BARCELONA lifted the Cup Winners' Cup for a record fourth time in Rotterdam last night as they put an end to Paris Saint Germain's dreams of becoming the first club to retain the trophy.
In a hard-fought but ultimately uninspiring encounter, Barcelona triumphed with a first-half penalty converted by FIFA world footballer of the year Ronaldo.
That proved just enough to secure the Catalan club's eighth win in European competition. The world's biggest club also won the European Cup in 1992 and the old Fairs Cup three times.
It was a sweet moment for Barcelona coach and former England boss Bobby Robson, who has been under intense pressure to deliver silverware since taking over from Johan Cruyff last summer.
Having survived a spell of PSG pressure, Barcelona took the lead in the 37th minute from the penalty spot.
And ironically it was Bruno N'Gotty, the French side's goal scoring hero of last year's final against Rapid Vienna, who conceded, the spot kick, bringing down the irrepressible Ronaldo, as the Brazilian striker bared into the box.
Ronaldo, who had missed from the spot in Saturday's win over Real Madrid, promptly drilled the ball into the back of the net past PSG keeper Bernard Lama to the delight of the Catalan contingent in the 45,000 crowd.
PSG stepped up the tempo after the break and Patrice Loko had an excellent chance to equalise after an hour.
But although his low effort beat Barcelona's Portuguese keeper Mitor Baia, the ball bounced agonisingly against the base of the far post before being cleared.
Barcelona quickly regrouped and Portuguese midfielder Luis Figo, star of last Saturday's crucial league win over title favourites Real Madrid, shot just wide of Bernard Lama's left-hand post at the other end.
In a final throw of the dice, PSG threw on Cyrille Pouget for the tiring, Loko with 13 minutes remaining.
Barcelona, themselves needing fresh legs, then replaced de la Pena with Stoichkov and Luis Enrique with Juan Antonio Pizzi in quick succession as the final minutes ticked away.,
Figo should have wrapped it up for Barcelona in the dying minutes, but he hit the bar with a close range chip over Lama after Bulgarian, veteran Hristo Stoichkov, just on as substitute for Ivan de la Pena, had astutely played him through on the edge of the area.
International Olympic Committee president Joan Antonio Samaranch, a native of Barcelona, described the final as moving.
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