UEFA CUP SEMI-FINAL SECOND LEG: Italian soccer took another battering last night as both top Milan sides failed to make it to the UEFA Cup final. Dutch side Feyenoord booked a place in the final to be played in their own stadium, the de Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam, when they drew 2-2 with Inter Milan, to win 3-2 on aggregate.
And AC Milan's valiant efforts to overturn a crushing 4-0 first-leg defeat to Borussia Dortmund finally came to nothing, despite a 3-1 win at the San Siro.
Feyenoord made a rapid start to the second leg of the semi-final, scoring through Pierre van Hooijdonk and Jon Dahl Tomasson as Inter left it late before equalising on the night with goals from Cristiano Zanetti and an injury-time penalty from Mohammed Kallon.
But Feyenoord's 1-0 lead from the first leg in Italy carried them through 3-2 on aggregate to the May 8th final. It will be Feyenoord's first European final for 28 years.
They took the lead when lanky Dutch international van Hooijdonk out-jumped the Inter defence to head Robin Van Persie's cross past Francesco Toldo, giving the Dutch side a 2-0 lead on aggregate in the 17th minute.
The Dutch went further ahead on 34 minutes when van Hooijdonk's pass found Bonaventure Kalou, whose shot was saved by Toldo, but Danish international striker Jon Dahl Tomasson pounced on the rebound and fired home.
Inter's former world footballer of the year Ronaldo played 70 minutes of the match, but it was only after his replacement by Kallon that Hector Cuper's side staged a fight-back.
The Italians failed to score until five minutes from the final whistle when a corner fell invitingly to Zanetti who blasted the ball into the corner of the net.
Two minutes into stoppage-time, Leonardo dos Santos brought down Emre Belozoglu and the referee awarded a penalty which was converted by Kallon, but the Italians had left it too late.
Former European champions Dortmund, who shocked the one-time kings of Europe, AC Milan, 4-0 in Germany last week, held on to win the semi-final 5-3 on aggregate to go through to the final.
Despite Dortmund's first leg advantage, the Germans came under early pressure as Filippo Inzaghi opened the scoring and Cosmin Contra added a second goal to give the hosts a 2-0 lead within 20 minutes.
After numerous claims, Milan were awarded a penalty in the last minute of time which Brazilian Serginho converted, only for Dortmund to snatch a meaningless last-minute consolation goal through Lars Ricken.
Milan fought from the start of the rain-soaked first half with the shots coming thick and fast until Inzaghi's 11th-minute opener.
A cross came over from the right of Jens Lehmann's post and Inzaghi rose to head home as the Dortmund goalkeeper stumbled into the net.
Milan's second goal came only eight minutes later thanks to a probing run by Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko, who was grappled to the ground, prompting a free-kick on the edge of the 18-yard box.
Lehmann saved the free-kick, but his careless rebound fell to Romanian international Contra whose shot took a slight deflection before finding the net.
Milan then had a claim for a penalty turned away after Inzaghi appeared to be pulled down in the box, although his tumble failed to impress the referee.
Milan's third bid for a penalty finally proved fruitful after Inzaghi was deemed to have been held up by defender Christoph Metzelder. Brazilian midfielder Serginho stepped up to bullet the ball past a helpless Lehmann.
But on 90 minutes, Milan's third goal was too little too late.
Moments later a low shot from Ricken from the edge of the box tricked Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati and the Germans could start celebrating.
