Stunning comeback gets Boro into semis
Middlesbrough 4 Basle 1 (Middlesbrough win 4-3 on aggregate)
Record signing Massimo Maccarone chose the perfect time to pay off his £8.15m transfer fee as Middlesbrough staged a stunning fightback to march into the UEFA Cup semi-finals.
The Teessiders’ cause looked lost when Brazilian striker Eduardo made the aggregate score 3-0 with 23 minutes gone, but on a tension-packed night at the Riverside Stadium, Steve McClaren’s men showed true grit to overcome near-impossible odds.
Basle, who had seen defender Daniel Majstorovic sent off for a second bookable offence with 17 minutes remaining, had literally seconds of normal time and three minutes of added time to negotiate to go through on the away goals rule after a Mark Viduka double and a third from substitute Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had dragged Boro right back into the tie.
But Maccarone snatched victory at the death, firing home after ‘keeper Pascal Zuberbuhler had parried Fabio Rochemback’s shot to book a semi-final showdown with Steaua Bucharest.
“If we pull it off, it will be arguably the greatest night in the Riverside’s history and one that will be talked about for generations to come,” McClaren wrote in his programme notes, and his words were to prove gloriously prophetic.
So often in big games, the margins are desperately fine, and so it proved on this occasion.
Had Aiyegbeni Yakubu retained his composure, Boro would have been back in the tie within 11 seconds of the kick-off, an even more perfect start than could have been hoped for inside an optimistic home camp.
Russian referee Yuri Baskakov might have blown for a foul on ‘keeper Zuberbuhler as the pair jumped for George Boateng’s long ball, but he did not. Yakubu, having retrieved possession, should have found the empty net, but he did not.
Baskakov could have whistled once again after Majstorovic’s clumsy challenge on the Nigerian sent him sprawling inside the penalty area, but once again he did not.
And as the home fans grew increasingly nervous, the inevitable happened.
Mladen Petric’s deep free-kick was perfectly-weighted for Boris Smiljanic to head back across goal and Eduardo smashed it home to leave the Swiss side agonisingly close to killing off the tie.
But the Teessiders grabbed a lifeline 12 minutes before the break when Yakubu slid the ball into Viduka’s run and he blasted his 13th goal of the season past Zuberbuhler to level on the night.
With Petric, Matias Delgado and Eduardo linking superbly, Basle always looked dangerous on the counter-attack, but Boro had little option but to throw men forward in the knowledge that they needed to score at least three more goals to progress.
Zuberbuhler denied them a second with a 43rd-minute save from Yakubu, and McClaren welcomed his players back to the dressing room knowing that they needed to produce the best 45 minutes of their lives to stay in the competition.
The manager’s response was bold, withdrawing winger James Morrison and sending on Hasselbaink.
The Dutchman lined up just behind the front two with Stuart Parnaby asked to push up from right-back to bolster the midfield when his side was in possession.
Parnaby saw a 50th-minute shot blocked by Papa Malick Ba and Hasselbaink forced another could save from Zuberbuhler a minute later as Basle held on.
The ‘keeper kept out Viduka’s dipping 55th-minute volley but he was beaten for a second time two minutes later when the Australian collected Yakubu’s pass and rounded him to slot home.
Basle could simply not force their way out of their own half as the Teessiders, driven on by George Boateng from the middle of the field, hammered away at them.
Coach Christian Gross withdrew the ineffectual David Degen and introduced Scott Chipperfield with 29 minutes remaining, but such was Boro’s dominance that McClaren was able to leave a badly-limping Franck Queudrue on the pitch for several minutes before eventually replacing him with Maccarone.
With 17 minutes remaining when Majstorovic, who had earlier been booked for a foul on Yakubu, raised a hand to Boateng and was yellow-carded for a second time.
Rochemback and Hasselbaink forced saves from Zuberbuhler in quick succession, but there was nothing to ‘keeper could do when the Dutchman let fly from 25 yards with 11 minutes remaining to level the aggregate scores and set up a grandstand finish.
And the drama continued right to the last when, after the ‘keeper had turned away Rochemback’s stinging drive, Maccarone fired home the rebound to spark delirious celebrations among a crowd of 24,521.
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