Football: Dortmund demonstrate subtle art of control

David Milne in Munich reflects on the lessons to be learned from the European Cup final

Howard Wilkinson, the Football Association's new director of coaching, is rewriting the discredited Book of Hughes. Yet the maxim of Charles Hughes, former director, and, before him, of Charles Reep, once the mentor of Stan Cullis with Wolves, was re-emphasised by the European Cup final here on Wednesday night: the majority of goals come from three passes or fewer, are predominantly dependent on defender error, and often stem from set pieces.

Juventus, the defending champions, indeed were error-prone, remarkably so for an Italian team with the traditional philosophy which dictates that the first priority is to concede nothing. Both goals by Borussia's lethal attacker Karlheinz Riedle, that stunned Juventus in the space of four minutes on the half-hour, came from corner kicks. Both involved lax defence.

While neutrals may smile at the further corruption of the cup formats for next season for commercial expediency - whereby, for instance, Germany will have three teams in the competition - there was satisfaction, indeed pleasure, in seeing form confounded. Juventus have only themselves to blame. Borussia, though having let the Bundesliga title slip away, were straightforward opportunists.

Often it is detrimental to the game's reputation when the better team loses, the way Barcelona did against Steaua Bucharest in 1986. When legitimate football qualities, such as Borussia's, are the cause, there is the fun of surprise. Riedle's finishing, and the shrewd, practical direction from midfield by Andreas Moller - whose penalty put paid to England in the semi-final of Euro 96 - made this one of the better finals.

Yet what will Marcello Lippi, Juve's coach, and Ciro Ferrara and Paolo Montero, his central defenders, be thinking with hindsight? The manner of their defeat was as uncharacteristic as a good German sporting joke.

For the first half-hour, what had been considered inevitable now looked inevitable. Juventus's midfield quartet of Angelo Di Livio, Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Vladimir Jugovic were extending Matthias Sammer and his markers, Jurgen Kohler and Martin Kree, to the limits. A goal had to come. And did not.

Instead, the Italian defence suddenly went to pieces. The first of two corners by Moller from the left was poorly cleared, driven back in and Riedle, though closely attended, was allowed to squeeze the ball home. Within minutes, the next corner, needlessly conceded by Montero, went unchallenged in the air and Riedle was allowed to score with a fearsome header. The Italians looked as startled and dismayed as a middle-aged man caught naked on the beach.

From that point Juventus never recovered, even though Alessandro Del Piero, coming on as a third attacker for the second half in place of Sergio Porrini at full-back, did reduce the margin midway through the second half. Within five minutes Borussia again delivered a knockout blow, Lars Ricken, having half a minute previously replaced Stephane Chapuisat, lobbing the ball over Angelo Peruzzi with his first touch.

For English students of the game, which include Wilkinson, there was a further lesson, one that helps explain the failure in recent seasons of English teams in European competition. Both Germans and Italians were outstanding at shielding the ball when under pressure at close quarters, and likewise were cleverer than the majority of those in the Premiership who happened to be born English, at turning at speed.

The other evident quality was the ability to intercept rather than to tackle, the technique which prevents a defender committing himself, sometimes unnecessarily. The introduction of so many foreigners into the English game may be an attraction to season ticket holders, yet it is helping to camouflage the true state of home technique, which is so far from what it might be. And, on this evidence, needs to be for English clubs to prosper.