ROMANIAN World Cup star Gheorghe Hagi thrust Barcelona into the mantle of UEFA Cup favourites as his late goal earned a 2-2 draw at the Olympiastadion in the semifinal, first leg in Munich last night.

Hagi scored 15 minutes before the end to finish off the scoring in a see-saw match. Oscar put Barcelona ahead in the 14th minute, before Bayern surged into the lead in a second half fightback through Marcel Witeczek (51) and Mehmet Scholl (56).

Just as it seemed Scholl had scored the winning goal, as he had done three days earlier to beat Dortmund 1-0 and knock them off the top of the Bundesliga, Hagi struck.

Bayern have not reached the final of any of the three major competitions since 1987, when they lost to Porto in the European Champions Cup. And the UEFA Cup remains the only European prize to elude the German giants.

Barcelona's last final appearance in Europe was a 4-0 beating at the hands of AC Milan in the 1994 Champions Cup.