Italian Teams Earn Spots
The European Champions League was guaranteed at least two Italian teams among its final four Tuesday when Juventus and Inter Milan clinched places in the semifinals at the expense of Spanish clubs Barcelona and Valencia, respectively.
A goal by Marcelo Zalayeta 24 minutes into overtime gave Juventus a 2-1 victory over Barcelona as Coach Marcello Lippi’s team advanced, 3-2 on aggregate, in the two-game series.
Barcelona’s loss was its first in 16 matches in this year’s tournament. Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved gave Italian champion Juventus the lead in the 53rd minute, but Xavi tied it eight minutes later.
“The dream has ended in an unfair, terrible way,” Barcelona Coach Radomir Antic told reporters. “What have we got left? We did almost everything, everything in fact. They say that not always the best team wins. We gave a great performance. We didn’t deserve this luck.”
Valencia defeated Inter Milan, 2-1, on goals by Juan Pablo Aimar and Ruben Baraja, but Christian Vieri’s lone goal was enough to tie the aggregate, two-game score, 2-2, and give the series to Inter on the away goals rule.
Vieri, Europe’s leading goal scorer this season, suffered a potentially serious right knee injury. Valencia Coach Rafael Benitez was not sympathetic.
“If everyone played like Inter, fans would disappear from the stadiums,” he said. “We played so much better that it seems unfair that we are not going into the semifinals. For me, the ends don’t justify the means.”
Nouma Fired
French forward Pascal Nouma, whose goal-scoring celebration for Turkish league leader Besiktas on Sunday included stripping off his shirt and sticking his hand down the front of his shorts, was fired by the club on Tuesday.
“Nouma’s actions during the Fenerbahce match are definitely against Turkish moral values and traditions,” Serdar Bilgili, the team’s president, said. “We have canceled his contract.... We have decided to send him back to his country.”
Nouma, 31, who called his spontaneous action “a private sign of joy” and who apologized Monday for his behavior, will not be paid for the time that had remained on his contract.
“This is a bad event for myself and for the club,” Nouma was quoted as saying Tuesday by the Anatolia news agency. “I am very, very sad tonight.”
Brazil Picks Diego
Just days after saying he would stick with the veterans who last summer won Brazil its fifth World Cup, Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira reversed himself and included 18-year-old playmaking midfielder Diego in the Brazil team that will play Mexico on April 30.
Diego first gained widespread attention last season when he and 18-year-old forward Robinho helped propel Santos to the Brazilian league championship.
Robinho was not included in Parreira’s 24-man squad for the game in Guadalajara but is expected to soon follow Diego into the national team.
Quick Passes
Former world champion and Olympic gold medallist Hege Riise of Norway tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee while playing for the Women’s United Soccer Assn.’s Carolina Courage and will be sidelined from four to seven months, putting her participation in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in September in doubt.... Glenn Roeder, the coach of relegation-threatened West Ham United in the English Premier League has been diagnosed with “a blockage of a minor blood vessel in his brain” and remains in stable condition at a London hospital.... Atalanta, in 15th place in Italy’s 18-team Serie A and facing relegation, fired Giovanni Vavasorri as coach and replaced him with youth team coach Giancarlo Finardi until the season’s end. The team had to abandon a training session Tuesday when angry fans stormed a fence and hurled debris and insults at the players.
