Champions league - semi-final, first leg

Real Madrid 2 - Juventus 1

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, Del Bosque lined up with Ronaldo and Morientes sharing the striker role, and the two combined for Ronaldo to fire their side into the lead on the quarter hour mark. For the rest of the first half the Spaniards were on top, but on the stroke of half time Lippi's side levelled the scores with only their second shot at goal, Trezeguet collecting Del Piero's deflected shot to poke the ball wide of Casillas. Either side could have scored in the second half, 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, but the visitors held on to set up an interesting return leg next week. (06.05.03)