Football: Ronaldo on the spot for Barcelona

Barcelona 1 Paris St-Germain

Barcelona won the European Cup-Winners' Cup for a record fourth time last night thanks to a goal from the penalty spot by their Brazilian striker, Ronaldo.

The Paris St-Germain defender Bruno N'Gotty brought a sweet Barcelona build-up involving Sergi, Ivan de la Pena and Luis Enrique to an end by clattering into Ronaldo in the box. The Brazilian made no mistake from the spot, scoring his 33rd goal of the season by sending the Paris goalkeeper, Bernard Lama, the wrong way.

Barcelona thought they had taken the lead 10 minutes earlier when the Portuguese defender Fernando Couto sent a curling header dipping just under the bar for what looked like a well-taken goal - but the referee Markus Merk had already blown for an infringement.

PSG went close to equalising after 58 minutes when Patrice Loko shot against a post, but Barcelona were unlucky not to double their score three minutes from time when Luis Figo hit the bar with Lama well beaten.

Barcelona: Vitor Baia; Sergi, Fernando Couto, Abelardo, Ferrer, Guardiola, Popescu (Amor, h-t), Figo, De la Pena (Stoichkov, 84), Luis Enrique (Pizzi, 88), Ronaldo.

Paris St-Germain: Lama; Domi, Fournier (Algerino, 58), N'Gotty, Le Guen, Leroy, Cauet, Guerin (Dely Valdes, 68), Leonardo, Rai, Loko (Pouget, 77).

Referee: M Merk (Germany).