Morientes could be the Real star

At least one Real Madrid player might win this season8217;s Champions League. And it could be the man whose goals knocked the Spanish socce...

At least one Real Madrid player might win this season8217;s Champions League. And it could be the man whose goals knocked the Spanish soccer giants out of the competition. Fernando Morientes was on loan to Monaco when his strike at Madrid8217;s Bernabeu Stadium gave the French team a whiff of a chance after a 4-2 loss.

The second leg ended 3-1 to the French club with Morientes scoring again, and that meant Madrid were out and he was through to the semifinals. Morientes, the leading scorer in this season8217;s competition, will lead Monaco8217;s attack against FC Porto before 52,000 fans at the Aufschalke Stadium in Gelsenkirchen. Technically, he remains a Madrid player although he appears on the way out at the Bernabeu.

The finalists may not be two of Europe8217;s powerhouse clubs. Defending champion AC Milan, nine-time winners Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United, Arsenal and Bayern Munich were knocked out in previous rounds.

But tomorrows8217;s game will give Morientes another chance to say to Madrid it was wrong to drop him from the squad. Now he is in European soccer8217;s shop window and there8217;s a strong chance he will wind up with moneybags Chelsea next season. By coincidence, he might be playing for Porto manager Jose Mourinho.

Speculation has been rife all season that Chelsea8217;s billionaire Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, is about to fire manager Claudio Ranieri and recruit a replacement. Mourinho, whose team eliminated Manchester United in the second round, is the leading contender.

Despite leading Porto to another domestic title to go with last season8217;s UEFA Cup triumph, Mourinho has said he needs new challenges. Even a Champions League success to go with its 1987 triumph in the same competition may not be enough to convince the 41-year-old coach to stay. The same could apply to Monaco coach Didier Deschamps, who has won the World Cup and European Championship for France but yearns to win more with a bigger club.

Monaco captain Ludovic Giuly believes that the team will break up even if it beats Porto tomorrow.

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He noted that Croatian forward Dado Prso had already moved to Scotland8217;s Glasgow rangers While Morientes, Hugo Ibarra and Edouard Cisse were only on loan.

8220;Dado Prso is going to Rangers. Morientes, Ibarra and Cisse do not belong to Monaco and for the rest of the team, we don8217;t know the future,8221; he said. 8220;When you look at our season, all the players should be staying in the squad. Dado is a good teammate. I don8217;t know what happened with the club.8221;

8220;I am happy for him but he could have stayed with us. Dado is not a man who loves money. We are all standing by waiting to see what happens. Our contracts are finished. Mine ends in 2005,8221; Giuly was quoted as saying.

8220;I would like to stay at Monaco and I will not play for any other French club. They tell us everything is fine at Monaco but we do not know who is running the club. Who8217;s in charge of Monaco? We are in the Champions League final. It makes lots of money and our salaries are no higher.8221;

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While there appears some discord at Monaco, all appears calm at Porto. Mourinho, known as a stickler for detail, staged a private training session at the Dragon Stadium before flying out to Germany yesterday.

His team will be weakened by the absence of Sergio Conceicao, who is recovering from surgery. But his team has a strong attacking threat in South African forward Benni McCarthy and Brazilian star Derlei and a vastly experienced goalkeeper in Vitor Baia.