One Night in Turin: Youth Cup Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of this season's Youth Cup produced spectacular and unprecedented drama both on and off the pitch last night. Well, one of the games did. Tournament favourites Benfica could manage only a draw at home to Bayern, crashing out 4-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile, over in Turin...

Madrid had forfeited the first leg 3-0 after failing to arrange their home fixture, in similar style to Benfica, who played, but lost 3-0 at home to Bayern.


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Real Madrid	0 - 3*	Juventus
Bayern	3 - 0	Benfica

* Madrid failed to arrange their home leg.

Madrid manager Keane blamed everyone but himself for the mix-up, including claiming he had never failed to arrange a home fixture in six seasons (apart from two this season), that Juventus's team were better than his (he should know, I suppose, as he sold his best youth players to his Italian rivals), and and even claimed it was a conspiracy against him as Youth Shield games were rearranged (after the managers involved notified the Youth Cup organisers before the scheduled match days that the games couldn't be played, not a week after).

Anyway, back to the football.

To be fair, it was an incredible performance and result from Keane's boys, who, despite being thoroughly outplayed, and losing two players to red cards in the second half, still managed to win 4-3.

It was the second red, however, which change the course of the tie. Down to nine men, Juve overran the young Madrid side and score two all-important goals to win over the two legs by an aggregate score of 6-4. A 4-1 away victory would have meant an unbelievable away goals win, but in the end it could be argued that Keane paid for his aggressive approach to the match and the competition as a whole.

Shockingly, minutes after the final whistle, Keane met with the Real Madrid chairman, and was relieved of his duties as manager. Always a controversial, outspoken, and with a sharp eye for a transfer deal, Keane will this morning no doubt be out walking his dogs and reminiscing about his Top 100 Cup and Shield victories. The rest of us will be wondering who the next manager of this famous club will be, and if they can improve on Keane's two trophies in six seasons?

Over in Lisbon, Bayern ensured their passage to the final with a comfortable draw at home to Benfica.

Good luck to both teams in the final, and commiserations to the losers.