EURO 2004 Semi Final/Portugal 2  Holland 1:  Thirteen years to the day after he led Portugal to the second of their successive World Youth titles up the road at Benfica's Stadium of Light, Luis Figo shook off the torpor that has been dogging him through earlier games of this tournament to lead his country to its first final of a senior international championship.

For the Dutch, like the English before them, there was perhaps just about enough controversy in the game for them to return home complaining they were hard done by. With the passing of time, however, they too will presumably accept they were beaten by the better, more adventurous side in a game that started rather slowly but built steadily into a thrilling encounter.

Trailing after 58 minutes to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Maniche, the Dutch men showed courage but not quite enough composure as they tried to rescue their dream of a second European Championship. In the end, though, they couldn't break down a Portuguese defence that seems to be growing in stature.

Holland's one goal came courtesy of Jorge Andrade who was unfortunate to turn Gionvanni van Bronckhorst's looping cross past his own goalkeeper while at full stretch under pressure from Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The game had a more cautious opening quarter than this pair's previous outings at this tournament had prepared us for. Even through those opening exchanges, however, the Portuguese had the the better chances.

They were helped greatly by the fact Figo seemed at last to rediscovered his desire to be the driving force behind a big Portuguese win and through the opening half, in particular, the veteran Real Madrid winger was at the heart of much that was good about the host nation's side.

Most of what was bad again revolved around the team's sole striker, Pauleta, whose return to the starting line-up after suspension was more of a surprise than his failed attempt to justify his manager's enduring faith in him.

Since losing to the Greeks in the opening game Luiz Felipe Scolari's side have spent most of their time chasing games but from the middle of the first half last night they had an advantage to sit on, thanks to a close-range header by Ronaldo who made the most of slack marking and a well-judged Deco corner from the left. The lead was no more than the locals had deserved for, apart from Figo's teasing of the two Dutch full backs, Deco was directing their offensive play from the centre while Maniche was defying the best efforts of Phillip Cocu to prevent him adding weight to the Portuguese threat around the area with a series of well-timed runs from deep in midfield.

Had they taken the chances they did so well to create Scolari's men might have put the game beyond their opponents by the break. Ronaldo and Pauleta (twice) fluffed what looked straightforward attempts to score from close range while Figo sent a curling shot from the right side of the box crashing off the left-hand post after leaving van Bronckhorst trailing in his wake.

The Dutch struggled to make anything like the same sort of impact although Edgar Davids did test the Portuguese back four with a couple of floated crosses from the left, the second of which found Marc Overmars lurking unattended beyond the far post from where he should at least have hit the target.

Six minutes short of the break the Dutch did, briefly, think they had drawn level when a fine through ball by Overmars split the Ricardo Carvalho and Jorge Andrade to send van Nistelrooy and Clarence Seedorf racing clear into the box. The United striker's finish was good but the flag was up and Holland's Barcelona winger was booked for contesting a tight but correct decision.

It was a rare lapse by a Portuguese central defence that had starved van Nistelrooy of the opportunity to make an impact while Miguel repeatedly got the better of Arjen Robben. His frustration grew steadily until he was eventually replaced nine minutes from time by Pierre van Hooijdonk.

Dutch coach Dick Advocaat had first moved to liven things up at half-time by bringing on a second striker but stuck with the existing system so Roy Makaay found himself playing out on the right from where he struggled to make an impact.

While he was still finding his feet Pauleta squandered yet another chance with the PSG striker this time sent clear on Edwin van der Sar after Wilfred Bouma and Jaap Stam had failed to cut out a long kick-out. The 31-year-old passed up the chance to lob the approaching goalkeeper and fired low into his body instead.

Moments later his midfield team-mate Maniche gave a memorable lesson in finishing, though. Ronaldo took a short corner quickly and when the Dutch stood back in anticipation of a cross, the Porto player stole a few yards before unleashing a superb right-footed curling shot that skipped the inside of the post on its way to the back of the net.

Within five minutes the lead was halved thanks to Andrade's mistake. Holland's best chance of an equaliser came when Seedorf's curling free almost inexplicably slipped past Cocu, van Nistelrooy and van Brockhorst without any of the three making contact. But there were late chances too at the other end where, even late in injury time, Deco should have put the result beyond doubt. Again the finish was poor but it didn't matter.

More than a decade after 127,000 fans crammed into the Stadium of Light to see one Portugal side triumph half that number will be back there on Sunday hoping the story of the golden generation ends the way it began . . . with glory and glittering success.