-radical supporters (not a wise thing to do) after they held on to the ball, kicking it back when it was finally released, and a rain of objects came down, Okan falling to the floor apparently struck by something. Emre further antagonised the home fans picking up some of the objects and flinging them back in to the crowd, and the Turkish players tried their utmost to convince referee Anders Frisk to book or send off their opponents with blatant dives and constant protests. Hierro tried to calm down his own fans as tempers flared, knowing that the ground could be closed by UEFA for objects landing on the pitch (which included a beer can), and the game ended with several players refusing to shake hands or swap shirts. Madrid go on to a repeat of last year's semi-final against Bayern Munich, with the prospects of a replay too of the final against Valencia. Will history repeat itself? They are already making space for the 'novena' in the trophy cabinet.