spain edge hungary to reach home final published: thursday 2 october 2003, 9.16cet
orchestrated by the brilliant luis suárez, spain overcame a hungary side brimming with talent of its own to reach the final on home soil.
luis suárez pulled the strings as spain made home advantage count to edge past hungary and into the final of the second uefa european championship.
spain were on home soil but found themselves up against a hugely talented hungary outfit inspired by the brilliant flórián albert. spanish teamwork, in no small part aided by the splendid suárez, eventually prevailed, however. jesús maría pereda put them in front and although ferenc bene forced extra time, amancio amaro had the last word for the hosts.
they were made to work extremely hard for victory, though, against a hungary side brimming with talent. there was sándor mátrai, the masterly grey-haired sweeper, lajos tichy, whose build and shooting power belied his surname, and bene, a brilliant 19-year-old winger who finished as top scorer in the olympic games later in the year.
above all, there was the multi-talented albert, who was mutating from the elusive striker first capped at the age of 17 into a deep-lying centre-forward of the highest class: dominant against brazil in the next fifa world cup and european footballer of the year in 1967.
but here he and the rest of his team were second best to suárez, the greatest playmaker in europe, who had just won the european champion clubs' cup with fc internazionale milano. delicate and effervescent, with the crowd chanting his name throughout, he conducted most of the best movements in the match, including pass out to the right which allowed pereda to head in the opener.
injury slowed suárez in the second half, though, and the spanish defence was suddenly under pressure. josé ángel iríbar then spoiled an otherwise fine performance with a flash of uncertainty that allowed bene to nip in and bundle in an equaliser. the goalkeeper soon redeemed himself by saving well when the same player was clean through.
extra time was predictably tense until amaro, subdued on the wing, started to wander inside in search of the ball. first he forced antal szentmihalyi to save with his legs, then struck the winner after josé maria fusté had headed on a corner by carlos lapetra.
