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No blanks for Blanc Penalty kick goal propels French club into UEFA Cup final
Posted: Wednesday April 21, 1999 09:13 AM
BOLOGNA, Italy (AP) -- Laurent Blanc converted a dramatic penalty kick with four minutes left as Olympique Marseille tied Bologna 1-1 on Tuesday to advance to the UEFA Cup final. Olympique, which also tied Bologna in the first leg April 6 in France, advanced on the away-goals rule. Olympique will play Italy's Parma in the May 12 final in Moscow. Parma beat visiting Atletico Madrid 2-1 on Tuesday night to advance with a 5-2 aggregate score. After the game, players exchanged punches and kicks, with riot policemen intervening to stop the brawl at the entrance of the tunnel leading to the dressing rooms. Television footage showed that Bologna's captai Michele Paramatti and Olympique's Titi Camara were among those involved. Police also had to battle groups of angry Bologna fans, who tried to reach rival supporters outside the stadium. Police used tear gas to disperse rioting fans. Blanc's goal prevented the unheralded Italian team from reaching its first ever final in an European competition. The Olympique captain had to repeat the penalty kick in the 86th minute after some of his teammates entered the area before his first shot. Blanc's goal silenced the sellout crowd of 38,000 that went wild when defender Michele Paramatti opened the scoring after 18 minutes of play. Paramatti, left unmarked close to the French net, scored with a powerful diagonal drive on a long cross by Beppe Signori, as French defenders concentrated on Swedish striker Kennet Andersson. The Italian team, which emerged from pre-qualifying Intertoto rounds last summer, played mostly defensively after scoring the first-half goal and took several risks in the second part of the match as Olympique fielded an additional forward, Florian Maurice. And it was up to Maurice to earn the penalty on a fast counterattack. The quick French forward was fouled by goalkeeper Francesco Antonioli as he tried to outdribble the Italian keeper. Before scoring the equalizer, Olympique wasted good opportunities with Titi Camara, who replaced Cristophe Dugarry in the second half. Bologna also had some quality chances. On the most sensational play, Andersson rushed unmarked into the penalty area in the 53rd, but hesitated before kicking and was tackled by a French defender. Bologna's Signori also had a chance in second-half injury time, but his drive was stopped by goalkeeper Stephane Porato. Five players were cautioned during the hard-fought match, and Bologna's midfielder Giancarlo Marocchi was given a red card and sent off in the closing minutes. Among those cautioned were Olympique's Fabrizio Ravanelli and William Gallas, who will miss the Cup final because of an automatic supension on their second offense in the tournament.
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