File:Cl2009 logo.png | |||||||
Event | UEFA Champions League 2008–09 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
Date | 27 May 2009 | ||||||
Venue | Stadio Olimpico, Rome[1] | ||||||
UEFA Man of the Match | Xavi (Barcelona)[2] | ||||||
Fans' Man of the Match | Lionel Messi (Barcelona)[3] | ||||||
Referee | Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)[4] | ||||||
Attendance | 62,467[5] | ||||||
Weather | Clear night 23 °C (73 °F) 71% humidity[6] | ||||||
The 2009 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, the 54th season of the UEFA Champions League football tournament and the 17th since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup. The match was played on 27 May 2009 at Rome's 72,698-capacity Stadio Olimpico – the home of Roma and Lazio – for the fourth time, following the 1977, 1984 and 1996 finals.[1]
The match was contested by Barcelona and holders Manchester United, who were the first defending champions to reach the final since Juventus in 1997, and who unsuccessfully sought to be the first team to retain the European Cup since Milan in 1990. It was the fifth year in a row in which the final involved at least one English team.[7]
Barcelona opened the scoring early through Samuel Eto'o in the 10th minute, and Lionel Messi added another goal 20 minutes from the end to give Barcelona a 2–0 victory and an historic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.[8] This was Barcelona's third victory in the competition, 17 years after they first won the European Cup in 1992.[9]
Background
Manchester United and Barcelona had previously faced each other nine times in European competitions: three times in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and six times in the UEFA Champions League. Of those nine matches, Manchester United have recorded three wins to Barcelona's two, with the remaining four matches finishing in draws. The only time that the two teams met in a final came in 1991, when they contested the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup final. The first meeting between the two sides came in the third round of the 1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup; Barcelona won the first leg at the Camp Nou 2–0, but Manchester United won the return leg 3–0 at Old Trafford to reach the semi-finals. That result marked Manchester United's biggest win over Barcelona; Barcelona's biggest win was a 4–0 home victory in the group stage of the 1994–95 Champions League. The most recent meeting between Manchester United and Barcelona came in the semi-finals of the 2007–08 Champions League, when United held Barcelona to a 0–0 draw at the Camp Nou before beating them 1–0 back at Old Trafford.[10]
Both teams went into the match as the champions of their respective countries – the first time that the final has been contested by domestic champions since 1999, when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich 2–1 at Barcelona's home, the Camp Nou – both winning with games to spare. Manchester United won their 11th Premier League crown with a 0–0 draw at home to Arsenal on 16 May,[11] while Barcelona were confirmed as La Liga champions for the first time in three years when Real Madrid lost to Villarreal on the same day.[12] Both Manchester United and Barcelona were also looking to another Champions League title to cap a season in which they had won multiple trophies: Manchester United had already won four out of a possible seven trophies in 2008–09 and were playing for the possibility of becoming the third team to retain the European Double (the domestic league and the European Cup), while Barcelona were aiming to become the first Spanish club to win a Treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League.[12]
The Stadio Olimpico in Rome had hosted three European Cup finals before 2009: the 1977 and 1984 finals, both of which were won by Liverpool – Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 in 1977 before beating home side Roma 4–2 on penalties after the match finished 1–1 after extra time; the most recent final to be held at the Stadio Olimpico was the 1996 final, which Juventus also won 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw with Ajax.[13]
The construction of the stadium was commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in the mid-1930s as the centrepiece of a new sports complex in the city, to be named Foro Mussolini. After the Second World War, the complex was renamed Foro Italico and the stadium was radically redesigned as a 54,000-capacity arena for the 1960 Summer Olympics. After hosting the 1987 World Athletics Championships, the stadium was redeveloped in time for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, at which it played host to West Germany's 1–0 win over Argentina in the final. The stadium's most recent renovation, in 2008, increased its capacity to 72,689.[1]
Road to Rome
Barcelona
By virtue of their third-place finish in the 2007–08 Primera Division, Barcelona entered the 2008–09 Champions League at the third qualifying round stage. Based on their UEFA coefficient, Barcelona were seeded for the third qualifying round draw,[14] and drawn against Wisła Kraków of Poland.[15] A 4–0 win in the first leg at the Camp Nou made a 1–0 away defeat immaterial and Barcelona was entered into the group stage draw.[16][17]
