Motty's Magic Matches

Spain triumphed in the last seconds of the game

Part Two: Yugoslavia v Spain, Euro 2000, BBC Five Live 909&693 MW, Wednesday 13 June, 2100BST

In his series featuring some of the great games he has commentated on for BBC TV, John Motson looks back at one of the most thrilling international matches ever seen - Yugoslavia v Spain at Euro 2000.

John is joined in the studio by Match of the Day pundits Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson, who were both at the game that day.

Lawrenson says it was one of the most amazing matches he'd ever witnessed.

"We've seen hundreds of poor games, hundreds of average games, hundreds of good games and only a handful of special games, of which undoubtedly this was one.

"And when you consider the stage of the competition, I think the standard of the game was a big surprise."

Hansen agrees: "There was drama, there was excitement, goals, controversy, scintillating football, there was a massive twist at the end, and there were no losers. But apart from that, there was nothing to shout about!"

It was the final game in the group stage - while Yugoslavia only needed a draw, Spain had to win to guarantee a quarter-final berth.

You'd expect the Yugoslavs to attempt to defend because they only needed a draw. But it didn't work out like that

Alan Hansen

The first half hour remained goalless until, against the run of play, former Aston Villa player Savo Milosevic struck to give Yugoslavia the lead.

Alfonso answered back for the Spaniards and it was level at half-time, with no sign of the excitement still to come.

Dejan Govedarica came on as a substitute for Yugoslavia at the break and within minutes of the re-start had put his side ahead again.

Just a minute later, Spain replied with a tremendous curling 20-yard shot from their own half-time substitute, Pedro Munitis.

Rollercoaster game

With the game poised at 2-2, the drama was upped a notch when Yugoslavia went down to ten men with the dismissal of midfielder Slavisa Jokanovic.

Hansen would not have been surprised if, after this, the Yugoslavs had decided to play safe.

"At this stage with the Spanish needing to win the match, you'd think the ball's in their court and the Spanish are going to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

"You'd expect the Yugoslavs to attempt to defend because they only needed a draw. But it didn't work out like that."

It looked as though the sending off would not matter, when Slobodan Komljenovic toe-poked the ball home to give the Yugoslavs the lead for the third time, with 15 minutes left on the clock.

With the score staying at 3-2 until stoppage time, Spain looked down and out.

Alfonso's last-gasp winner

But they continued to throw everyone forward until Abelardo was brought down in the box. Mendieta stepped up to take the penalty and brought it back to 3-3.

At this stage, a draw was not enough for Spain to go through. Norway's game against Slovenia had just ended 0-0 and they looked set to qualify along with Yugoslavia.

But, with just seconds left to go, Alfonso popped up to fire a sensational winner for Spain.

The Spanish were ecstatic, the Yugoslavs dejected - until news of the Norwegian draw came through.

That result meant that both Spain and Yugoslavia had qualified - the Norwegians, playing in Arnhem, were devastated to miss out in the dying seconds.

Alan Hansen reflects that the game had completely turned his expectations upside down.

"A lot of us thought that this was going to be tight, it was going to be negative and people were going to sit back.

"I know the Yugoslavs aren't great defensively, but it had 0-0 written all over it.

"Then we end up with 4-3 and probably the best game you're ever liable to see. It was just a great privilege to be there."