UNDATED. Apr 3: A cool piece of finishing by Romania s World Cup star Gheorghe Hagi helped Barcelona escape with a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich at the Munich Olympic Stadium while Bordeaux overcame Slavia Prague 1-0 in . their UEFA Cup semifinal first leg encounters on Tuesday, reports Reuter.
In an exciting semifinal played In sleet and freezing temperatures. Hagi took advantage of a calamitous back pass from Bayern's German international defender Markus Babbel and fired home with his left foot In the 77th minute.
The goal was a major psychological blow to Bdyeni who had battled back from behind with two goals in five minutes In the second half following a brilliant 15th minute Barce Iona strike by Oscar Garlcla.
Bayern, bidding for their first European trophy for 20 years, had looked In real trou ole after Oscar played a brilliant one two with Jose Marla Bakero through the middle of their defence and hit the ball Into the right hand corner.
But the Germans came out after the Interval with new purpose and went 2-1 ahead with goals from Marcel Wlteczek and Mehmet School tn the 52nd and 57th minutes.
Hagi a second away goal for Barcelona, however will make life very difficult for the Germans In the second leg In Spain In two weeks
Bayern showed real character to bounce back after the interval following a poor first half in which Barcelona looked a class above the Germans.
After lust seven minutes on (he piten substitute Wlteczek picked up a pass from mid-
fielder Christian Nerllnger on the left side of the area and fired a low shot into the righthand corner.
Five minutes later School found space on the left of the box. His first shot was blocked by Barcelona goalkeeper Carlos Busquets but the diminutive international midfielder struck home the rebound from close range.
Bayern turned up the pressure after that and looked capable of stretching their lead.
But Hagi pounced on Babbel’s poor pass across the middle of the pitch, outpaced defender Thomas Helmer and
nant in the second half, but failed to break down a seemingly impenetrable Bordeaux
Slavia striker Karel PotiSf-sky capped a fine run 12 minutes from time by slipping the ball past Bordeaux goalkeeper Gaetan Huard. But French Internationa) defender Bixente Lizarazu blocked it just before substitute Jiri Stejnar could tap it into the empty net.
The home side were weakened by the absence of suspended defenders Jan Sucho parek and Martin Penicka. The inexperienced Martin Hysky was substituted after only 29 minutes but by then the daiji age had been none
Botdeaux coach Gernoi Rohr said: Slavia played a goqd match and put us under pres sure ihroughout the second half. The return match will Ije difficult "
Slavia’s Frantisek Cipro said: "We left Zidane and Dugarry alone and paid by going down 1-0 very early and that was the deciding factor.
"But we have played very well up to now in the Cup games and not all is lost. Wc just have to play hard again aijd then see."
placed the ball Into the right corner with clinical accuracy.
"We were hit badly by that early goal and didn't really recover until the second half. Bayern coach Otto Rehhagel said
"We are going to have to play better than we did in the first half Infront of 90.000 fans tn Barcelona. Barcelona played some great one-touch football tonight we still have a chance but we have to win there now "
Barcelona trainer Johan Cruyff, returning to the ground on which he played for the Netherlands in the 1974 World Cup final, said he was happy with the way Barcelona had played
’Both teams took a lot of risks." Cruyff said. "Bayern played some superb football in the second half but I am pleased with the way we played."
Away in Prague, striker Christophe Dugarry capitalised on an early mistake in the Salavia Prague defence to give Bordeaux victory
Dugarry. who stuck twice in Bordeaux s upset quarter final victory over AC Milan, was un marked In the middle of the box when he scored in the seventh minute from a cross by Zinedine Zidane, who had sweyt past defender Radek
The away win puts the French aide, who qualified for the UEFA Cup through the In ter Toto Cup. in the driving scat for the second leg In Bor de aux tn two weeks time
Dugarry came close to In-creaaing Bordeaux's lead in the first half, hitting the crossbar once and also forcing a number of saves from Slavia's keeper Jan Strjskal
The Czech side were domi-nant in the second half, but failed to break down a seemingly impenetrable Bordeaux
Slavia striker Karel PotiSf-sky capped a fine run 12 minutes from time by slipping the ball past Bordeaux goalkeeper Gaetan Huard. But French Internationa) defender Bixente Lizarazu blocked it just before substitute Jiri Stejnar could tap it into the empty net.
The home side were weakened by the absence of suspended defenders Jan Sucho parek and Martin Penicka. The inexperienced Martin Hysky was substituted after only 29 minutes but by then the daiji age had been none
Botdeaux coach Gernoi Rohr said: Slavia played a goqd match and put us under pres sure ihroughout the second half. The return match will Ije difficult "
Slavia’s Frantisek Cipro said: "We left Zidane and Dugarry alone and paid by going down 1-0 very early and that was the deciding factor.
"But we have played very well up to now in the Cup games and not all is lost. Wc just have to play hard again aijd then see."