With hopes of the historic all english final in Athens down the drain one can look forward to an all spanish UEFA cup final provided Espanyol beat Werder Bremen in the second leg of the semis.They are holding a 3 – 0 lead from the first game but there is a historical precedent here that has to be overcome.
Espanyol also held a 3-0 lead over Bayer Leverkusen in the 1988 final but then lost 3-0 in the second leg and subsequently on penalties.
Some of the more superstitious among the Espanyol players are giving Ferran Corominas – the scorer of the third goal – a hard time.
“Some of my team-mates told me that I shouldn’t have scored that goal,” he said.
On a more optimistic note he adds “It sets up a possible repeat of that final all those years ago but this is an experienced side so let’s hope we don’t let the same thing happen this time.”
In the meantime the policemen in Athens are probably heaving huge sighs of relief that its not an all english final.They have enough soccer hooligans of their own to deal with.Now they have less to worry about.