Bruges, Belgium, June 21 - Spain produced one of the most astonishing comebacks of all time to beat Yugoslavia 4-3 and reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2000.
Trailing 3-2 with just five minutes of injury time to go, Spain scored twice to pull the match out of the fire.
Milosevic had headed the Yugoslavs into the lead with his
fourth strike of the competition before Alfonso grabbed equaliser.
Substitute Dejan Govedarica then restored Yugoslavia's lead with a shot which
rattled into the net off the underside of Canizares' crossbar.
A minute later Spanish substitute Pedro Munitis equalised with a
shot which cannoned off Kralj's right hand post on its way into the goal.
Spain, needing to win to be certain of a place in the quarter-finals, looked favourites after the sending-off of Slavisa Jokanovic on 65 minutes.
But Yugoslavia took the lead again when Slobodan Komljenovic capitalised on
ragged Spanish defending to poke home a shot at Canizares' right hand post.
With the whistle already blown on Norway's 0-0 draw with Slovenia in the
group's other final match, only a win would put Spain into
the last eight.
Injury-time goals from Mendieta (from penalty) and Alfonso Perez turned things round when all had seemed lost, leaving Spain top of the group with Yugoslavia also qualifying in second place.
 | GOALS |
1-0 (32nd minute) - Excellent cross from Drulovic is headed home
powerfully by Milosevic.
1-1 (39th minute) - Alfonso beats Kralj from six metres after good
work by Raul sets up the chance.
2-1 (51st minute) - Govedarica strikes the ball home from 15 metres
after pass from Drulovic.
2-2 (52nd minute) - Exteberria sets up Munitis who fires home a
fine shot from the edge of the area.
3-2 (76th minute) - Komljenovic stretches out foot at end of a
melee in the Spanish defence and scores from six metres out.
3-3 (88th minute) - Mendieta scores from the penalty spot after
Abelardo is brought down.
3-4 (90th minute) - Alfonso drives the ball home from 10 metres.
| AFTER THE MATCH |
"We had one player injured and one man sent off today wich
will cause us problems for the next game. But I'm still satisfied and I think all our fans will be satisfied as well." (Vujadin Boskov, Yugoslavia's coach).
"We are being discriminated against in this
championship and I don't know what has led to such a state of
affairs. The decision (to send Jokanovic off) was overly harsh and it
was never a penalty. All the referee's decisions were
problematic." (Dejan Govedarica, Yugoslav player).
"I don't think I deserved to be sent off.
The second yellow card was too harsh. My impression was that the
referee was simply waiting for the smallest incident to show me
a red card" (Slavisa Jokanovic, Yugoslav player).
"It's the third time in this championship the officials have been
against us. I didn't think we played so roughly as to deserve
the treatment we got. They can all be against us, but I think God looked down on
us and that we can go far" (Savo Milosevic, Yugoslav player).
| STATISTICS |