Barcelona's UEFA coefficient placed them in the top eight seeds for the group stage draw, meaning that they would avoid having to play against Internazionale, Liverpool, Chelsea or holders and their semi-final opponents from 2007–08 Manchester United, but they could still draw Bayern Munich, Roma or Juventus.[18] In the end, Barcelona were drawn against Sporting CP, Basel and Shakhtar Donetsk.[19]
Four wins, a draw at home to Basel and a home defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk placed Barcelona on top of their group with a game to spare and the third-best record amongst the qualifiers for the first knockout round.[20] As group winners, Barcelona would avoid being drawn with other group winners, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus and Bayern Munich, but they could still be drawn against runners-up such as Chelsea, Internazionale and Arsenal.[21] The draw eventually paired them with Lyon and, as group winners, they were given the right to play the second leg at home.[22]
In the first leg in Lyon, Barcelona fell behind to a seventh-minute free kick from Juninho Pernambucano, only for Thierry Henry to equalise half-way through the second half, giving Barcelona an away goal to take back to the Camp Nou.[23] They needed a win or a no-score draw to guarantee passage, and the win was all but guaranteed within the first 45 minutes of the second leg; two goals from Thierry Henry and one each from Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o gave them a 4–0 lead. Goals from Jean Makoun and Juninho reduced Lyon's deficit to two goals, but a goal from Seydou Keita in the fifth minute of injury time secured a 6–3 aggregate win and a place in the quarter-finals.[24]
In the quarter-finals, Barcelona were drawn against their fellow leading-scorers in the competition, Bayern Munich, who had beaten Barcelona's group stage opposition, Sporting CP, 12–1 on aggregate in the previous round.[25][26] However, despite Bayern's impressive scoring record, goals from Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o gave Barcelona a 2–0 lead within the first 12 minutes. Messi and Henry also scored to seal a 4–0 home victory before half-time.[27] The lack of an away goal meant that Bayern Munich would have to win by five clear goals to qualify for the semi-finals; after a goalless first half, they took the lead through Franck Ribéry in the 47th minute, but it turned out to be too-little-too-late for Bayern as Seydou Keita equalised in the 73rd minute to clinch a 5–1 aggregate win.[28]
The quarter-final draw also determined the teams' routes to the final, with Barcelona facing the prospect of meeting either Chelsea or Liverpool in the semi-finals.[26] After a 3–1 win at Anfield,[29] Chelsea qualified for the semi-finals with a 4–4 draw back at Stamford Bridge.[30] The semi-final first leg was played at the Camp Nou; although Barcelona enjoyed the majority of the possession, Chelsea's defence was resolute and they became the first side to keep a clean sheet in Barcelona in this season's competition, coming away with a goalless draw.[31] With Barcelona needing to avoid defeat to reach the final, they got off to a bad start; after they failed to clear Frank Lampard's pass into the penalty area, Michael Essien fired a left-footed volley past Víctor Valdés into the roof of the net. The rest of the match continued much the same as the first leg, with Barcelona retaining most of the possession. Despite this, their discipline let them down on occasion, with Chelsea making four unsuccessful penalty appeals during the match, while Daniel Alves received his third yellow card of the knockout stage, ruling him out of Barcelona's next match, and Éric Abidal was given a straight red card for a foul on Nicolas Anelka as the French forward was through on goal, although replays appeared to show that Anelka tripped over his own feet. Norwegian referee Tom Henning Øvrebø allowed a minimum of four minutes of injury time at the end of the second half; in the third of those four minutes – just when it looked like Chelsea were about to secure a repeat of the 2008 final – Lionel Messi played the ball across the edge of the penalty area to Andrés Iniesta, who shot just past Petr Čech's outstretched hand for the away goal that would send Barcelona to the final.[32]
Manchester United
As the defending champions of the UEFA Champions League, Manchester United began their title defence at the group stage, for which they were given the top seed. This position amongst the top eight European clubs meant that they would avoid drawing former European champions Barcelona, Internazionale and Real Madrid until at least the first knockout round, although they were faced with the prospect of drawing Bayern Munich or Roma. Nevertheless, United ended up being drawn with two familiar opponents: Villarreal (whom they had drawn in 2005–06) and Celtic (2006–07); and a new face in Aalborg BK.[33]
Two victories – away to Aalborg and at home to Celtic – and four draws were enough to secure passage to the knockout stage of the competition, and a Celtic victory over Villarreal in the final group match meant that United went through as group winners.[34] This meant that they would avoid Roma, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Porto and Juventus in the first knockout round; however, their potential opposition still included Internazionale, Lyon and Real Madrid. The draw paired Manchester United with José Mourinho's Internazionale, but since United had won their group, they were rewarded by having the second leg at home.[35]
