Valencia 3 Leeds United 0
Valencia tore apart Leeds United 3-0 in their European Champions League semi-final second leg match tonight to make their second successive Champions League final.
The arguments will carry for a long time over the legality of Juan Sanchez's first goal after 16 minutes but there can be no complaints about his second, two minutes after the beak, nor Gaizka Mendieta's strike on 52 minutes.
Leeds players protested vehemently that Sanchez's first effort was handball but Swiss referee Urs Meier viewed the ball as having bounced off the Spanish international's chest, close to his shoulder, after a long range pass from Mendieta found Sanchez free of his marker Rio Ferdinand.
However, after a good period at the end of the first half, the English Premiership side were stunned by two almost identical goals within seven minutes of the break.
The pair of goals put the game, and their bid to make their first Champions League final in 26 years, beyond the reach of the Yorkshire club but, to their credit, they continued to go forward and departed with dignity.
For his second goal, Sanchez threaded his way through a host of Leeds defenders and then unleashed a low, powerful shot from 25 metres out. The blast evaded the outstretched arms of Leeds goalkeeper Nigel Martyn and found the bottom left corner of the net.
Five minutes later Mendieta, the game's outstanding player, repeated the punishment from almost exactly the same position and in almost exactly the same fashion.
Valencia could have gone four up just after the hour but an effort from their giant Norwegian striker John Carew rebounded off the post.
Leeds' best chance came in a 15-minute period at the end of the first half when a fusillade of shots from the edge on the box, unleashed in turn by Harry Kewell, Oliver Dacourt, David Batty and Alan Smith all required good saves from Valencia goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, the Spanish club's first leg saviour.
However in the end it was Valencia who were worthy winner and progress to the Champions League final in Milan on May 23 where they will face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. -AFP