MILAN, May 22: Germany's Schalke 04 beat the favourites Internazionale Milan on penalties in the second leg of the UEFA Cup final yesterday to capture their first European club trophy in 93 years.

The visitors, 1-0 ahead from the first leg in Gelsenkirchen, won 4-1 in a penalty shoot-out at a packed San Siro Stadium with 20,000 of their supporters making the journey from the Ruhr Valley to celebrate the epic achievement. Full time had ended 1-1 on aggregate.

Inter played the last half hour with 10 men after defender Salvatore Fresi was sent off in the 90th minute after his second booking of the match.

Chilean Ivan Zamorano had saved Inter when they were six minutes from defeat in normal time with a right-footed flick into the net after England midfielder Paul Ince headed on a cross from Alessandro Pistone.

The majority of the 82,000-strong crowd erupted with relief after 84 minutes of often subdued anguish.

After Fresi was sent off, Inter played with more purpose and came close to scoring on several occasions.

Maurizio Ganz, top scorer in the competition with eight goals, hit the underside of the crossbar late in the second half of extra time and felt he was robbed of a penalty in the first period, but Schalke held on.

Inter's hopes of a third UEFA Cup win in a decade evaporated in the shoot-out when goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who had appeared to be hit by an object before the match during a pitch inspection, saved Zamorano's opening shot with a dive.

Dutch substitute Aron Winter then sidefooted his spot-kick wide of the goal, leaving Marc Wilmots -- scorer of the goal in the first leg -- to slot home for the victory.

``I think that when you get to penalties it is no longer a question of merit,'' said Inter coach Roy Hodgson after complimenting Schalke. ``Its a matter of luck... I'm proud that this team reached the final and lost on penalties.''

The trophy was Schalke's first since capturing the German Cup in 1972 and was deserved.

``We knew that we would have a good chance on penalties,'' said Schalke coach Huub Stevens. ``This is going to take me a couple of hours to realise.''

Schalke's secret is out! The German side's UEFA Cup triumph over Inter Milan owed as much to technology as silky ball skills, with coach Huub Stevens revealing he plotted the penalty shootout win on his laptop.

With the match delicately poised at 1-0 in the Germans' favour after the first game, Dutchman Stevens decided his men had to be ready for any eventuality as Schalke sought to win their first ever European trophy.

Gambling that the Milanese might just squeeze home in the return by the same score, he settled down with keeper Jens Lehmann to develop a software spotkick strategy.

Before the nerve-jangling finale, the lanky Lehmann joked with his opponents that ``I'll stay put in the centre of the goal.''

Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano took Lehmann at his word, hammering his kick to the keeper's left only to see the tall German push the ball out.

``The boss and I worked it all out on computer, studying where Inter players normally sent their kicks,'' explained Lehmann. ``And it worked every time ... Except with Winter''.

Poor Aaron Winter hit the ball out.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.