United started the first leg the better of the two sides, and although Inter improved in the second half, neither side was able to find the net during the match, and United took a 0–0 draw back to Old Trafford. The draw was also United's 20th match since their last defeat in the UEFA Champions League, breaking Ajax's 19-match record that had stood for 13 years.[36] The lack of an away goal at the San Siro meant that United could not afford to concede a goal in the event of a draw. A fourth-minute headed goal from Nemanja Vidić, however, settled United hearts and, although Zlatan Ibrahimović hit the bar with a header in the first half, Inter never looked like scoring. Cristiano Ronaldo doubled United's lead four minutes into the second half and, with that, booked their passage through to the quarter-finals.[37]
The draw for the quarter-finals paired United with Porto, whom they played in the first knockout round of the 2003–04 competition. The draw also determined the semi-final pairings, with United drawn against Arsenal or Villarreal.[38] The first leg of the quarter-final was played at Old Trafford, giving Porto the chance to put the pressure on Manchester United with an away goal. Unfortunately for United, that away goal came in the first four minutes of the game. Wayne Rooney equalised just 10 minutes later and Carlos Tévez gave United the lead in the 85th minute, but with only a minute left in the game, United suffered a defensive lapse, allowing Mariano to score an all-important second away goal.[39] Those away goals meant that United travelled to the Estádio do Dragão in Porto needing a win or a score-draw of 2–2 or higher to remain in the competition. They showed their intent with a 40-yard goal from Cristiano Ronaldo in only the sixth minute, and although both sides pressed for another goal, it proved to be the only one of the game, making Manchester United the first English side to win in Porto.[40]
Meanwhile, a 1–1 draw in Villarreal and a 3–0 win at the Emirates Stadium secured Arsenal's status as United's semi-final opponents.[41][42] The draw determined that United would play the first leg at home, and they started the match in perfect style; after Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tévez and Cristiano Ronaldo had early chances, John O'Shea opened the scoring, firing home a Michael Carrick cross after Arsenal had failed to clear a corner. United continued to make chances throughout the game, but despite Arsenal making a couple of chances themselves, the match finished at 1–0 and United travelled to London a week later needing only to avoid defeat to become the first defending champions to reach the final since Juventus in 1997.[43] Arsenal remained hopeful of overturning their one-goal deficit, but those hopes were dashed within the first 11 minutes of the match, as Park Ji-Sung took advantage of a slip by Kieran Gibbs to double United's aggregate lead in the eighth minute before Cristiano Ronaldo fired home a 41-yard free kick in the 11th. With two away goals on the United scoreboard, Arsenal now had to score four goals to reach the final. However, it was United who scored the next goal, as they hit Arsenal on the break and Cristiano Ronaldo scored within 15 seconds of Arsenal losing the ball at the other end of the pitch. 15 minutes from time, Arsenal were awarded a penalty kick after Darren Fletcher brought Cesc Fàbregas down in the penalty area, a foul for which Fletcher was sent off – despite replays showing that Fletcher had won the ball before making contact with Fàbregas. Robin van Persie scored the penalty to make the score 3–1, but it was not enough to prevent United from reaching the final unbeaten for the third time in their history.[44]
Knockout stage
Barcelona | Manchester United | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lyon A 1–1 |
Henry 67' | First knockout round First leg |
Internazionale A 0–0 |
||
Lyon H 5–2 |
Henry 25', 27' Messi 40' Eto'o 43' Keita 90+5' |
Second leg | Internazionale H 2–0 |
Vidić 4' Ronaldo 49' | |
Bayern Munich H 4–0 |
Messi 9', 38' Eto'o 12' Henry 43' |
Quarter-finals First leg |
Porto H 2–2 |
Rooney 15' Tévez 85' | |
Bayern Munich A 1–1 |
Keita 73' | Second leg | Porto A 1–0 |
Ronaldo 6' | |
Chelsea H 0–0 |
Semi-finals First leg |
Arsenal H 1–0 |
O'Shea 17' | ||
Chelsea A 1–1 (a) |
Iniesta 90+3' | Second leg | Arsenal A 3–1 |
Park 8' Ronaldo 11', 61' |
Pre-match
Venue
The Stadio Olimpico in Rome was selected as the venue for the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 4 October 2006. The committee – who decided the venue for the 2008 final and the 2008 and 2009 UEFA Cup Finals at the same meeting – based its decision on a number of factors, including stadium capacity, safety and security facilities, and accessibility.[45]
As with every UEFA Champions League final since 1999, the 2009 final was given its own unique visual identity, designed to give a distinctive flavour of the host city. Designed by London-based design and branding agency Radiant, the theme for the 2009 final was revealed on 25 October 2008, and it incorporated several iconic Roman images; the logo was centred around an outline of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, upon which was written "MMIX" – "2009" in Roman numerals; around the base of the trophy is a stylised laurel wreath, and in the background was a simplified image of the interior of the Colosseum. An alternative logo consisting of the UEFA Champions League logo surrounded by a laurel wreath was also released. The entire theme was based on a colour scheme of deep red and silver-white.[46]
