Real Madrid 2 - Juventus 1

Real Madrid: Casillas; Michel Salgado, Hierro, Iván Helguera, Roberto Carlos; Figo, Makelele, Guti, Zidane; Ronaldo (Portillo 50'), Morientes (Solari 80'). 4-4-2.
Juventus: Buffon; Birindelli, Thuram, Ferrara, Iuliano (Pessotto 46'); Zambrotta, Tudor (Camoranesi 80'), Conte, Nedved (Di Vaio 82'); Del Piero, Trezeguet. 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 23. Ronaldo. Ran on to Morientes return pass and hit shot from edge of area.
1-1. 45. Trezeguet. Picked up deflected Del Piero pass to poke ball past Casillas.
2-1. 73. Roberto Carlos. Low shot from outside area into far corner of net.

The Champions League semi-final between the league leaders of Spain and Italy is finely balanced after Real Madrid beat Juventus 2-1. In the absence of Raúl, out with appendicitis, Del Bosque lined up with Ronaldo and Morientes sharing the striker role and Guti back in midfield alongside Makelele. It was an attacking side, designed to score goals and forget the weekend's disaster against Mallorca, and within two minutes they had their first pot at goal, Roberto Carlos firing a shot wide from out on the left. Trezeguet was back for the visitors though after missing the quarter final against Barcelona, and in the seventh minute he gave the home fans a fright when he collected the ball in front of goal and shot wide.

Otherwise though it was all Madrid, and Zidane forced the save of the night out of Buffon with a curling free kick. Midway through the half the Spaniards went in front, Morientes managing to shake off the attention of Iuliano long enough to play a return pass to Ronaldo for him to shoot low past the keeper. By now most of the play was in the Juventus half, and they earned themselves three yellow cards with some hard tackling trying to stop the flow of the Madrid forwards. But just as everyone expected them to go into the break in front, a Del Piero shot was only turned across goal by Salgado, and Trezeguet was there to control the ball and score a vital away goal.

Lippi brought on Pessotto at the break to keep tabs on Figo, and five minutes after the restart Ronaldo limped off with a calf injury which could keep him out of the second leg. Either side could have scored after that, with Del Piero seeing one effort deflected over the bar by Helguera and heading wide later on, and a Roberto Carlos cross passing in front of Zidane and substitute Portillo without either being able to connect. But it was Roberto Carlos who finally settled things with a long shot from outside of the area, referee Terje Hauge waving away the Juventus claims that three attackers were positionally offside. Iván Helguera went close to scoring on two or three occasions near the end as Madrid tried to build a safety cushion, but the visitors held on to set up an interesting return leg next Wednesday. There will be some new faces then, in particular Raúl who s expected to be fit, and Davids, Montero and Tacchardini return for Juventus, although Ronaldo is doubtful and Ferrara and Iuliano will be suspended. It promises to be a classic though, whoever plays.