2004 Champions League Quarter Final 2nd leg, Deportivo 4 -0 Milan. (1st leg Milan 4-1 Deportivo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPGzaS9lvUA
In a Champions League season full of shocks, which ended up with 2 rank outsiders facing each other in the final, one game stood head and shoulders above all.
Deportivo la Coruna, managed by Javier Irureta, went into the second leg of their quarter final matchup with holders AC Milan, 4-1 down from the first leg.
It was supposed to be a rubber match. Coruna were surely down and out. They had been overpowered in the first leg at the San Siro by comfortably the best Milan side since the 1994 vintage.
European golden ball winner Andrei Shevchenko spearheaded an attack with future European golden ball winner, Kaka, playing off him. In midfield were Pirlo and Gatusso, 2 players that would lead Italy to the World Cup 2 years later and the legendary Clarence Seedorf. To round it off, the venerable Paolo Maldini, the culture Allesandro Nesta, the fearsome Jaap Stam and probably the epitome of the modern full back, Cafu comprised the defence.
It was a tall order for any team, of any era, to claw their way into the semis with a 3 goal disadvantage against such a side. Noone gave Super Depor a chance.
But what transpired was one the most astonishing games in Champions League history.
With razor sharp attacks, playing at a high tempo, Coruna tore Milan to shreds. They pressed high up the pitch, won the ball close to Milan’s goal, rode their luck and went into half time with a 3 goal lead in front of a disbelieving Riazor stadium.
Milan were shocked to the core and never recovered. Depor added a 4th in the second half and knocked the holders out of the cup, 4-0 the incredible final score. More importantly, they planted a seed of doubt in every European Club’s minds about the greatness of this Milan team which would have ramifications for some time.
On the long run, this would prove to be Depor’s peak. They’d get knocked out in the semis to Jose Mourinho’s Porto before getting tonked 8-2 in the next season’s tournament by Monaco. They’ve never recovered and now play in Spain’s division 2.
For Milan, this would prove to be the beginning of the end. They would have justly been crowned favorites had they gone through but had to wait until the next year to get to final of the Champions League.
In that final in Istanbul, they were once again the unfortunate victims of yet another miracle which resounds in history. While all glory and credit was rightly given to Rafa Benitez and his Liverpool team for that incredulous comeback, the roots of Milan’s downfall in Turkey started on a balmy night in Spain where little Deportivo shook the world.
This was something!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Nadim Nassif | 03/02/2012 at 08:57 PM