Ticketing
Although the usual capacity of the Stadio Olimpico is over 72,000, this was reduced to approximately 67,000 for the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final. Approximately 10,000 tickets were made available to the general public, with recipients determined by a random ballot following an application period that ran from 2 March to 16 March 2009.[47] Each club was also allocated approximately 20,000 tickets for distribution to fans.[47] Manchester United chose to limit ticket applications to season ticket holders, with preference given to those who had attended more of the club's Champions League away fixtures that season.[48] Barcelona, meanwhile, allotted 80% of their ticket allocation to fans, with the remaining 20% going to the club's corporate sponsors. Unlike United, however, Barcelona opened ticket applications to all members of their supporters club.[49] The remaining 17,000 tickets will be retained by UEFA for the "European football family", which comprises UEFA itself, the local organising committee, UEFA's member associations, and its commercial partners.[47] Tickets for the 2009 final will be similar to bank cards, with an integrated chip storing the ticket holder's personal information in order to ensure that the ticket is being presented by its legitimate owner. As further security, tickets will also have to be presented with an adequate form of photographic identification.[50]
Despite only receiving 20,000 tickets for fans, it was expected that around 30,000 Manchester United fans would be travelling to Rome for the final, leading to police warning ticketless fans not to travel amidst fears of potential hooligans making the trip.[51] Fans were also warned to avoid certain areas of the city that are known to be frequented by members of Rome's Ultra fan groups.[52] Despite Rome's reputation as a hotbed for knife-related crime, UEFA was confident that the 2009 final would pass without incident,[53] but on the morning of the final, there were reports that a Manchester United fan had been stabbed in the leg the previous evening.[54] It was also expected that a similar number of Barcelona fans would be arriving in Rome in the lead-up to the match.[55]
More than 3,000 Manchester United fans congregated just outside the city in a field that has come to be known as "Fergie's Field". The venue provided ticketless fans with the opportunity to watch the match on a giant screen, and kept them away from the streets of Rome's city centre, although the alcohol ban that came into effect in the city at 17:00 (Central European Summer Time) on 26 May was still in force.[56][57]
Match ball
The official match ball for the 2009 Champions League final was the adidas Finale Rome. Based on the "Starball" design that has been used for the Champions League final since 2001 and become synonymous with the UEFA Champions League, the Finale Rome was unveiled on 16 March 2009. The colour scheme was a traditional Roman burgundy with a gold border around the stars. The ball used the same panel configuration as the Adidas Europass and the Adidas Teamgeist before it, and the same thermal bonding process was used to adhere the panels to each other, while the surface of the ball featured the same "PSC-Texture" as was debuted with the Europass; the surface of the ball was covered with thousands of tiny pimples, which allegedly improve the grip between boot and ball.[58][59]
Officials
The referee for the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final was Massimo Busacca, representing the Swiss Football Association. Having been on the FIFA list since 1999, Busacca had experience of officiating 32 UEFA Champions League matches, six of them during the 2008–09 season, and most recently the second leg of Manchester United's quarter-final against Porto on 15 April 2009. He also took charge of the first leg of the semi-final between Manchester United and Barcelona in the 2007–08 competition.[60] Busacca also refereed at both the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008, and took charge of the 2007 UEFA Cup Final between Espanyol and Sevilla at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on 16 May 2007.[4]
As usual, the referee was supported by assistant referees and a fourth official from the same country; in the 2009 final, Massimo Busacca was assisted by compatriots Matthias Arnet and Francesco Buragina, with Claudio Circhetta as the fourth official.[4]
Kits
