Bayern give Real the Elber in first leg upset

Bayern Munich took a precious 1-0 win from the first leg of their Champions League semifinal at Real Madrid on Tuesday thanks to a brilliant first-time strike from Elber and an inspired display from goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. Bayern, beaten by Real at the semifinal stage last season, had to withstand a furious attacking spell from the reigning European champions in the first half.

Real's three clearest opportunities went fractionally wide, though, and Bayern, just as they had in the quarter-finals against Manchester United, struck in the second half to give themselves a valuable away goal to take back for the second leg.

Elber latched on to a loose ball around 20 metres out, turned and swept in at the near post as Real keeper Iker Casillas appeared late to get down on the bouncing ball. Kahn, who had saved brilliantly from Steve McManamn two minutes before Bayern's surprise goal, repeated the trick a minute later as the England midfielder burst through on the left.

And the German keeper did wonderfully well to keep out a Michel Salgado strike at his near post as Real threw everything at the visitors.

Surged forwards

But it was Bayern who came closest to a second goal as Paulo Sergio shot just over as the Germans surged forward on the counter-attack two minutes from time. The only consolation for Real was the yellow card for Stefan Effenberg that will rule the influential Bayern skipper out of the return leg.

Real went into the game buoyed by their 3-2 aggregate victory over Bayern in the semifinals last season. That success was built on a 2-0 win in the home leg and saw them go on to beat Valencia 3-0 in the final and secure an unprecedented eighth European Cup win.

Vicente del Bosque's side started with the same conviction, with Figo a particular menace as he took on a free role behind the front pairing of Raul and Guti. After two snap-shots from Raul, Real had three clear chances in the first half, each time coming within a whisker of breaking the deadlock.

On 16 minutes, Michel Salgado got behind Bixente Lizarazu for the first time in the match. His dinked cross-shot beat Oliver Kahn but there was no-one there to convert. Raul was then put through on the left by Figo's astute through-ball on the half-hour and his first-time shot drifted agonisingly wide of Kahn's right-hand post.

And seven minutes before halftime Ivan Helguera by-passed the Bayern defence and put in a clever ball that Guti just missed, the ball again rolling wide.

Fine form

Real also started the second half in fine form as Figo worked the ball in from the right and shot just wide. But Bayern had warned once in the first period that they could be dangerous as well as Mehmet Scholl slanted the ball wide at the end of a swift breakaway.

The Real defence went to sleep for only the second time 10 minutes after the break and that was enough for Elber to put his side ahead as he stunned the home side with his sweetly times strike.

Real laid siege to the Bayern goal for much of the remainder of the game but the excellence of Kahn and the determination of his defence kept the Spaniards out.

Del Bosque threw on winger Pedro Munitis for defender Salgado with 23 minutes to go but Real tired in the cvlosing stages and were grateful in the end that Paulo Sergio was just off target with his late chance.

Leeds United play Valencia of Spain in the other semifinal with the first leg at Leeds this Wednesday. The final is in Milan on May 23.