On this day in 1998, Pippo Inzaghi scored a hat-trick for Juventus as they swept aside Dynamo Kiev 4-1 in the Ukrainian capital in front of 100,000 people to reach the semi final of the Champions League.

The first leg had ended in a 1-1 draw in Turin two weeks prior, and Juve had it all to do in the freezing environment of the NSK Olimpiyskyi stadium in Kiev.

The Old Lady had been strong favourites to win the competition, as they were at the time the most feared side in Europe.

On this day in 1998, Pippo Inzaghi scored a hat-trick for Juventus as they swept aside Dynamo Kiev 4-1 in the Ukrainian capital in front of 100,000 people to reach the semi final of the Champions League.

The first leg had ended in a 1-1 draw in Turin two weeks prior, and Juve had it all to do in the freezing environment of the NSK Olimpiyskyi stadium in Kiev.

The Old Lady had been strong favourites to win the competition, as they were at the time the most feared side in Europe.

They’d lost the final of the previous seasons' Champions League, and despite selling Christian Vieri and Alen Boksic, retained their almighty core.

Edgar Davids had just joined the side from Milan in December 1997 and slotted straight into the midfield role.

The Bianconeri had finished second in their group behind Manchester United, and finished as one of the best second-placed teams from the group phase to qualify.

The first leg in Turin had finished 1-1, thanks to an Inzaghi goal.

Juve took the lead in the 29th minute through Inzaghi’s first goal of the evening.  Alessandro Del Piero and Zinedine Zidane combined on the edge of the area, with the Frenchman running into the box before bewitching the Kiev defence with some neat trickery before squaring for Inzaghi, who tapped the ball in from five yards.

Less than 10 minutes into the start of the second half and the home side drew level. A pre-Milan Andriy Shevchenko fired a shot from the edge of the area, which Angelo Peruzzi could only parry, however the ball landed to the feet of Serhiy Rebrov, who made no mistake and slotted the ball home to level the tie.

However, Inzaghi was then about to come into his own.

Zidane’s corner was headed into the roof of the net by SuperPippo to restore Juve’s lead. Eight minutes later, he repeated the trick, this time from a Del Piero corner from the same side.

It was Inzaghi’s first hat-trick in the competition that he loved above all others. He would only score one more, against Deportivo La Coruna in 2002-03.

Juve however, left the best goal to last.

Paolo Montero’s lofted ball found Zidane in the centre of the pitch, who instantly shifted the ball high and left to Del Piero with a magnificent outside-of-the-foot volley in behind the Kiev defence.

Del Piero latched on to the through ball and executed a marvellous left-footed volley that flew past Dynamo keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy.

The game, and the tie, was over.

Juve won 5-2 on aggregate to advance and would meet French side Monaco in the semi final.

Byemmet

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