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EUROPA CUP - FINAL REFLECTIONS

Team spirit can be worth more than a generous set of contracts.

Mattersburg proved it last year by winning the Europa Cup with a traditional club side, and now it would be the turn of ACS Perugia - ironically beaten in last season's final and now without their richly assembled selected of foreign stars.

Having fallen to defeat to Reggiana in the opening game of the tournament, their route to the re-match with their domestic rivals in the final is a perilous one though - Roma in the last 16, Belgian champions Hennuyer in the quarters and the all-dominant Eagles Naples in the semis.

But the path ahead of a much-anticipated contest with Napoli in the last four is accomplished with relative ease. And against the Eagles, Andrea Di Vincenzo is the star in a not too unexpected victory.

His early long-range goal against the talented Portuguese player Vasco Guimaraes is to seal a decisive win. Massimiliano Nastasi completes an identical victory against Antonio Mettivieri, and as Francesco Mattiangeli and Alain Hanotiaux are drawn in a goalless deadlock, Massimo Bolognino's 3-0 success against Stefano De Francesco is rendered worthless in the circumstances.

Perugia have an excellent record versus the Neapolitans. However the Eagles usually get the better of Reggiana, who in turn usually beat Perugia. The omens are against the Umbrians for the final.

The signs are further opposing Perugia when Reggiana gain the right for the more favourable selection of players for the individual matches. They allow their opponents to choose first and Mattiangeli's is the opening name on the list, to which Cremona is chosen for a re-match of the previous day's group clash, which the Maltese player won by a single goal.

After Nastasi is set against Marco Lamberti, Reggiana can effectively choose the composition of the last two encounters - Simone Bertelli plays Di Vincenzo, while Saverio Bari goes against Perugia captain De Francisco, with expectations, no doubt, of repeating the 3-0 success achieved when the pair met in their tournament opening tie.

However De Francesco shows that the final is a different affair and after three minutes scores the opening goal of the match. Nastasi, as composed as ever, soon takes the lead over Lamberti, followed immediately by a deflected Mattiangeli goal against Cremona as Perugia establish a commanding 3-0 overall lead in the tie.

It remains that way until literally seconds from half time, when Bertelli scores against Di Vincenzo, to give his side hope for the second period.

And they respond in style. Lamberti levels against Nastasi, whilst Bertelli himself doubles his advantage over Di Vincenzo, calmly dispatching the ball past the keeper from the left wing. A goal in any of the other games, and the cup would be Reggiana's.

The tension grows as the minutes past, until De Francesco slices in a second from a difficult angle against Bari, to swing the momentum back in Perugia's favour.

The final rests on the two games still undecided. Nastasi easily controls the last minute with Lamberti, but the danger comes on the adjacent table. Mattiangeli loses possession, giving Cremona and Reggiana, one last chance to force overtime. As the seconds tick down, the Maltese player lines up a shot, whilst his opponent appeals for something, anything. The referee signals play-on.

Two figures block a clear sight of goal and judging to weight of the required shot is not easy. The pressure of the occasion adds to the difficulty. Cremona has to draw on all of his experience to try to direct and direct his final effort on target. The ball loops towards the top right hand corner, but Mattiangeli's reaction save pushes it away.

With no time to restart the game, the outcome is resolved. Cremona withdraws from the table; head in hands and in despair, whilst his opponent's team start their celebrations.

After the loss of their foreign contingent in the summer, the decision to head to Murcia with their traditional group of players has paid off. Perugia are the champions of Europe for a second time.

Eagles soar into quarter-finals

Tournament favourites Eagles Napoli showed their intent, as they powered into the Europa Cup quarter-finals with 5 wins out of 5, winning all but one individual game in the process.

Napoli - lining up as Gil Delogne, Antonio Mettivieri, Alain Hanotiaux, and Massimo Bolognino - had also finished the group stage as top scorers, recording 52 of the 630 goals scored, though by the end of the last 16 round, Hennuyer had overtaken them.

