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This was a close thing! It wasn't on the television, so I had to be content with watching Rai's teletext, but it was kind of exciting even on there! It looked all over when Stanic scored on only 4 minutes - but then Graz equalised and then scored again to make the score 2-2, so forcing us into extra time! Oh 'eck things looked bad when Sturm scored on 95' - I thought that was curtains for us! However, Mario came up trumps again on 108' and then Crespo popped up with a goal to make certain that we progressed to the last 16. By most accounts though, we were lucky as can be! Here is what Eurosport had to say:-
CONTROVERSIAL GOAL TAKES HOLDERS PARMA THROUGH
Sturm Graz 3 Parma 3
First leg: 1-2. Parma won 5-4 on aggregate
Scorers: Sturm Graz - Hannes Reinmayer 67, 95, Ivica Vastic 87
Parma - Mario Stanic 5, 110, Hernan Jorge Crespo 120
Halftime: 0-1; 90 minutes: 2-1; Attendance: 13,400
GRAZ, Austria, Dec 9 - A controversial Mario Stanic goal in extra time demoralised Sturm Graz and lifted UEFA Cup holders Parma into the fourth round after a 3-3 draw on Thursday.
They won 5-4 on aggregate. Sturm were ahead 4-3 on aggregate when Yugoslav referee Miroslav Radoman and his assistant decided Stanic's
110th minute shot, caught by Austrian
goalkeeper Josef Schicklgruber, had
crossed the goal-line.
The decision left Parma in the driving seat on the away goals rule and Hernan Jorge Crespo rubbed salt into the wound with the holders' third goal in injury time.
"I was standing inside (the goal-line), yes, but the ball was definitely not over the line," insisted Schicklgruber. Stanic, who scored in Parma's 2-1 first leg win over the Austrian champions, opened the scoring at the Arnold Schwarzenegger stadium after only five minutes when he profited from a defensive blunder.
Second half substitute Hannes Reinmayer equalised in the 67th minute from captain Ivica Vastic's pass and Vastic scored himself three minutes from the end of normal time to take the tie into extra time.
Sturm, by far the more adventurous side, looked set for a stunning win over the cup holders when Reinmayer's 95th minute shot bounced out of goalkeeper Davide Micillo's arms and rolled into the net. But Stanic's controversial goal dashed their hopes.
Teams and things:
Sturm Graz: 22-Josef Schicklgruber; 3-Guenther Neukirchner (17-Didier Angibeaud 64), 7-Gerald Strafner (5-Franco Foda 60), 16-Ferdinand Feldhofer (9-Hannes Reinmayer 57); 18-Markus Schopp, 6-Roman Maehlich, 12-Gilbert Prilasnig, 11-Gyorgy Korsos, 20-Mehrdad Minavand; 10-Ivica Vastic, 21-Tomislav Kocijan
Parma: 12-Matteo Guardalben (22-Davide Micillo 76); 21-Lilian Thuram, 19-Stefano Torrisi, 17-Fabio Cannavaro; 23-Michele Serena, 8-Dino Baggio (4-Roberto Breda 71), 25-Johan Walem, 14-Alain Boghossian, 24-Paolo Vanoli; 13-Mario Stanic, 20-Marco Di Vaio (9-Hernan Jorge Crespo 46)
Referee: Miroslav Radoman (Yugoslavia)
