Turkish towel flutters in Europe

In the end Galatasaray won in the shootout when Gheorghe Popescu, Hagi’s brother-in-law, lashed in the decisive penalty after Croatian substitute Davor Suker and French mid-fielder Patrick Vieira had both hit the woodwork with their kicks.

It was the second time in five years that Arsenal’s fate had been sealed in an European final by a player who was formerly with their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Nayim, once of Spurs, scored Real Zaragoza’s winning goal in the 1995 European Cup Winners Cup final, Arsenal’s last appearance in a European final before yesterday.

The shoot-out tipped Galatasaray’s way when Ergun Penbe scored the opening penalty and Suker hit Claudio Taffarel’s left-hand post.

Hakan Sukur, Umit Davala and then Popescu all scored for Galatasaray while Ray Parlour was the only Arsenal player to score from the spot.

Arsenal, who won the 1994 European Cup Winners’ Cup at the same Parken Stadium, started the match the better side but Galatasaray, with Hagi a huge influence, gradually fought their way back and had two great chances to score on either side of halftime.

The first came when Arif Erdem sprung the offside trap but shot wide with only David Seaman to beat. The second came three minutes when Sukur, under pressure from Martin Keown, hit a post after 48 minutes. Keown could have scored at the other end a minute later but sidefooted over the bar.

Arsenal’s best chances came in extra time after Hagi’s dismissal. The best to Thierry Henry in the 107th minute when he seemed set to score what would have been the golden goal winner — only for his close-range header to be turned away brilliantly by Taffarel.

The Brazilian World Cup ‘keeper also did well to deny Nwankwo Kanu soon after and was named Man of the Match afterwards.

It is the second time Arsenal have lost a European final on penalties following their defeat by Valencia in the 1980 European Cup Winners’ Cup final, which also finished goalless.

But their manager, Arsene Wenger, was unhappy that the referee chose to stage the shoot-out at the end of the ground occupied by Galatasaray fans.

“I believe it was a huge advantage to play at the Turkish end, I think it be a toss, not a choice of the referee,” he said.

“The penalties we missed both hit the woodwork — it shows that the biggest players in the world miss penalties,” added the Frenchman.

There were no major disturbances in the ground after a day of violence between opposing fans in the centre of Copenhagen.