Blanc kept his nerve to fire his second shot into the bottom left-hand corner of Antonioli’s net. Bologna’s Giancarlo Marocchi was then sent off two minutes later for a crude challenge on the striker Titi Camara.After the final whistle, the French players appeared to taunt the home fans in response to having fire-crackers and oranges thrown in their direction as the teams made their way to the dressing-room.A Bologna player, thought to be the defender Amadeo Mangone, then swung a punch which triggered a scrap involving six or seven players. These included Marseilles’ Christophe Dugarry, Bologna’s captain and goalscorer Michele Paramatti and the Bologna substitutes, Massimiliano Cappioli and Giampiero Maini.Bologna club officials allege that Stephane Courbis, the son of Marseilles’ coach, Rolland Courbis, and a member of the board of the French club, punched Maini and left him with a badly swollen eye. Some newspapers reported Maini had suffered a fractured cheek bone.A Japanese photographer was caught up in the fracas and had to be taken away on a stretcher for medical treatment.French stewards, who spent the match at the opposite end of the ground keeping an eye on around 2,000 travelling Marseilles fans, then ran the length of the pitch in an attempt to break up the fight Italian riot police carrying batons were also sucked in. After three minutes of chaos in which around 40 people crowded around the tunnel entrance, some throwing punches and some acting as peace-makers, calm was restored.The bad blood between the two sides was evident at the post-match news conferences.
As Paramatti made his way in to the media room, he passed Courbis Snr and accused the French side of being ungracious winners. “And you’re not intelligent enough to know how to accept defeat,” retorted Courbis as he walked out.Bologna’s coach, Carlo Mazzone, refused to discuss the fracas, asking simply: “Do you want to talk about bullshit or do you want to discuss the match?”In the final, on 12 May in Moscow, Marseilles will play another Italian side, Parma, who beat Atletico Madrid in the other semi-final.Fabrizio Ravanelli, Marseilles’ former Middlesbrough striker, will miss the final after collecting his second booking on Tuesday night.. THE SPANISH club Espanyol are interested in signing the Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, the club coach said yesterday. “He’s one of six options I’m shuffling.” said Miguel Angel Brindisi, the coach of the Barcelona club.
Schmeichel said last year he was leaving United at the end of this season and planned to return to his native Denmark. But the Danish international has also said he would consider joining a club in a warmer country if the offer was good.
Brindisi added: “I like Schmeichel a lot He has a great name but, with it, comes a big investment. And that might be pushing our budget.”The Valencia coach, Claudio Ranieri, accused two of his players yesterday of behaving like children. Ranieri had been forced to intervene in a public battle between his Spanish international goalkeeper Santiago Canizares and the Yugoslav defender Miroslav Djukic. Both had publicly accused each other for being at fault for one of Raul’s goals in Real Madrid’s 3-1 defeat of Valencia on Sunday. “This is the sort of thing that goes on between children, not men,” Ranieri added.The pair almost came to blows on the pitch and the row continued with various comments to Spanish journalists in the days after the match.There has been no love lost between the two for months. Canizares had also blamed Djukic for additional defensive errors which have led to three other goals.”His attitude makes me so angry,” Djukic retorted.
“I was not laughing when he let in a bad goal against Extremadura.”Following his coach’s promptings, Canizares apologised to his team-mates yesterday. “I’ll do my best to mend things,” the goalkeeper said.However, Djukic has yet to accept the olive branch Ranieri said that he had not fined either player so far. “The best thing they can do is get themselves together and win against Celta on Sunday,” Ranieri added.Valencia are fourth the Primera Liga and are in contention for a place in next season’s Champions’ League.Roberto Carlos, the roving Real Madrid full-back, is in a contract dispute with the club. The Brazilian World Cup player and his agent have disagreed with the club over his contract’s buy-out clause.Roberto, best known for an astonishing goal from a free-kick at Le Tournoi in 1997, and his agent believes the buy-out figure is only $15m ((pounds 9.3m) while the club president, Lorenzo Sanz, insists it is $100m. The Brazilian international, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the club this season, is widely expected to leave Real Madrid this summer. Several Italian sides, including Internazionale, are believed to be interested in signing the Brazilian, who still has another year remaining of his Real Madrid contract.Marius Lacatus, Steaua Bucharest’s veteran Romanian international, faces a ban of at least six months for a crude tackle which left an opponent with a double fracture of the right leg. Lacatus’s challenge on defender Vasile Ardeleanu came early in Steaua Bucharest’s 2-1 league win over FCM Bacau on Tuesday.