“Should we have spent so heavily in the past? Probably not. But we lived the dream.”
The infamous, immortal words of then-Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale, following the sale of Jonathan Woodgate. It was the same season Leeds sold Rio Ferdinand for £30m to Manchester United, Robbie Keane for £7m to Tottenham Hotspur and Robbie Fowler to Manchester City for £6m as the club desperately tried to raise funds.
Such desperation was almost unthinkable just two years prior, as Leeds rubbed shoulders with Europe’s elite.
The 1990s was a significant boom decade for English football. The bleeding of star players to foreign leagues stopped as the European ban on English clubs was lifted, the money from the Premier League flooded in, as did money from outside investment. Club owners and chairmen up and down the country gazed upon the new landscape with dollar signs in their eyes.
The first season of the Premier League saw spending over around £40m throughout the division. Four years later that was up to around £150m. Four years later it was pushing £300m.
Blackburn, financed by local businessman Jack Walker, spent their way not just to the top flight but to the Premier League title. Newcastle had almost done the same the year after. The likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea splashed the cash year after year.
It was hard not to see the opportunity presented to ambitious clubs, and by the end of the decade, few had more ambition than Leeds United.
A decade earlier, Leeds had ended an eight-year stint in the second tier, going on to pip Manchester United to the First Division title just two years later.
In the next seven years, Leeds bounced between 17th and fourth in the Premier League, and were closing in on the expanded UEFA Champions League under the guidance of George Graham, prior to his departure for Tottenham, with David O’Leary his replacement early in the 1998/99 season.
The club had spent in those years; not extravagantly, but enough to build a team capable of qualifying for Europe, and in O’Leary’s first full season, Leeds found themselves top at Christmas.
A poor second half to the season saw Leeds eventually finish third – enough for a UEFA Champions League place – having fallen at the semi-final stage of the UEFA Cup to Galatasaray.
In qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, the outlay increased significantly; Leeds blew everyone out of the water. The wonderfully gifted Olivier Dacourt broke the club’s transfer record with a £7m move from Lens with Mark Viduka joining for £6.5m from Celtic and Dominic Matteo arriving for nearly £5m from Liverpool.
The club would then break the world transfer record for a defender by signing Rio Ferdinand for £18m in the November, with Robbie Keane making his loan move permanent near the end of the campaign, signing for £12m from Inter.
Despite the spending, the 2000/01 season started poorly for Leeds. The Whites took eight points from their first six games, 22 from their first 16 and 25 from their first 19 to languish in the bottom half.
But the 2000/01 season will never be remembered for their domestic endeavours; for the only the second time since 1975 when they lost to Bayern Munich in the European Cup final in hugely contentious circumstances, Leeds were back amongst Europe’s elite.
Of course, no fans at the start of the season could have predicted what was to come. Aside from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, there were European giants Real Madrid, Milan, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus.
When the draw pitted Leeds in a group with Barcelona and Milan, another run to a European semi-final didn’t seem that unrealistic, though it would more than likely be the UEFA Cup, via a third-place finish in the group.
Even the most optimistic Leeds fan was given a stiff reality check when losing 4-0 to Barcelona in their opening game. Rivaldo and Frank de Boer put Barca 2-0 up early on with Patrick Kluivert turning a win into a rout with a late brace. A true baptism of fire.
Anybody can go to Barcelona and get beaten, but if you go there with a young team like ours and missing six first-team players, you’re in trouble. We got absolutely hammered.
- David O’Leary to The Guardian in 2020.
If Leeds were to enjoy any success in Europe, it would come in front of their raucous home fans. Leeds welcomed Milan to Elland Road, facing a side containing the likes of Dida, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Demetrio Albertini and Andriy Shevchenko.
It was a youthful Leeds outfit full of vim and vigour; the oldest outfield player was the 26-year-old Matteo.
Conditions were treacherous, not conducive to free-flowing football, but Leeds more than played their part in the contest. As they edged towards a hard-earned point, Lee Bowyer chanced his arm… Dida spilled it, and sensationally, Leeds took all three points.
We scored last minute and it was absolutely bouncing it down the whole game, absolutely drenched. Bowyer scored and Dida dropped it through his legs. The whole place erupted.
- James Milner speaking to The Big Interview on his time as an Elland Road ballboy.
While Leeds had to graft for their win against Milan, the following tie at home to Besiktas was a breeze. Bowyer scored the opener again before Viduka and Matteo made it three by half-time. Eirik Bakke and Darren Huckerby added two more, with Bowyer making it six in stoppage time.
The reverse fixture saw a mature performance with Leeds battling to a 0-0 draw in Turkey, and suddenly, progression to the second group phase was not out of the question.
Team | P | GD | Pts |
Milan | 4 | +4 | 7 |
Leeds | 4 | +3 | 7 |
Barcelona | 4 | -1 | 4 |
Besiktas | 4 | -6 | 4 |
Bowyer once again scored an early Leeds opener against Barcelona. A win would’ve knocked the Catalan club out with a game to spare, but a 94th-minute equaliser from Rivaldo left the champagne on ice, but Leeds were on the brink.
The equation for Leeds’ last game was simple: avoid defeat and progress. Even a loss would’ve needed Barcelona to beat Besiktas and overturn a four-goal deficit in goal difference.
Leeds conceded a penalty in the first half from a Gary Kelly handball, with Shevchenko sending Paul Robinson the wrong way… and striking the foot of the post.
Leeds took full advantage with a powerful Matteo header on the stroke of half-time.
