makaay mastery downs milan published: wednesday 13 november 2002, 23.00cet ac milan 1-2 rc deportivo la coruña
second-half revival sees deportivo qualify for the second group stage.
a second-half revival saw rc deportivo la coruña make sure of a place in the second group stage of the uefa champions league with a 2-1 win against group g winners ac milan at the san siro.
second-half goals goals from diego tristán and roy makaay made rc lens's battling 3-3 draw at fc bayern münchen in the other group g game an irrelevance, as the spanish side overcame a one-goal deficit and an impassive milan defence.
lion's share deportivo dominated possession in the opening period but still found themselves a goal behind at half-time despite having the lion's share of the goalscoring opportunities.
luque goes close alberto luque shot just wide of christian abbiati's left-hand post after 12 minutes and went even closer three minutes later. with the goalkeeper having raced off his line to punch the ball away from makaay, luque had the chance to lift the ball into an empty net from 25 metres, but his lob just cleared the crossbar.
fierce drive makaay himself had a good chance after 25 minutes as the ball was slipped to him by lionel scaloni, but his fierce drive went straight at abbiati. three minutes later, deportivo goalkeeper juanmi garcía was thanking his lucky stars as a rui costa cross from the touchline bounced off the top of his crossbar. yet there was little he could do to deny jon dahl tomasson milan's opening goal.
excellent cross georgian defender kakha kaladze was allowed a little too much space on the left wing and played in an excellent cross which the danish striker rose to head across the goalkeeper and just inside his left-hand post. with their champions league future at stake, deportivo upped the pace in the second half, but it took the arrival of josé amavisca as a 56th-minute substitute for luque to turn deportivo's fortunes around.
terrific finish just a minute after serginho had stretched juanmi to the limit with an excellent lob, the substitute found tristán with a ball from the left, and the striker was allowed space to compose himself before hitting a terrific drive from 30 metres which abbiati got a fingertip too as it flew into the top right-hand corner of his goal.
full stretch buoyed by that strike, deportivo went on the attack almost immediately, and abbiati was at full stretch to deny makaay as he shot from distance after 62 minutes, but better was to come for the dutch striker.
makaay strikes once more, it was amavisca who provided the pass and, with milan retreating after a counterattack, the substitute picked out the on-rushing makaay with a defence-splitting pass, allowing the striker to outpace his marker before drilling a low shot past abbiati from 20 metres.
defensive composure for the remainder of the game, it was deportivo's turn to show their defensive resilience, and even the arrival of filippo inzaghi as a late substitute could not dent javier irureta's side's resolve.
