UEFA Cup
Semi-Final, 1st Leg: Thursday 06 April 2000
Galatasaray 2 - 0 Leeds United
(Half-time: 2 - 0)
Crowd: 18000
Referee: Hellmut Kruc (Germany)
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UEFA Cup Galatasaray 2 - 0 Leeds United(Half-time: 2 - 0) |
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| « Chelsea | Aston Villa » | |
| Match Facts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Teams | Unused Subs | |
| Leeds United | Martyn, Kelly, Harte, Radebe, Woodgate, Bridges (Huckerby 75), Kewell, Bowyer, McPhail, Bakke, Jones (Wilcox 65) | Haaland, Robinson, Smith, Mills, Duberry |
| Galatasaray | Taffarel, Korkmaz, Popescu, Belozoglu, Arif (Sas 79), Okan (Unsal 62), Suat, Sukur, Hagi (Ahmet 89), Capone, Ergun | Bolukbasi, Fatih, Emrah, Marcio |
| Scorers | Other Info | |
| Leeds United | ||
| Galatasaray | Sukur 13, Capone 44 | |
| Yellow Cards | Red Cards | |
| Leeds United | Kewell 20, Jones 27, Bowyer 53, Harte 90 | |
| Galatasaray | ||
| Match Statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Leeds United | Galatasaray | |
| Corners won | ? | ? |
| Fouls committed | ? | ? |
| Hit woodwork | ? | ? |
| Offsides committed | ? | ? |
| Shirt numbers of goalscorers | 0 | ? |
| Yellow cards | 4 | 0 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
| Match Reports | |
|---|---|
| Fans' Reports | |
| Jabba | London views |
| Newspaper/Newswire/Net Reports | |
| The Guardian | Sukur punch floors Leeds |
| The Electronic Telegraph | Brave Leeds left facing uphill struggle |
| The Times | Subdued Leeds show the strain |
| Express Sport | O'Leary's braves caught cold by Turkish one-two |
| The Independent | Subdued Leeds left with uphill task |
| Yorkshire Evening Post | United fail to hit high spots |
| BBC | ?? |
| Soccernet | Bitter to the end |
"The Leeds fans behaviour was impeccable" said the Radio 5 reporter. After spending the day locked in their hotels, the fans saw a poor first half performance, followed by a better showing in the second half, but with terrible finishing by Michael Bridges and Stephen McPhail left us with a difficult job for the return leg.
With Galatasaray snubbing the dead Leeds fans by failing to wear black armbands or observe a silence before the game - and one of the directors made strenuous efforts to disocciate the club from the murderers.
'fraid I can't really find much to say about the game in the circumstances. Leeds were disappointing, but with just a 2-goal deficit, we shouldn't be too down-hearted for the return leg. But we do need to drag ourselves out of this mini-slump by Sunday when we face a Villa side reinvigorated by the return of Dion Dublin.
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Given the trauma of the night before and the tears shed, it was always going to be a hollow occasion. So it proved here at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium when everyone connected with Leeds United realised the football was secondary.
Their aspirations to reach a first European final for 25 years were dealt severe damage and the obvious conclusion was that the fall-out of Wednesday night's violence and the subsequent deaths of two supporters had taken its toll on a Leeds side wearing black armbands and heavy hearts. Their opponents declined the armbands.
At the final whistle David O'Leary's youthful side exuded an air of despondency that told its own story. In truth, which ever side emerges victorious from the return leg in West Yorkshire, there will be little justifiable cause for celebrations.
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