Having been designated as the official "home" team, Barcelona were given the first choice of kits for the final and opted to wear their traditional red and blue halved shirts. Since the Barcelona home kit clashes with both Manchester United's home and European away kits, the Red Devils wore their white domestic away kit for the first time in a European Cup final. They wore blue for their first European Cup final against Benfica in 1968, but wore red for both of their most recent finals in 1999 and 2008. Manchester United had worn white against Barcelona on five previous occasions, losing just one of them – a 2–0 defeat in 1984 – while the only win in white came in the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup final. The other three matches finished in draws: two 3–3 and one 0–0. Barcelona, on the other hand, had won two of their five European Cup finals – they wore orange for their win over Sampdoria in 1992 but wore their usual blue and red stripes for their most recent win in 2006 against Arsenal. However, two of their European Cup final defeats came against teams wearing white – against Steaua Bucureşti in 1986 and against Milan in 1994.[61]
Match
Team selection
Two Barcelona players missed the final through suspension: right back Daniel Alves, who picked up his third yellow card of the tournament in Barcelona's semi-final second leg against Chelsea on 6 May 2009; and left back Éric Abidal, who was sent off in the same game for a professional foul on Nicolas Anelka.[62] Defender Rafael Márquez also missed the match after he picked up a knee injury in the first leg of the semi-final, ruling him out for the rest of the season.[63] Forward Thierry Henry and semi-final-winning midfielder Andrés Iniesta were also doubts for the final; Henry damaged his right posterior knee ligament in Barcelona's 6–2 league win over Real Madrid on 2 May 2009, while Iniesta was discovered to have suffered a tear in his right thigh following Barça's 3–3 draw with Villarreal on 10 May.[64] Both Henry and Iniesta returned to light training on 22 May, but they had not yet resumed training with the main squad and remained doubts for the final.[65] Carles Puyol, however, was available for selection after he served a one-match suspension in the semi-final second leg.[63]
Manchester United's starting right-winger from the 2008 final, Owen Hargreaves, missed the match as he was still in rehabilitation after a double knee operation to cure his tendinitis problems that had seen him play little part in the 2008–09 Champions League campaign.[66] It had been expected that defender Wes Brown would also miss the match after suffering a recurrance of a foot injury,[67] but he returned to training quicker than expected and was involved in United's match against Hull City on 24 May,[68] although he picked up a slight knock during the game.[69] Rio Ferdinand was also a doubt following a calf injury that has kept him out of the United side since the semi-final second leg against Arsenal; Alex Ferguson had said that Ferdinand may not start in Rome if he was not fit to play against Hull,[70] but he later admitted that Ferdinand was on course to recover in time to play in the match.[69] Second-choice goalkeeper Ben Foster also missed the match after requiring surgery to repair a ruptured ligament in his right thumb in May 2009.[71] On the other hand, following John O'Shea's winning goal in Manchester United's semi-final first leg victory over Arsenal, United manager Alex Ferguson suggested that the Irish utility player would be guaranteed a place in the starting line-up were United to reach the final.[72] O'Shea's place in the team was confirmed at Manchester United's media one day the week before the final.[73] Midfielder Park Ji-Sung was also promised a place in the team after he missed the 2008 final.[74] Meanwhile, midfielder Darren Fletcher was forced to miss the final after picking up a red card in the second leg of the semi-final. While replays suggested that Fletcher played the ball before felling Cesc Fàbregas in the penalty area, the UEFA appeals process only allows for cards to be rescinded in the case of mistaken identity.[75] Despite this, an appeal was submitted by Manchester United on "compassionate" grounds.[76]
Barcelona decided to appeal against the suspensions of Abidal and Alves after United lodged an appeal against Fletcher's red card. Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola came out in support of overturning all three players' suspensions, including Fletcher's.[77] The appeals were declared unsuccessful on 11 May, with UEFA saying in a statement that the appeals were not submitted within the required 24-hour deadline of the matches and that even if they had been submitted on time then "they would have been rejected as unfounded as there were no grounds for contesting the referees' original decisions."[78]
Match details
Barcelona | 2 – 0 | Manchester United |
---|---|---|
Eto'o 10' Messi 70' |
Report |
Barcelona[61]
|
Manchester United[61]
|
|
|
UEFA Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
|
Statistics
First half
Barcelona | Manchester United | |
---|---|---|
Goals scored | 1 | 0 |
Total shots | 4 | 8 |
Shots on target | 1 | 1 |
Ball possession | 54% | 46% |
Corner kicks | 3 | 2 |
Fouls committed | 3 | 3 |
Offsides | 0 | 2 |
Yellow cards | 1 | 0 |
Red cards | 0 | 0 |
Second half
Barcelona | Manchester United | |
---|---|---|
Goals scored | 1 | 0 |
Total shots | 7 | 4 |
Shots on target | 7 | 1 |
Ball possession | 48% | 52% |
Corner kicks | 1 | 5 |
Fouls committed | 4 | 7 |
Offsides | 2 | 3 |
Yellow cards | 0 | 3 |
Red cards | 0 | 0 |
Overall
Barcelona | Manchester United | |
---|---|---|
Goals scored | 2 | 0 |
Total shots | 11 | 12 |
Shots on target | 8 | 2 |
Ball possession | 51% | 49% |
Corner kicks | 4 | 7 |
Fouls committed | 7 | 10 |
Offsides | 2 | 5 |
Yellow cards | 1 | 3 |
Red cards | 0 | 0 |
See also
References
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