After a fantastic tournament, the Final of the Year 5 European Cup has arrived. The two finalists are Inter Milan from Italy and Dinamo Bucharest from Romania. Dinamo were the surprise team after beating both Rangers and Celtic from Scotland as well as an unbelievable victory over Bayern Munich. Inter Milan’s journey was almost more difficult as they beat of beating Chelsea, then reigning Champions Liverpool before overcoming Atletico Madrid.

Straight from kick-off Dinamo pressed for an early goal as Milan were content to take their time and absorb the pressure. They did this well and then moved forward to begin their offense. Dinamo panicked and gave away a free kick on the edge of the goalkeepers area. Milan duly stepped up and hammered home the first goal to make it 1-0.

The spectators were ready for Milan to hold tight but Dinamo found back as they looked for the equaliser. The fans did not have to wait long as a cutting pass caught out Inters defence as they too gave away a free kick. Despite the wall shielding the keeper, it was not enough and Dinamo made it 1-1.

The early pressure from Dinamo was beginning to show, as the players in red began to tire. Milan took full advantage of this as their sticker was soon through with a great chance in front of the goal. He hit the ball cleanly to find the corner of the net.

Things began to fall apart for Dinamo at this point as the players could not keep up with Inters dominance. Inter almost got a third goal from kick off and it was only down to goal line technology that proved that the ball did not cross the line.

The disallowed goal did not stop Inter and they continued pushing forward to increase the margin. Once again, the ball was passed forward and a fabulous strike from wide left caught the Dinamo keeper out. The score was 3-1 to Inter and Dinamo were falling apart.

In the dying minutes of the game, Inter continued passing the ball around. It was only a matter of time that they found a way through the dejected defenders and soon enough they made sure of the result with a fourth goal. Dinamo did try and get a second to make the score line a little better but Milan stood strong.

The final whistle blew and Inter Milan from Italy take the victory and the European Cup for the first time.

The second European Cup semi-final has taken place between Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid. When the teams were drawn for the semi-final, many fans were upset when these two powerhouses were drawn together, rather than a possible meeting in the Final.

Instead, it gave everyone an incredible semi-final match where there was everything to play for, but only one team could progress. Inter were slight favourites for the match, partly due to having home advantage.

As the match kicked off, Atletico went for an early first goal but were unable to find a break through. The tide soon turned and Inter became the dominant team. Despite some early saves from Atletico’s keeper, Inter soon found the back of the net.

Inter followed it it with another goal soon afterwards and then shocked the away side with a third. The goal was a fantastic chip above two defenders and then it hit the goal post and went in, after putting the keeper was going in the other direction.

Atletico looked out of the match, until an Inter defender gave away a free kick. Atletico were quick to take the shot and scored. Only a few minutes later and Inter were guilty of another foul, as they appeared to think the game was all over. Atletico duly converted the second free kick to make the score 3-2.

The team from Spain now had the momentum to go for an equaliser and Inter woke up and defended for their lives. It was a tense end to a great match, with the possibility of one more goal changing the outcome.

Thankfully for the Italians, Inter managed to hold on and were relieved when the final whistle was blown. Inter go into their first European Cup final, whilst the Spanish will be left wondering how they managed to give away a 3-0 lead in the first place.

The European Cup has reached the semi-finals and Celtic made their first appearance at this stage of the competition. They were drawn away at Romanian side Dinamo Bucharest in what would be a difficult single-leg tie, at an intimidating stadium.

Dinamo had already knocked out Celtic’s Scottish rivals Glasgow Rangers in the 1st Round, before causing a huge upset when they defeated Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

The match began with both sides looking nervous, neither wanting to give away an early goal. Dinamo took the initiative and pressed forward, leaving themselves exposed in defence. The Celtic goalkeeper made some incredible saves to keep them in the tie.

Celtic began to fight back on the counter and once again it was the goalkeepers who were keeping their sides in the game as the Dinamo keeper matched the performance of his rival. Despite some good chances, after fulltime the score remained 0-0.

In extra time, Celtic were first to find a way through, as they took a 1-0 lead after a lazy Dinamo defender gave away a free kick.

