DINAMO ZAGREB v AC MILAN: TIME MACHINE

Stefano Pioli's AC Milan will play their last away match of the Champions League group stage at Zagreb's historic Maksimir. The Croatian venue, home of Dinamo since 1948, has hosted the Rossoneri on three official occasions, most recently in the return leg of a third qualifying round of Europe's top competition. The first leg, played two weeks earlier, had swung the qualification in favour of Zaccheroni's side: we relive the second leg in our Time Machine.

THE SCENARIO
22 August 2000. While on this occasion the Zagreb match will be the last away game of the group stage, 22 years ago it was the first European match of the season away from San Siro. In a season made unusual by the Sydney Olympics, which moved the start of the league to the beginning of October - well after the start of the Champions League group stage, on 12 September, and of the Coppa Italia, which saw AC Milan make their debut on 16 September - the Maksimir clash was the second official match of the season for Zaccheroni's team. Needing to continue the development of the team, therefore, despite the 3-1 victory in the first leg, the coach from Romagna made only three substitutions compared to the team that played the San Siro match: with Gattuso central in the four-man midfield, Coco (for Serginho) and Guly (for Ambrosini) found a position on the wings, while Gianni Comandini, who had scored as a substitute two weeks earlier, was chosen to complete the offensive trio along with Shevchenko and José Mari. 

ANOTHER SHEVA BRACE
From one double to another. The first half in Zagreb bears the name of an irrepressible Andriy Shevchenko, who, after the two goals scored in San Siro in Croatia, repeated himself in the first 42 minutes of the game. In the 23rd minute, the Ukrainian scored with a splendid free-kick from 25 metres, a central dead-footed shot whose trajectory was unstoppable for Butina; in the 42nd minute, the Rossoneri number 7 scored again, collecting a defective rebound by Sedloski in the six-yard box and depositing it in the net with a volley. Things went from bad to worse for Dinamo, as Sheva also caused the Croatians' a numerical deficit a minute after the double goal, when a run of his own was stopped by an intervention from Agić, who was first cautioned and then sent off for protests by Spanish referee Roca.

JOSÉ MARI CLOSES OUT
Strengthened by the two goals and the numerical advantage, AC Milan played on cloud nine, controlling the strong efforts of the hosts without too many worries. The third Rossoneri goal came in the 55th minute, a great team goal. Gattuso's central filter that caught Coco's cut, cross from the left for the central insertion of José Mari, who put in from two steps. For the Spanish striker it was his first goal in the Champions League with the AC Milan shirt and his first goal in general, for the Rossoneri, away from San Siro. In the final minutes, Roque Júnior, making his official debut in an AC Milan shirt after arriving from Palmeiras that summer, was the most notable player. At Maksimir's stadium it ended 3-0 for the Rossoneri, who sealed their passage to the group stage with an authoritative performance.

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