CITY 3 NEWCASTLE UNITED 3

24th February 1996

attendance 31,115

scorers
City Quinn(16 & 62), Rosler(77)
Newcastle Albert(44 & 81), Asprilla(71)

Ref M Bodenham

City Immel, Summerbee, Hiley, Lomas, Curle, Symons, Kinkladze, Rosler, Quinn, Clough, Brown – subs Creaney(unused), Phillips(unused), Margetson(unused)

Newcastle Srnicek, Barton, Beresford, Peacock, Howey, Albert, Beardsley, Clark, Ginola, Asprilla, Ferdinand – subs Gillespie(unused), Elliott(unused), Hislop(unused)

…A minor classic that was played out in front of the Match of The Day cameras to an appreciative audience of millions
…The ‘Ginola v Kinkladze’ clash did not disappoint. The elegant Frenchman, with an infuriating penchant for diving and making a meal of tackles, rasped three shots in the opening exchanges that all nearly resulted in goals.

But while he was perhaps a little more selfish near goal, Kinky was definitely more of a team man, making numerous chances for others.
Maybe the key to his popularity amongst other football other football supporters was that while Ginola and others like him rolled around in mock agony from a variety of challenges… Kinkladze refused to join in the diving antics that were giving  foriegn players a bad name, despite the regular punishment handed out in his direction.

Kinky and Ginola were both on fire during a game that had everything, goals, contraversy, off the ball incidents and individual brilliance, most of which was served up by this pair.
Some of the Georgian’s footwork would not have been out of place with the Kirov ballet and his days learning Georgian folk dancing were never used to better effect. On at least three occasions he beat four men  in the blink of an eye, one almost resulting in (yet another) unforgettable goal.
The game ended 3-3 but the press, TV pundits and the rest of the country were talking about the performance of one man after the game, and he wasn’t French.
From KINKLADZE PERFECT 10