Inter lay platform for final progress

INTER MILAN staked their claim to a place in the final last night when they beat 10-man Monaco 3-1 in the semi-finals at the San Siro stadium. Maurizio Ganz, who scored all three in their 3-2 victory over Anderlecht in the quarter-finals, was Inter's hero - scoring another two and offering the third on a plate for Ivan Zamorano in the first half.

Monaco had defender Gilles Grimandi sent off two minutes after the re-start, for throwing a punch in an off-the-ball incident, but substitute Victor Ikpeba still pulled one back for the French league leaders. After having been comprehensively out-played in the opening 45 minutes, it was a goal which keeps Monaco's hopes alive for the second leg in a fortnight's time.

Roy Hodgson's men could live to regret a poor second-half performance, due largely to an almost total breakdown in midfield, which allowed the French side back into the match.

Known to be an attacking side, Monaco quickly showed they hadn't come to defend, with both Brazilian striker Sonay Anderson and teenager Thierry Henry probing the Inter defence.

enter soon countered with Paul Ince, but the England midflelder's effort was blocked and Zamorano followed up the rebound with a low shot across the area which only just eluded Ganz's outstretched boot. It took a desperate header from Emmanuel Petit to deny Ganz in the area moments later and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez just stopped a Ciriaco Sforza header with his legs as Inter piled on the pressure.

The breakthrough wasn't long in coming, though. Ganz collected a swiftly-taken free-kick, skipped Bruno Irles's tackle and lashed the ball past Barthez into the far corner from 15 yards.

On the half hour, Youri Djorkaeff, who spent five years at Monaco, led a counter-attack before feeding the ball wide to Ganz, who beat Grimandi and galloped through to fire past Barthez from point-blank range - for his eighth goal of the tournament.

Grimandi should have pulled one back for Monaco in the 33rd minute, but with a free shot from around the penalty spot, the luckless Frenchman could only skew the ball wide.

But Ganz hadn't finished with Monaco yet, and the Italian took a fine through-ball from Djorkaeff and again led the charge through the French area in the 40th minute. The striker could have shot for a hat-trick, but he unselfishly opted for a cross which beat the entire Monaco defence and left Zamorano with the job of knocking the ball into an empty net.

However, Monaco actually played far better with 10 men than 11 in the second half, with Anderson being handed a one-on-one with Pagliuca by Sylvain Legwinski in the 57th minute, only for the Inter goalkeeper to pull off a superb save.

Ikpeba hadn't been on the pitch five minutes when the Nigerian collected the ball on the right flank, moved inside the Inter defence and hit a stunning left-foot drive past Pagliuca.

In the other semi-final, Spain's Tenerife hung on for a 1-0 win over Schalke despite conceding a penalty and being reduced to nine men.

Tenerife went ahead through a fifth-minute penalty, but lost their way when Angel Vivar Dorado was sent off in the second half. They then survived a penalty miss after goalkeeper Marcelo Ojeda was dismissed 15 minutes from the end.

The Spaniards controlled the opening phase of the match and were rewarded quickly when Juanele Castanos broke down the right and was brought down in the area by Schalke captain Olaf Thon. Felipe Minambres had no problem in sending goalkeeper Jens Lehmann the wrong way from the spot.

With midfielder Slavisa Jokanovica feeling the effects of a knee injury, Juanele, Felipe and Antonio Pinilla took control as Schalke struggled to find their feet.

But 10 minutes into the second half the game changed shape radically when Angel Vivar Dorado was sent off for elbowing Radoslav Latal in retaliation for a heavy challenge.

From then on Tenerife lived dangerously as Schalke's Marc Wilmots hit the bar with a header and Ingo Anderbruegge forced two fine saves out of Ojeda.