A Milan equaliser through Serginho saw the Italians run out group winners, but Barcelona were dumped out at Leeds’ expense.
After being drawn against Barcelona and Milan in the first group stage, Leeds were done no favours in the second, facing European champions Real Madrid, Italian champions Lazio, and Belgian champions Anderlecht.
The Whites were outclassed by Los Blancos in their first game, the boisterous Elland Road crowd powerless to influence proceedings as Real Madrid ran out 2-0 winners.
Things wouldn’t get any easier with a trip to Rome next… or at least they weren’t supposed to. While Lazio’s time at the top of Italian football was brief, the team was unforgettable: Angelo Peruzzi, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Alessandro Nesta, Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron, Pavel Nedved, Marcelo Salas, Hernan Crespo.
Leeds would play the Italian kings off the park and the only injustice was that Leeds were kept to one.
It took nearly 80 minutes, but a sumptuous flick from Viduka found the on-rushing Smith, who slotted past Peruzzi.
There was an unexpected hiccup when Leeds returned to Elland Road, going behind to Anderlecht shortly after the hour mark, but goals from Ian Harte and Bowyer – who else? – saw Leeds pick up three more points.
The reverse fixture would see Leeds pay little notice to the Belgians’ formidable home record, running out 4-1 winners.
After the early setback, Leeds were on the brink of the quarter-finals with two games to spare.
Team | P | GD | Pts |
Real Madrid | 4 | +6 | 10 |
Leeds | 4 | +3 | 9 |
Anderlecht | 4 | -6 | 3 |
Lazio | 4 | -3 | 1 |
Although a result in Madrid wasn’t essential – Lazio’s win over Anderlecht saw Leeds qualify on the night – they’d take an early lead through Smith, equalising after half-time through Viduka, before eventually going down 3-2.
But Leeds could take huge credit from their performance, going toe-to-toe with a Real Madrid in the infancy of their Galacticos era, who also needed a blatant handball to equalise in the first place.
Their efforts meant their home game with Lazio was a dead rubber, presenting O’Leary with the chance to field the likes of Alan Maybury and Jacob Burns. Leeds twice had to come from behind but could consider themselves unfortunate not to leave with a win after Mihajlovic’s last-minute free-kick.
The draw for the quarter-finals pitted Leeds against Spanish champions Deportivo La Coruna. Depor midfield Victor made the rookie mistake of declaring Leeds the weakest link in the competition. He wasn’t wrong, of course.
Deportivo could only draw Manchester United, Arsenal or Leeds, and the latter was certainly preferable. He was left to eat his words after the first leg, however.
At Elland Road, Leeds made full use of having the home leg first. There was no game to chase, it was quite simply a case of putting down a marker and getting in as strong a position as possible ahead of the second leg.
The visitors lined up with Noureddine Naybet, Djalminha and Roy Makaay, with Diego Tristan, Walter Pandiani and Juan Carlos Valeron waiting in the wings.
They were no match for Leeds. To a man, Leeds were titanic, relentless. Harte drove a free-kick from the edge of the area almost straight at Jose Francisco Molina, but the sheer power behind the shot was enough to find the net. Leeds doubled the lead through a Smith header after the break with Ferdinand making it three.
There were 90 minutes of the tie left to play, but Leeds had a foot in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
What was so impressive throughout Leeds’ run is how little they’d had to rely on luck; they worked hard and out-played their opponents and were thoroughly deserving of their success. But in northern Spain for the second leg, the Whites would have to withstand a barrage they’d not yet experienced.
An early penalty from Djalminha gave Deportivo hope and they threw the kitchen sink at Leeds. Trailing 3-1 on aggregate, they had no choice, and by half-time it could've been anything. It was a 90-minute battering, and a 73rd-minute Tristan goal got pulses racing in all four corners of Riazor, but Leeds held out. The semi-finals beckoned.
O’Leary’s men hosted Valencia in the first leg, and while both teams hit the woodwork and could well have taken a first-leg lead, the game finished goalless. Far from a disaster, the result meant a score draw in Valencia would have been enough to take Leeds to the final.
But what was beginning to feel like an impossible dream ultimately proved to be just that.
Santiago Canizares, Roberto Ayala, David Albelda, Gaizka Mendieta, Pablo Aimar, Kily Gonzalez. It was a team littered with stars and one that would reach the UEFA Champions League final for the second straight season.
As had happened in Madrid, Leeds went behind when Juan Sanchez handled the ball into the net. The goal shouldn't have counted but Leeds' protestations were ignored and the side were unable to recover from the setback. No sooner than the whistle had blown to start the second half had Valencia doubled their lead, with Mendieta making it three, breaking hearts once and for all.
Even though we didn’t win anything, the Leeds supporters were always behind me. That run to the Champions League semi-finals built a bond between us that will always be there.
- David O’Leary to The Guardian in 2020.
Leeds were never supposed to get to the semi-finals, but that did little to take the sting out of the result, particularly with the club struggling to qualify for next season's competition via the Premier League.
It may have been a trophyless campaign in the end, and one that ultimately, regrettably led to the club’s demise, but memories were created that would last a lifetime.
Perhaps, as Peter Ridsdale suggested, they shouldn’t have spent as heavily as they did, but there’s no denying that for that season, they did indeed live the dream.
Manager: David O'Leary
Top goalscorer: Mark Viduka (17 league; 22 all competitions)
Player of the Year: Lee Bowyer
Achievements: UEFA Champions League semi-finalists