Wim Jansen: The Full Story
FA Cup Countdown: Petit Warns Geordies
Batty Could Face FA Charge
Gareth Farrelly 365 Exclusive
Short Slams Everton Board
Sutton: I'll Never Play For Hoddle
England Squad News
De Goey And Flo Unhappy With Chelsea Changes
Zola Back For Final
Premiership News Special
Nationwide News
European Round-Up
Matthaus Back In German Squad
Leeds Star Jimmy In Dutch Squad
Wimbledon Stars' World Cup Fitness Race
Platini Slams French Moaners
TV And Radio
The Knowledge
Bollocks
Today's Trivia
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Tuesday 12 May 1998
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 News 8 
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INZAGHI TRIPLE TAKES TITLE
Serie A Round-Up
Nicola Mira in Brescia reports on the hat-trick that secured Juve's 25th championship.
WITH a goal late in the second half, Filippo Inzaghi finally closed the curtain on one of the most exciting title races in years, giving Juve an unassailable seven-point lead over Inter with one game left. Juve needed to defeat Roberto Baggio's Bologna to make sure, regardless of the Bari-Inter result, of clinching the title, while Inter needed a win to keep their hopes, boosted by the recent UEFA Cup triumph, still alive. It had been a close race all season, and today was no exception.
Ten minutes into the game a stunning volley by Bologna's Igor Kolyvanov iced Turin's Delle Alpi stadium. Then came another hammer blow: Inter scored with a flash of Ronaldo brilliance, and were now only one point behind the leaders. Then the come-back: Inzaghi first equalised (43rd minute) then put Juve in the lead in the second half. It seemed settled, but in the 65th Roberto Baggio scored a beauty to freeze Juventus again, leaving Inter, who were still leading in Bari, only 2 points behind. But it was not over yet: Inzaghi scored the 3-2 clincher in the 77th minute, and while the title celebrations started in Turin, Inter slid to an incredible 1-2 defeat thanks to late goals by Ventola (a promising striker already purchased for next season... by Inter) and Phil Masinga, earning relegation safety for Bari.
So with one game still to play, manager Marcello Lippi and Juventus win their third title in 5 years ( the toughest one , declared Lippi), which is their second in succession, and can look ahead with euphoria to the grand finale of their season, the Champions League final in Amsterdam against Real Madrid.
THE REST OF SERIE A
This was also an exciting Sunday for....
Empoli. One of this season's newcomers, they kept their place in the Serie A by beating Vicenza 3-2 after being 0-1 down.
Piacenza. They levelled at 3-3 in injury time against Roma despite missing a penalty ; they are now 2 points ahead of Brescia, their closest rivals for the last safe spot in the table.
Fiorentina. By thrashing free-falling Lazio 4-1 away (Oliveira, Edmundo, Batistuta and Rui Costa on target) they clinched the last UEFA Cup place available (the others go to Udinese - still third overall- Parma and Roma).
Milan. Well, the excitement was elsewhere, as hundreds of disgusted supporters staged barricade-style protests: first they took to the streets, preventing the team bus from entering the San Siro grounds until half an hour before kick-off, then the Fossa dei Leoni (Lions' den, the equivalent of the North Bank or the Kop) die-hards left the terraces half an hour before the final whistle, bombarding the pitch with all and sundry and forcing the startled ref to stop play for seven minutes. A nasty adieu for Capello?
HERO OF THE DAY
No contest really: Filippo Inzaghi, who upstaged Del Piero as the decisive factor in today's breath-taking game, scored with his right foot, his left foot and his head. The 25-year-old Piacenza-born striker had been greeted with suspicion at the start of the season. He was fresh from being Serie A topscorer with 24 goals, all the more notable as he played for relegation strugglers Atalanta, but had the onus of replacing Italy's most promising centre-forward in years, Christian Vieri, who Atletico Madrid had lured away from Juve for over 12 million pounds.
Inzaghi may be lighter than Vieri, but he is at least as gritty a competitor, and has skills and pace in abundance, as Manchester United too have found out in the Champions League. His goal tally so far this season is a highly respectable 18, but one counts for gold, today's left-footed effort late in the game which earned Juve the title.
RESULTS
Bari 2 Inter 1
Brescia 2 Napoli 1
Empoli 3 Vicenza 2
Juventus 3 Bologna 2
Lazio 1 Fiorentina 4
Milan 1 Parma 1
Piacenza 3 Roma 3
Sampdoria 1 Lecce 1
Udinese 1 Atalanta 0
LEADING POSITIONS
1 Juventus 73pts
2 Inter 66pts
3 Udinese 61pts
4 Parma 57pts
5 Lazio 56pts
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REAL ON THE BRINK
Spanish Round-Up
REAL MADRID'S hopes of qualification through the league for next season's UEFA Champions League are as good as over after they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Espanyol.
Real, without an away win since November, meet Juventus on Wednesday week in the Champions League final but will struggle to keep the scoreline respectable if they repeat their form of recent weeks. If they lose the final, Jupp Heynckes' side are unlikely to be competing in next season's competition. Real are now fourth, two points behind second-placed Athletic Bilbao. With one week to go in the Spanish league, and Bilbao at home at mid-table Real Zaragoza, Madrid will need to win at home to Betis to preserve their slim hopes. Betis are not yet certain of a UEFA Cup place, though, so will provide stiff opposition.
On Saturday against Espanyol, Real went down to a solitary goal from the unsung Barcelona club's left-back Roberto Fresnedoso, after 73 minutes. Both sides had plenty of chances, but Real looked listless and rarely played with the desire, pace or enthusiasm of a team desperate to win until it was too late and several chances were wasted.
