Real find finishing touch to silence Nou Camp

Exquisite goals from Zinedine Zidane and Steve McManaman silenced the Nou Camp crowd on Tuesday, as Real Madrid claimed a priceless 2-0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

Zidane lifted the ball over Barca keeper Roberto Bonano to give Real the lead in the face of concerted Barca pressure on 55 minutes.

McManaman then came off the bench to compund the misery for the Catalans, finishing off an incisive counter-attack from the visitors in the dying seconds.

With the home leg to come in the capital next week, the result puts Real on the brink of a place in the final, to be played against either Bayer Leverkusen or Manchester United at Hampden Park in Scotland in May.

The sense of occasion at the Nou Camp on the first European meeting of the two enduring Spanish rivals in 42 years appeared to get the better of the Catalans, who attacked with more pride than purpose throughout.

Patrick Kluivert forced a fine save from Real keeper Cesar after just 10 minutes and Luis Enrique planted a header against the crossbar shortly afterwards.

Real's cautious approach paid off, though, as Zidane received a sweeping pass from Raul and in one fluid movement sent in a right-foot shot that a leaping Bonano could only palm into the net.

Luis Enrique was just wide with another free header a few moments later and Marc Overmars continued to cause problems whenever he took possession on the left of midfield.

A Barca side missing Brazilian forward Rivaldo lacked the guile consistently to threaten the visiting defence, though, and Real constantly looked dangerous on the break.

The home side failed to learn their lessons from surprising misses from Zidane and Guti and allowed McManaman space on the right to take a pass from Flavio Conceicao and chip Bonano once again.

MAGNIFICENT GAME

"It was a magnificent game and one that did full justice to the occasion," said Real coach Vicente del Bosque.

"We expected Barcelona to submit us to a great deal of pressure and the game developed much as we had predicted."

Barcelona went into the game buoyed by their impressive home record against Real, who have not won a league match at the Nou Camp in 19 years.

Real coach Vicente del Bosque got his tactics just right, though, as he effectively played a five-man defence, with Ivan Helguera dropping back from midfield whenever Barca were in possession.

In the fourth minute Kluivert did manage to find space amid the Real defence and tested Cesar with a low shot to the goalkeeper's right.

Roberto Carlos was looking to exploit the gap created by the injury to fullback Carles Puyol and on his third foray down the left he sent over a skidding low cross that needed a sliding clearance from Abelardo to avert the danger.

Luis Enrique tried his luck from long range and then Kluivert forced a good double save from Cesar.

Raul's best early chance came on 14 minutes as Raul raced on to a long ball from Helguera, forcing the alert Bonano to rush out and save with his feet.

Real started to impose some order on the game midway through the first half, with Zidane an increasingly influential figure.

Barca still just about had the edge but with Kluivert dropping back deep they were only testing Cesar with long shots.

At the start of the second half Overmars pulled back for Luis Enrique to skew a shot just wide from the edge of the area before the game turned with Zidane's moment of magic.

With three minutes to go substitute Geovanni struck the crossbar with a vicious right-foot shot before McManaman completed a famous victory.

And the home fans in the 98,000 Nou Camp full house were denied the celebration they so desired on the day of Catalonia's patron, Sant Jordi