The 2004 UEFA Cup Final was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

match that took place on 19 May 2004 at

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden, contested between Spanish side

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and French side

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

. Valencia won the match 2–0, with goals from

Vicente Vicente is an Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese name. Like its French variant, Vincent, it is derived from the Latin name ''Vincentius'' meaning "conquering" (from Latin ''vincere'', "to conquer"). Vicente may refer to: Location *São Vicente, Cap ...

and Mista. This was the fourth major European trophy won by Valencia.

Route to the final

Valencia CF

Olympique de Marseille

Match summary

had been on a 14-match unbeaten run previous to this match, which had only ended the previous week to

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

, the side they beat in the semi-final to reach the final, due to a weakened lineup after securing the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

. In contrast,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

had lost four of their last five matches in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. The start of the match was conservative due to the wind.

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team. He is best known for his career at ...

threatened early on, and was sent tumbling by a robust challenge from

Roberto Ayala Roberto Fabián Ayala (; born 14 April 1973), nicknamed ''El Ratón'' ("The Mouse"), is an Argentine former footballer who played as a centre back for the Argentina national football team, as well as Valencia and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Milan a ...

, which led to a free kick, in which the resulting shot was cleared off the line by

Carlos Marchena Carlos Marchena López (; born 31 July 1979) is a Spanish retired footballer, and a manager. Mainly a central defender with an aggressive approach, he also played as a defensive midfielder. Most of his professional career (nine years) was spen ...

. This sparked Valencia into life and

David Albelda David Albelda Aliqués (; born 1 September 1977) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently a manager. He played mainly for local Valencia during his extensive professional career, being team captain for ov ...

produced a save from

Fabien Barthez Fabien Alain Barthez (born 28 June 1971) is a French racing driver and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. At club level, he played football in both France and England with Toulouse, Marseille, AS Monaco, Manchester United ...

after pouncing on Mista's rebounded shot. Valencia dominated possession, which led to frustration, and

Steve Marlet Steve Marlet (born 10 January 1974) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was capped 23 times and scored six goals for the French national team, winning the Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003 and featuring at E ...

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 Camel Meriem ( ar, كامل مريم; born 18 October 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Sochaux, Bordeaux, Marseille, AS Monaco, Aris, Arles-Avignon, OGC Nice, and Apollon Limassol. He has represent ...

'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 Habib Frédéric Beye (born 19 October 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He is the manager of Championnat National club Red Star. Born in France, he represented the Senegal national team. He is also a pundit ...

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 Cristóbal Emilio "Curro" Torres Ruiz (born 27 December 1976) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of Estonian club FCI Levadia Tallinn. In his professional career, whose later years were blighted by sev ...

. Barthez was sent off and Valencia were awarded a penalty.

Jérémy Gavanon Jérémy Gavanon (born 20 September 1983) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. An Olympique de Marseille youth product, he made his professional debut with the club in 2002. Following a loan at Clermont Foot a ...

replaced Barthez with

making way for him.

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 José Santiago Cañizares Ruiz (; born 18 December 1969) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently a rally driver. A product of Real Madrid's youth academies, he eventually joined the first team but proved unable to ...

. 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 The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

final defeats, in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. The victory also meant that

Amedeo Carboni Amedeo Carboni (; born 6 April 1965) is an Italian former footballer who played as a left-back. In a professional career which spanned 22 years and saw him appear in nearly 700 official games, he played mainly for Roma (seven seasons) and Valen ...

became the oldest player to win a European final at 39 years and 43 days old.

Match

Details

Statistics

References

External links

2003–04 season
at UEFA.com {{Valencia CF matches Uefa Cup Final 2004 Uefa Cup Final 2004

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Uefa Cup Final 2004 2 International club association football competitions hosted by Sweden

Uefa Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

May 2004 sports events in Europe International sports competitions in Gothenburg 2000s in Gothenburg