Playing on Sunday, Athletic Bilbao could only manage a goalless draw at Merida when a win would have sealed second place. Athletic still lie second, two points ahead of Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Mallorca, and three ahead of Real Betis.
Real Sociedad drew 1-1 at home with Tenerife, Mallorca drew 1-1 at Salamanca and Real Betis lost 2-0 at home to Racing Santander.
Barcelona continued their sloppy progress to the end of the season, losing 5-2 at home to Atletico Madrid. Champions Barca haven't won in the four games since they clinched the title. This run continued in spite of their taking the lead after ten minutes, when Rivaldo astonishingly hit a lob from the halfway line, some 60 yards out. Yugoslav Veljko Paunovic equalised eight minutes later, though, and then Barcelona's Portuguese defender Fernando Couto headed an own goal after 25 minutes to make it 2-1.
Christian Vieri (60) and Luis Perez Caminero (73) made it 4-1, before Ivan de La Pena pulled one back nine minutes from time. Vieri had the last laugh, though, with his second taking him further clear of Rivaldo in the goalscoring charts. The Italian has 25 to the Brazilian's 19. Atletico travel to Racing Santander next week, knowing a win would give them a UEFA Cup slot that seemed unlikely a few weeks ago. New manager Arrigo Sacchi, the former Italian national team boss and AC Milan coach, will hope his new charges can give him that to aim at. Outgoing manager Raddy Antic will still be in charge for the vital game.
RESULTS
Espanyol 1 Real Madrid 0
Valencia 2 Sporting Gijon 2
Deportivo La Coruna 2 Compostela 6
Real Sociedad 1 Tenerife 1
Real Betis 0 Racing Santander 2
Real Zaragoza 0 Real Valladolid 0
Salamanca 1 Mallorca 1
Merida 0 Athletic Bilbao 0
Oviedo 3 Celta Vigo 1
Atletico Madrid 5 Barcelona 2
LEADING POSITIONS
1 Barcelona 74pts
2 Athletic Bilbao 62pts
3 Real Sociedad 60pts
4 Real Madrid 60pts
5 Mallorca 60pts
6 Real Betis 59pts
BREHME PICKS UP TROPHY
German League Round-Up
A LATE goal from Olaf Marschall allowed new German champions Kaiserslautern to snatch a 1-1 draw at Hamburg in their last match of the season.
Hamburg, looking forward to ending a disappointing campaign on a high note, moved in front five minutes into the second half with a powerful shot from just inside the box by Polish striker Jacek Dembinski. But the visitors, eager to celebrate their historic title in style, fought back with international striker Marschall scoring from a penalty four minutes from time.
Kaiserslautern's veteran defender Andreas Brehme was presented with the league trophy by German Football Federation president Egidius Braun shortly before the start of the last match of his career. Brehme, who scored the only goal in the 1990 World Cup final against Argentina, played 86 times for Germany. Saturday's match was his 301st in the Bundesliga.
As reported yesterday, police arrested around 265 Koln fans after they went on the rampage following their team's first-ever relegation from the Bundesliga. It was initially thought that they were all released on Sunday, but the police did hold a small number and it is believed they will face charges. Elsewhere, rumours are mounting about the fate of Nebbio Scala, Borussia Dortmund's Italian manager. The club finished tenth and missed out on Europe for the first time in six years not a good return for the current European Champions. According to press reports, Scala will be on his way home as a result. Werder Bremen are clinging to a place in Europe should Stuttgart win the Cup-Winners' Cup against Chelsea on Wednesday, then they will sneak in.
RESULTS
Hansa Rostock 4 Karlsruhe 2
Hamburg 1 Kaiserslautern 1
Bayern Munich 4 Borussia Dortmund 0
Hertha Berlin 1 Duisburg 3
Koln 2 Bayer Leverkusen 2
Schalke 04 2 Arminia Bielefeld 1
Bochum 1 1860 Munich 0
VfB Stuttgart 1 Werder Bremen 0
Wolfsburg 0 Borussia Monchengladbach 2
FINAL POSITIONS
1 Kaiserslautern 68pts
2 Bayern Munich 66pts
3 Bayer Leverkusen 55pts
4 VfB Stuttgart 52pts
5 Schalke 04 52pts
6 Hansa Rostock 51pts
7 Werder Bremen 50pts
Relegated Karlsruhe, FC Cologne, Arminia Bielefeld
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REST OF EUROPE
Holland, Andorra, Cyprus
IN HOLLAND, both Cup Finalists, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, have already qualified for Europe via the league. As first and second in the championship, they will contest the Champions League next season which leaves a vacancy in the Cup-Winners' Cup. As a result, there will have to be a play-off between Twente Enschede and Heerenveen, the losing semi-finalists, to determine who gets the place.
Definitely in Europe are Charlie's Restaurant. Last season's Andorran champions have retained their title, and are now looking to improve on this season's performance in the UEFA Cup, when they lost 17-0 to Dundee United under the name Club Esportiu Principat UEFA refused to accept their slightly undignified moniker, so they came up with CEP as an internationally acceptable alternative.
They could come up against Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus, who have qualified as runners-up to Anorthosis Famagusta. Famagusta haven't played a home match for years their hometown is in the Turkish-occupied half of the island but retained the Cypriot Championship at the weekend, finishing four points clear of Omonia. Anorthosis qualify for the preliminaries of the Champions League.
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