2004 UEFA Cup Final

2004 UEFA Cup Final

Event	UEFA Cup 2003–04
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
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The 2004 UEFA Cup Final was played on 19 May 2004 at Gothenburg between Valencia of Spain and Marseille of France. Valencia won the match 2–0 thanks to goals from Vicente and Mista. This game was to be the last in which Rafael Benítez was in charge of Valencia before he took over at Liverpool in England.

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. 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 lead 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 brilliant save from Fabien Barthez after pouncing on Mista's rebounded shot.

Valencia had Marseille running round in circles, and this led to frustration, which saw Steve Marlet get booked in the 10th 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 great 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

19 May 2004 20:45 CEST	Valencia	2–0	Marseille	Ullevi, Gothenburg Attendance: 39,000 Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
	Vicente  45+3' (pen.) Mista  58'	Report

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' CF 20 Mista CF 10 Miguel Ángel Angulo 82' Substitutes: GK 35 David Rangel DF 2 Mauricio Pellegrino 86' DF 12 Javier Garrido Ramírez MF 21 Pablo Aimar 64' MF 25 Mohamed Sissoko 82' FW 11 Juan Sánchez FW 24 Xisco Manager: Rafael Benítez

GK 16 Fabien Barthez  45' RB 23 Habib Beye CB 12 Abdoulaye Méïté CB 25 Demetrius Ferreira LB 3 Manuel dos Santos DM 4 Mathieu Flamini 71' CM 6 Brahim Hemdani CM 7 Sylvain N'Diaye 84' AM 18 Camel Meriem 45' CF 11 Didier Drogba 60' CF 20 Steve Marlet 10' 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

See also

• 2003–04 UEFA Cup