Galatasaray gun for Arsenal , Violence mars semis clash at Elland Road

Galatasaray meet Arsenal in the May 17 final in Copenhagen after on-form Thierry Henry scored the vital goal in a 2-1 win at Lens which was enough to see them through.

Pascal Nouma equalised Henry’s effort in the second half and Arsenal substitute Nwankwo Kanu scored late on, but Henri’s goal was crucial as it meant Lens, following their 1-0 defeat at Highbury, had to score three to go through.

Police made 12 arrests at the Elland Road ground after Leeds fans assaulted the buses carrying officials from the Turkish side and later attacked television crews.

A record number of officers were policing the game because of a feared repeat of the violence that marred the first-leg match in Istanbul, when two Leeds fans were killed in Turkey and Galatasaray fans were banned from attending the game for safety reasons.

A minute’s silence was held before kick-off for Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus, the two Leeds fans killed in Instanbul but an appeal by Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale for calm fell on deaf ears as the trouble escalated in a highly-charged atmosphere.

United coach David O’Leary was almost relieved that the heavily-publicised tie had finally come to an end after a difficult few weeks for the club.

“It would have been a lovely token gesture to the two lads had we won the game but it would not have brought them back. It has been a very difficult time for everyone involved with the club, especially the families of Kevin and Christopher.”

Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim was very diplomatic after the game and praised the police and Leeds United for diffusing a potentially explosive situation.

“We felt comfortable with the security inside the stadium and there were no problems”, said Terim.

The Turks, who took to the pitch for the warm-up bearing bouquets of flowers but who were roundly booed by the Elland Road crowd, all but wrapped up the tie with the opening goal of the night after five minutes.

Hakan Sukur received the ball inside the penalty area and as Martyn and Jonathan Woodgate despairingly flew in from different directions, the Turkish striker had his legs taken away and 31-year-old Slovakian referee Lubos Michel had little option other than to give the penalty.

Hagi calmly rolled the spot kick past Nigel Martyn’s outstretched left hand and into the corner.

Leeds levelled after 16 minutes after Jason Wilcox curled the ball in from the left and Norwegian Eirik Bakke rose to head home from six metres past keeper Claudio Taffarel.

Galatasaray went 2-1 up on 42 minutes when Sukur raced onto a Hagi through ball and drove past Martyn.

Seconds later Leeds’ Aussie striker Harry Kewell was red-carded for what appeared to be a stamp on Gheorghe Popescu

Emre Belozoglu, who caught Lee Bowyer with a late tackle, then also picked up a red card and had to be dragged from the field by his manager Fatih Terim as the half ended in chaos.

But from Wilcox’s corner, Bakke nodded a 68th-minute equaliser to save some face, at least on the pitch.

Arsenal dominated their game in Lens. The 22-year-old Henry scored his 21st goal for Arsenal, who reached the first final of a European competition since their Cup Winners Cup loss to Real Zaragoza in 1995.

In the 43rd minute, Henry opened the scoring. Showing superb close control on the left just inside the box, he turned and shot just inside the right hand post of keeper Warmuz.

Pascal Nouma, who had looked dangerous throughout the match, finally headed home the only goal of the tie for the French side in the 73rd.

A cross from Charles-Edouard Coridon sailed over Martin Keown’s head to Nouma, who made no mistake with a header at the far post.

With three minutes to go, Marc Overmars raced down the left and crossed for an easy tap in from Kanu to seal the victory.