2004 UEFA Cup final

2004 UEFA Cup Final

Match programme cover
Event	2003–04 UEFA Cup
Valencia Marseille 2 0
Date	19 May 2004
Venue	Ullevi, Gothenburg
Man of the Match	Roberto Ayala (Valencia)
Referee	Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
Attendance	39,000
Weather	Partly cloudy 10 °C (50 °F)

The 2004 UEFA Cup Final was an association football match that took place on 19 May 2004 at Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden, contested between Spanish side Valencia and French side Olympique de Marseille. Valencia won the match 2–0, with goals from Vicente and Mista. This was the fourth major European trophy won by Valencia.

Route to the final

Valencia CF

Round	Valencia
UEFA Cup
	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
First round	AIK	2–0	1–0 (A)	1–0 (H)
Second round	Maccabi Haifa	4–0	0–0 (H)	4–0 (N)
Third round	Beşiktaş	5–2	3–2 (H)	2–0 (A)
Fourth round	Gençlerbirliği	2–1 (a.e.t.)	0–1 (A)	2–0 (a.e.t.) (H)
Quarter-finals	Girondins de Bordeaux	4–2	2–1 (A)	2–1 (H)
Semi-finals	Villarreal	1–0	0–0 (A)	1–0 (H)

Olympique de Marseille

Round	Marseille
Champions League
Qualifying stage	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Third qualifying round	Austria Wien	1–0	1–0 (A)	0–0 (H)
Group stage	Opponent	Result
Matchday 1	Real Madrid	2–4 (A)
Matchday 2	Partizan	3–0 (H)
Matchday 3	Porto	2–3 (H)
Matchday 4	Porto	0–1 (A)
Matchday 5	Real Madrid	1–2 (H)
Matchday 6	Partizan	1–1 (A)
Final standings	Group F third place Pos Team Pld Pts 1 Real Madrid 6 14 2 Porto 6 11 3 Marseille 6 4 4 Partizan 6 3 Source: RSSSF
UEFA Cup
	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Third round	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	1–0	1–0 (H)	0–0 (A)
Fourth round	Liverpool	3–2	1–1 (A)	2–1 (H)
Quarter-finals	Internazionale	2–0	1–0 (H)	1–0 (A)
Semi-finals	Newcastle United	2–0	0–0 (A)	2–0 (H)

Match summary

Valencia had been on a 14-match unbeaten run previous to this match, which had only ended the previous week to Villarreal, the side they beat in the semi-final to reach the final, due to a weakened lineup after securing the La Liga title. In contrast, Marseille had lost four of their last five matches in Ligue 1.

The start of the match was conservative due to the wind. Didier Drogba threatened early on, and was sent tumbling by a robust challenge from Roberto Ayala, which led to a free kick, in which the resulting shot was cleared off the line by Carlos Marchena. This sparked Valencia into life and David Albelda produced a save from Fabien Barthez after pouncing on Mista's rebounded shot.

Valencia dominated possession, which led to frustration, and Steve Marlet getting booked in the tenth minute. Marseille's first meaningful attempt at goal came in the 16th minute when Steve Marlet headed over from Camel Meriem's cross. Minutes later, Meriem himself had a chance to give Marseille the lead, but he shot wide from the edge of the area. Marseille had another chance when Habib Beye got on the end of Drogba's free kick, but he headed wide. The definitive moment in the match came on the stroke of half time, when Barthez brought down Mista in the area after a cross by Curro Torres. Barthez was sent off and Valencia were awarded a penalty. Jérémy Gavanon replaced Barthez with Camel Meriem making way for him. Vicente dispatched the penalty to give Valencia a 1–0 lead going into half time.

The second half started off with Valencia in total ascendancy, and after 13 minutes of near-total possession, Valencia doubled their lead. Vicente had cut the ball in from the left for Mista, who finished the chance with ease to record his fifth goal of the competition. Marseille's heads inevitably dropped. They came forward in flourishes in the last remnants of the game, however, when Drogba's free kick was stopped by Santiago Cañizares. Drogba also nearly played in Steve Marlet with a through-ball, but it was intercepted at the last second. Marseille almost found a way back into the Valencia goal area in the 80th minute, but Sylvain N'Diaye's shot was saved by Cañizares.

After this, the match descended into a stoic affair and Valencia ran out winners to win their first major European trophy in 24 years, and victory after two successive UEFA Champions League final defeats, in 2000 and 2001. The victory also meant that Amedeo Carboni became the oldest player to win a European final at 39 years and 43 days old.

Match

Details

Valencia

Marseille

GK 1 Santiago Cañizares RB 23 Curro Torres CB 4 Roberto Ayala CB 5 Carlos Marchena  86' LB 15 Amedeo Carboni  34' RM 19 Francisco Rufete  64' CM 6 David Albelda (c) CM 8 Rubén Baraja LM 14 Vicente  27' SS 10 Miguel Ángel Angulo  82' CF 20 Mista Substitutes: GK 13 Andrés Palop DF 2 Mauricio Pellegrino  86' DF 3 Fábio Aurélio MF 21 Pablo Aimar  64' MF 25 Mohamed Sissoko  82' FW 11 Juan Sánchez FW 24 Xisco Manager: Rafael Benítez

GK 28 Fabien Barthez  45' CB 23 Habib Beye CB 6 Brahim Hemdani (c) CB 12 Abdoulaye Méïté RWB 2 Demetrius Ferreira LWB 3 Manuel dos Santos CM 32 Mathieu Flamini  71' CM 7 Sylvain N'Diaye  84' RW 20 Steve Marlet  10' LW 18 Camel Meriem  45' CF 11 Didier Drogba  60' Substitutes: GK 30 Jérémy Gavanon  45' DF 5 Philippe Christanval DF 21 Johnny Ecker MF 26 Laurent Batlles  71' MF 29 Fabio Celestini  84' MF 33 Nicolas Cicut FW 14 Štěpán Vachoušek Manager: José Anigo

Man of the Match: Roberto Ayala (Valencia) Assistant referees: Marco Ivaldi (Italy) Narciso Pisacreta (Italy) Fourth official: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of silver goal extra time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions

Statistics

See also

• 2003–04 UEFA Cup
• 2004 UEFA Super Cup
• Olympique de Marseille in European football
• Valencia CF in European football