Kuffour To Play in Champions League finals

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters)(DS) - Bayern Munich have beaten holders Real Madrid 2-1 to line up a Champions League final against Valencia on May 23 in Milan. Bayern took an eighth minute lead when Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas fumbled a clearance and Elber, who scored in Bayern's 1-0 victory in last week's first leg of the semifinal, headed home from point-blank range.

It was the Brazilian's sixth goal of the competition Bayern fans at the Olympic Stadium were stunned into silence 10 minutes later when Raul rounded Thomas Linke and passed to Luis Figo who steered a low shot past Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn. But Bayern went 2-1 up on the night, and 3-1 on aggregate, in the 34th minute when Jens Jeremies was left unmarked after a neatly-worked free-kick to fire home from outside the area.

Real piled on the pressure in the second half but Bayern held on through stout defending by Ghana's Sammy Kuffour and Sweden's Patrik Andersson, and also threatened on the counter-attack.

The final at the San Siro stadium features the losers of the last two Champions League finals.

Bayern will be out to make amends after losing 2-1 to Manchester United at Barcelona's Nou Camp stadium in 1999 after conceding two goals in injury-time. Valencia, who crushed Leeds United 3-0 in Tuesday's semifinal second leg in Spain, will want to improve on last year's bitterly-disappointing performance in a 3-0 defeat by Real in Paris.