With a succession of comfortable wins in the preliminary round - only Hanotiaux's 1-1 draw with Richard Stolwijk during the match against Delft denying them a perfect record - Napoli then beat Catalunya 4-0, to set up a tie with another Spanish side, hosts Asociacion Murciana, in tomorrow's quarter-finals.

Italian rivals Reggiana proved to be the day's other form team. Having topped their group with four wins, including a 2-1 victory over second seeds ACS Perugia, they defeated German side Hitdorf 3-0 in the last 16, and now play Falcons, 3-1 conquerors of the English Premier League.

Mattersburg, who last season emerged from a lowly group position to ultimately win the tournament, became victims of the same condition this time around. After winning their pool with maximum points, they fell to a 3-1 defeat in the last 16 against a Charleroi side that had finished fourth in their qualifying pool.

Charleroi face a quarter-final with Stella Artois Milano, 3-1 winners over Delft, but by no means at full strength, shown by the 8-0 defeat of Laura Panza-Intra - ranked 1040th in the world - against the Dutch side's Ron Corsten.

However the Italian side will be buoyed by the form of Efrem Intra, Alex Iorio, and Gianluca Galeazzi

Hennuyer were held to draws by Milan and Falcons, but still managed to take top spot in group 4, before registering a big 4-0 success over Os Pastilhas.

Perugia await the Belgian champions in the final eight, after beating Roma in an all-Italy last 16 clash. With four teams left in the competition, and all kept apart for the quarters, an Italian monopoly of the semi-final places remains a possibility.

* Yorkshire Phoenix, England's second representatives, where eliminated at the group stage after losing all four matches, picking up just one individual success in the 1-3 defeat against Milan.

Perugia overcome the odds

Perugia overcame the loss of last year's foreign contingent and the loss of their tournament seeding this season, to claim a second Europa Cup title, in Murcia, Spain.

Having gone down 2-1 to Reggiana in the group stage, they beat their Italian rivals by the same scoreline in the final, to go one better than last season, when they were runners-up to Mattersburg.

The final - a repeat of 2002 - saw Perugia's Stefano de Francesco defeat Saverio Bari 2-0, whilst Simone Bertelli for Reggiana did likewise against Andrea Di Vincenzo.

Perugia's former world champion, Massimiliano Nastasi, was held 1-1 by Marco Lamberti, but the win was sealed by Francesco Mattiangeli's bad-tempered 1-0 victory against Maltese player Massimo Cremona.

The champions-elect though had faced a tougher test in the semi-finals, when they disposed of the strongly tipped Eagles Napoli team.

However, whilst Napoli have been dominant on the domestic and international scene in recent years, Perugia have had the better head-to-head record between the sides.

And that form was maintained when it really mattered, with Di Vincenzo proving to be the unexpected decisive factor in a 2-1 win.

The world number 151 beat Vasco Guimaraes by a single goal, which, coupled with Nastasi's 1-0 victory over Antonio Mettivieri, sealed the final place, as Mattiangeli and Alain Hanotiaux fought out a goalless draw.

The remaining member of the formidable Eagles line-up, reigning world champion Massimo Bolognino, overcame de Francesco 3-1, but it wasn't enough.

Reggiana booked their berth in the final showdown by beating Stella Artois Milano 3-0, as Italy again showed their strength in depth by providing all four semi-finalists.

Milan's progress to the semis, thanks to wins over Delft in the last 16 and Charleroi, 2-1, in the quarter-finals, was made all the more remarkable by the fact that they had just three regular players in their team, Efrem Intra's girlfriend Laura Panza filling the fourth place.

Napoli had earlier ended the hopes of host club Asociacion Murciana with a comprehensive 4-0 win in the last 8, whilst Perugia sailed past the Belgians of Hennuyer 3-0 at the same stage.

Reggiana took their semi-final place courtesy of a 2-0 win over Falcons Athens.

* Last season's champions Mattersburg finished as the tournament's top scorers with 85 goals, as three straight wins on Sunday saw them to ninth place overall.

* English Premier League were 11th in the final classifications, concluding with a 3-0 victory over Os Pastilhas.

RESULTS

DAY 1 – SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER