#8 The pass – Gianluca Zambrotta To Pavel Nedved
The game – 2003, Juventus vs Real Madrid
The story – Real Madrid’s galacticos were defending their Champions League crown, the one they won against Bayer Leverkusen with “that” Zidane volley. They came up against a formidable Juventus side, in the 2002-03 Champions League semi-final.
Despite a David Trezeguet goal at half-time, Los Blancos beat the Old Lady 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu with goals from Brazilians Luis Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos. Madrid went into the away leg at the Delle Alpi in Turin as favourites to qualify for the final.
Before the game, Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero was vocal about their chances, he said, "These are great games and everyone here at Juventus is fired up. We didn't start that well in the first leg and we even seemed a bit taken aback but we started to play better when we relaxed and we hope to do just that on Wednesday night." while Marcelo Lippi added, “We want to reach the final but not because we lost to Madrid five years ago. We will have to use our heads and our hearts to eliminate Real Madrid. One or the other is not enough
."
Juventus had not played Madrid since the 1998 Champions League final. But they were on fire in Turin, Trezeguet and Del Piero scored goals in the first half to get their side 2-0 up in the game and 3-2 up on aggregate. The game went on in the second half and Nedved was on fire all game creating space and causing havoc for the Madrid defence.
In the 73rd minute Gianluca Zambrotta picked up the ball in his own half, on the right flank, and after bouncing it off his thigh, delivered a perfectly weighted, delightful aerial pass over the Madrid defence, unleashing Pavel Nedved who finished the game off and sent Juventus into the Champions League final with a stunning first-time strike into the bottom corner of the net.
Nedved who was Juventus’ star performer all through the tournament would go on to make a reckless challenge on Steve Mcmanaman and get suspended for the final. A Zinedine Zidane goal in the 89th minute was merely a consolation, making Nedved’s goal the tie winner.
