Brazilian midfielder Ze Elias scored a dramatic late winner for Inter Milan last night, as they beat Spartak and staked their claim for a place in the UEFA Cup final.
Inter dominated from start to finish but looked to have thrown the semi-final away when Spartak skipper Dmitri Alenichev prodded in a 48th-minute equaliser, cancelling out Chilean Ivan Zamorano's first-half goal.
However, Inter piled on the pressure and were finally rewarded in the final 60 seconds when Ze Elias, hero of the night after setting up Zamorano's goal, knocked the ball home in a goal-mouth melee.
The strike should be enough to take Inter back to the final, after they lost on penalties to Schalke 04 last season. But the second leg in Moscow in a fortnight's time will be no picnic for Gigi Simoni's side, who were left to rue a host of missed opportunities.
Ronaldo signalled his presence in the fourth minute, picking up a clearance outside the penalty area and sending a rasping shot over the bar. The Brazilian won the deafening applause of the San Siro crowd in the 10th minute after a stunning run past four players, but he just failed to get a shot in.
Inter started the second half where they left off the first, but were rocked after just three minutes. Alenichev breached Inter's defence with a fine dummy on the left and raced through before prodding the ball against the bottom of the near post, sending it spinning across the line for what could prove a vital away goal.
It looked as though Inter were destined never to score until Zamorano rose majestically to head in Ze Elias's curling free-kick.
Inter Milan: Pagliuca, Sartor, Bergomi, Colonnese, West, Winter, Ze Elias, Djorkaeff, Zanetti, Zamorano, Ronaldo.
Spartak Moscow: Filimonov, Gorlukovich, Ananko, Khlestov, Romashchenko, Kechinov, Alenichev, Titov, Tsymbalar, Yevseyev, Sherko.
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