Leeds United's engrossing Champions' League campaign finished last night in much the way it had started last September - with a heavy defeat on Spanish soil yards away from the Mediterranean. Nine months ago David O'Leary's young team had been well and truly beaten 4-0 in the Nou Camp in Barcelona and been mocked in Spain for the poverty of their performance.
Last night, down the coast in Valencia, it was a similar score-line as this individually and collectively excellent Valencia side progressed to a second consecutive European Cup final. However, while the score was nearly the same, the Leeds performance was considerably better.
That the night ended in shame with Alan Smith being sent off for a two-footed lunge at the substitute Vicente in injury-time was a shame in itself because Leeds had been undone by quality, not by themselves. The Yorkshire club could point to the legitimacy of Valencia's opener, scored by Jaun Sanchez, the man Lee Bowyer trod upon, with Sanchez's left bicep, but ultimately it was Valencia's superior defending and attacking movement that won the game in such decisive fashion.
It was sealed in the space of four electric minutes soon after half-time when Sanchez got his and Valencia's second and Gaizka Mendieta added a fine third. There was still 40 minutes to play after that and though Leeds, principally through Harry Kewell, tried to rally, it was Nigel Martyn who was making saves at the other end.
It means the Valencia manager Hector Cuper will have guided a club to a third European final in a row, a unique achievement. In tactical terms, O'Leary forsook the opportunity of bringing Gary Kelly in for Bowyer on the right and went with his instinct which, when it comes to sending out teams, is always progressive. Eirik Bakke lined up in front of Danny Mills.
Otherwise the Leeds team was as expected, although Hector Cuper surprisingly chose his brilliant young Argentinian creator Pablo Aimar when the view in Spain had been that Cuper would plump for a more defensive beginning.
In a stadium where literally hearing yourself think was difficult, it was easy to understand why Cuper thought he would have the tide of noise behind his side, a volume that would increase every time Aimar threatened something special. The slightest hint of this and that did happen, Mendieta raising expectations with an early volley that Martyn saved smartly.
Mendieta clearly had the taste and it was from his curling invitation of a cross that Valencia went ahead. Swung in from the right touch-line, Mendieta's centre cut out both Rio Ferdinand and Dominic Matteo and Sanchez met it on the dive. Whether Sanchez' connection was with his hand, shoulder or head was hard to tell from a seat high in the stands; but the ball went in and Leeds circled the referee Urs Meier immediately. Meier did not bother to consult his linesman. The goal stood.
Nevertheless, Leeds still needed just an equaliser to go through. They set about getting it admirably, inspired by Kewell on the left and Olivier Dacourt in the middle. In the 27th minute after Kewell had rounded Jocelyn Angloma, the resulting corner caused a goal-mouth scramble; Kewell then sent a fierce drive fizzing over Santiago Canizares' bar and Dacourt followed that with a superb run past three opponents and a shot from 20 yards.
Mark Viduka kept the momentum going with some great footwork to set up David Batty. Batty's shot was weak but Leeds had reasserted their right to be here, though there was a dubious moment shortly before the interval when Kily Gonzalez went to ground in the Leeds area under a challenge from Bakke.
However, Leeds' first-half recovery and any heroic interval speeches were not merely rendered redundant by Valencia's second-half surge, they were obliterated. Two shots of breathtaking precision nestled in Martyn's bottom left-hand corner.
The first came from Sanchez. As he raced across the front of the Leeds box it seemed Sanchez had reached a dead end; moreover Bakke was closing in, yet Sanchez whipped the ball with his left foot back across himself and beyond Martyn.
Leeds' response was an amazing dribble from Kewell but the possibility of a romantic comeback was nullified by Mendieta's goal just four minutes later.
Leeds had gone for it, pushing numbers forward, when suddenly Valencia broke away at speed. When Mendieta was played in by Kily Gonzalez's perfect pass, the Valencia captain found himself alone in a green acre. He could have run on but instead chose to shoot. It was a good choice, the ball zooming low past Martyn.
Even Leeds fans should have saluted Valencia at that moment.
Valencia: Canizares; Angloma, Ayala, Pellegrino, Aurelio, Albelda, Mendieta (Angulo 73), Aimar (Deschamps 70), Kily Gonzalez (Vicente 65), Carew, Sanchez. Subs Not Used: Palop, Djukic, Zahovic, Alonso. Booked: Sanchez, Aimar. Goals: Sanchez 15, 46, Mendieta 52.
Leeds: Martyn; Mills, Ferdinand, Matteo, Harte, Bakke, Dacourt, Batty, Kewell, Viduka, Smith. Subs Not Used: Robinson, Kelly, Woodgate, McPhail, Wilcox, Burns, Maybury. Sent Off: Smith (90).
Referee: Urs Meier (Switzerland).
