Tie Gives AC Milan Italian Cup
On a weekend of cup finals and championship deciders in Europe, a dozen teams took home some silverware.
New European champion AC Milan, fresh off its European Cup victory over Juventus on Wednesday, added the Italian Cup to its list of 2003 honors when it tied AS Roma, 2-2, in front of 78,000 at Milan in the second leg of the final to secure the two-game series, 6-3, on aggregate.
Francesco Totti scored twice to give Roma some hope of a comeback after it had lost the first game, 4-1, at Rome, but Rivaldo and Filippo Inzaghi put AC Milan back on even terms as Coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team won the Cup for the fifth time and the first since 1977.
At Berlin, German champion Bayern Munich clinched “the double” when it defeated Kaiserslautern, 3-1, in front of 70,490 at Olympic Stadium in the German Cup final.
World Cup star Michael Ballack scored twice, with Peru’s Claudio Pizarro scoring before Kaiserslautern striker Miroslav Klose cut the deficit late in the game. It was Bayern’s 11th Cup triumph and the fourth time the team has won the Bundesliga and Cup titles in the same season.
Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld became the first coach to complete the German double twice, having led Bayern to the titles in 2000.
At Paris, veteran Coach Guy Roux saw his Auxerre team bounce back with two goals in the final 15 minutes to defeat Paris Saint-Germain, 2-1, and win the French Cup.
World Cup winner Ronaldinho created the first goal, providing the pass that allowed Portuguese striker Hugo Leal to give PSG the lead after 21 minutes. But Leal was ejected in the second half and PSG could not hold on.
French international forward Djibril Cisse tied the score with a goal in the 77th minute and Jean-Alain Boumsong scored the winner in the 89th to give Roux, 64, his third French Cup.
Rangers completed a rare triple in Scotland by adding the Scottish Cup to earlier triumphs in the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish League Cup.
In the Scottish Cup final, Rangers defeated Dundee, 1-0, in front of 47,136 at Hampden Park on a 66th-minute goal by Italian Lorenzo Amoruso to complete the sweep of Scottish honors for the seventh time in the team’s history.
FC Utrecht upset Feyenoord, 4-1, to win the Dutch Cup for only the second time in its history. Two goals by Igor Gluscevic and one apiece by John de Jong and Dirk Kuijt proved more than enough.
Austrian champion Austria Vienna completed the double by shutting out FC Kaernten, 3-0, in Sunday’s Cup final, after which Coach Christoph Daum said he is leaving the club.
Iulian Tames scored and Dynamo Bucharest won the Romanian Cup final over National Bucharest, 1-0; and Nigerian striker Mannaseh Ishiaku scored twice and La Louviere beat Sint-Truiden, 3-1, in the Belgian Cup final.
In league play, Wisla Krawkow won the Polish title for the eighth time; MTK Hungaria secured the Hungarian title; Maccabi tel-Aviv clinched the Israeli championship on goal difference, and a hat trick by Richard Nunez gave Grasshoppers the Swiss title via a 4-2 victory over BSC Young Boys.
Quick Passes
Carsten Ramelow, Paul Freier, Fredi Bobic and Tobias Rau scored for Germany as it routed Canada, 4-1, Sunday at Wolfsburg, Germany.... Alajuelense won the Costa Rican title for the 23rd time.... Ahn Jung-Hwan scored late in the second half to give South Korea a 1-0 victory over Japan at Tokyo in a game between the 2002 World Cup co-hosts.... Tunisia announced it will bid to stage the World Cup in 2010.... Veracruz, Monterrey, Morelia and UNL advanced to the semifinals of the Mexican league playoffs.... Former Italy national team coach Arrigo Sacchi resigned as technical director of Serie A club Parma.... Brazilian striker Romario, 37, rejoined Fluminense after an unsuccessful stint with Al-Saad in Qatar.
