Monaco eliminated Real Madrid from the Champions League, with two goals from Ludovic Giuly and another from Fernando Morientes creating the stunning 3-1 upset Tuesday that sent the Mediterranean side into the semifinals.
Madrid's single goal from Raul Gonzalez was not enough to keep the Spanish giants in Europe's biggest club competition. The star-studded side had gone into the second leg with a comfortable 4-2 lead earned at home on March 24.
But Monaco's two away goals from that night proved decisive. With the aggregate score over two legs tied at 5-5 after Tuesday's return match, Monaco went through because it scored more away goals. They next play London side Chelsea, who ousted Arsenal.
PHOTO: AP
"Everybody writes their own story, and the players are writing a superb page for Monaco and all of French football" said Monaco coach Didier Deschamps. "It wasn't easy but we deserved it. It's proof that in football, anything can happen. You just have to believe until the end."
"This is exceptional," he said.
Madrid star Zinedine Zidane was despondent.
"Very bad," he said. "That's the way things are. What can I say? We'll have to look at it more calmly later."
"We took a very big step tonight for French football and Monaco," said Giuly, the hero of Monaco's Louis II stadium. "We're still not conscious of the miracle we've just achieved...We gave everything we had."
Morientes, who also scored one of Monaco's precious away goals in Madrid, said "it's a fantastic achievement but we haven't given up getting more."
Asked about seeing his former team eliminated, he added: "I'm a professional. My team has won and I'm going to enjoy it."
Zidane said the best side won.
"We let in the goal just before half time and then it was very difficult for us," said Zidane. "The victory is deserved ... We've got to accept that Monaco was far better than us."
Chelsea 2, Arsenal 1
Wayne Bridge scored the winner three minutes from the end as Chelsea hit back to beat Arsenal 2-1 on Tuesday to reach the Champions Cup semifinal for the first time.
The Blues will meet Monaco which produced a sensational comeback to oust nine-time champion Real Madrid. The French club won 3-1 to advance on away goals after losing the first leg 4-2.
After Spanish striker Jose Antonio Reyes had given the Gunners the lead in first half injury time at Highbury, Frank Lampard leveled six minutes into the second half.
That made it 2-2 overall after the first leg tie at Stamford Bridge but Bridge's late strike gave Claudio Ranieri's Blues a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Whether the triumph is enough to keep Ranieri in a job at Stamford Bridge is another matter. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is believed to want a coach with a bigger name and there is strong speculation that the likable Italian will be fired at the end of the season.
Chelsea's first victory in 18 games against the Gunners going back to November 1998, meant the Gunners, once chasing the treble, now have just the Premier League left. And Chelsea has a chance of catching them in that too.
Unbeaten in a record 30 games since the start of the season, the Gunners are four points ahead of Chelsea in the Premier League and have a game in hand. But their dream of the treble and three FA Cup triumphs in a row was ended on Saturday when they lost 1-0 to Manchester United in the semifinal.
Marcel Desailly, who was sent off in the 1-1 tie at Stamford Bridge, missed the game through suspension but William Gallas and John Terry produced rock solid performances at the heart of the defense.
The Gunners were guilty of giving the ball away too often in their own half.
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