Dinamo pressed forward to find an equaliser, but Celtic put 11 men behind the ball and defended for their lives. With extra time expired, the referee was allowing a few seconds of injury time when Dinamo won a corner. This would be their final chance of the match.

The corner found a Dinamo forward and the nearest Celtic defender, in their haste, missed the vital interception. The Dinamo player took their shot and incredibly he got it on target and it went into the corner. Celtic’s hearts sunk as the whistle blew immediately, with the score 1-1. They were seconds away from an historic win, but now it would go to a penalty shoot-out.

Dinamo went first and scored, followed by Celtic. The score was 3-2 when Celtic stepped up to take their third penalty and missed. Dinamo scored again to make it 4-3 and Celtic now had to score to stay in the competition. Sadly, the player missed giving the result to an ecstatic Dinamo side, who had been close to going out themselves.

Dinamo Bucharest will appear in their first European Cup Final and will play the winners of either Inter Milan or Atletico Madrid.

Meanwhile, Celtic have a long journey back to Scotland to think about how close they came to a first European Cup Final.

Scottish club Celtic enjoyed a glory night in the European Cup as they won their quarter-final match against Red Star Belgrade from Serbia.

Although the Scottish team had home advantage for the tie, they were not the clear favourites due to their previous poor European form, plus they only scraped into this round after winning their previous match on penalties.

Celtic started the stronger of the two sides and found the net midway through the first half. They then moved to a more defensive formation as Red Star pushed forward for an equaliser. Although Celtic gave everything, they could not hold Red Star back and the Serbian team scored early in the second half.

The match could have swung either way at this point, with both teams looking nervous. With only a few minutes remaining on the clock, Celtic broke though the Red Star defensive line. Red Star chased back, but their central defender made a last-minute lunge to prevent a shot, but clipped the Celtic strikers ankle.

The Celtic player went down and the referee pointed straight to the penalty spot. Celtic duly scored the goal. Red Star did not have enough time left to mount a challenge and full time was blown. Celtic have made it through to the European Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history.

The draw for the semi-finals was made and Celtic were given the relatively easier tie, although they will be playing away at Dinamo Bucharest. The team from Romania previously knocked out Celtics arch-rivals Rangers in an earlier round of the competition.

The two stronger teams left competing- Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid – which many expected to meet in the Final, were drawn together in the other semi-final.

Both semi-final matches, which are played over a single leg, are scheduled for the end of Year 6 – Match Week 4.

Liverpool have been knocked out of the European Cup in the quarter-finals, after a poor display at Inter Milan.

The reigning European Cup holders were hoping to continue their European success, especially after an impressive 4-0 win against Sevilla in the 1st Round, but ultimately the team came up short on the night in Italy.

It did not take Inter long to find the back of the net and then things just got worse for Liverpool. They were soon 2-0 down, as Inter went looking for revenge, after Liverpool knocked them out of the Cup last season. Liverpool’s calamitous defending continued as Inter were awarded a penalty, which they converted for their third goal.

The defeat was complete when Inter scored a fantastic 4th to make it 4-0. Despite a fight back as Liverpool attempted to restore some pride, they could not breakdown the Inter defence.

Liverpool were the last English team left in the European Cup after Nottingham Forest and Chelsea all faltered in the 1st Round.

Paris Saint Germain have been knocked out of the European Cup at the quarter-final stage after a hard fought content with Atletico Madrid.

The team from France faced a tricky tie as they headed to Spain. With European Cup games only being a single-leg, both teams had to give everything on the night. Atletico took an early lead as they pushed for the win. It was only when they went 2-0 up that PSG began a fight back. After schooling one goal, PSG realised they had left it too late, as Atletico let the clock run down.

The second quarter-final put Dinamo Burcharest from Romania against German giants Bayern Munich. The Germans were favourites but faced a tricky test in the intimidating atmosphere in Burcharest. Dinamo took an early advantage but the Germans hit back to equalise. The game headed into injury time and Bayern were happy to see out the last few seconds and play extra-time. But Dinamo had one last attack up their sleeve and crashed home a winner from the edge of the area to stun the Germans.