2004 UEFA Cup Final

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2004 UEFA Cup Final

Event	UEFA Cup 2003–04
Valencia Marseille 2 0
Date	19 May 2004
Venue	Ullevi, Gothenburg
Referee	Pierluigi Collina (Italy)
Attendance	39,000
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The 2004 UEFA Cup Final was played on May 19, 2004 at Gothenburg, between Valencia CF of Spain and Olympique de 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 F.C..

[edit]Match Summary

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

The start of the match was conservative due to the wind, however 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 on 10 minutes. Marseille's first meaningful attempt at goal came in the 16th minute when Steve Marlet headed over from Camel Meriem's cross. Monutes 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 cam 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, however they came forward in flourishes in the last remnants of the game, when Drogba's free kick was stopped by Santiago Cañizares, and then he nearly played Steve Marlet but it was intercepted. Marseille almost found a way back into the match n 80 minutes 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 2 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.