Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

Those of us who lived through our last UEFA Cup Final won't forget that game for a while!

I watched the game at the UEFA headquarters as my wife worked there and seemed to be the only scouser amongst 100 Spanish. No furries.

2-0 up after 16 minutes, 2-1 then 31-3, then they pulled it back to 3-3.
God struck on 72', 4-3 to the Reds, then on 88' they scrambled an equaliser!

Extra time, every one knackered, players dropping like flies with cramp, Gary Mac leading from the front despite being 56 years old.

Alaves under pressure, being forced into mistakes OWN GOAL for 4 minutes left on the clock! 5-4 to the Redmen. Shivering now as I write this, it was unbelievable!! How could my heart take any more punishment?!

A massive, massive game, on a par with Istanbul 2005.

Liverpool England 5–4 (a.e.t.)
Babbel Goal 3'
Gerrard Goal 16'
McAllister Goal 40' (pen.)
Fowler Goal 72'
Geli Golden goal 116'  (o.g.) Report

Alavés
Alonso Goal 26'
Moreno Goal 47', 49'
Cruijff Goal 88'

Stadium: Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
Attendance: 48,050
Referee: Gilles Veissière (France)

Teams:
The Reds
GK 1 Netherlands Sander Westerveld
RB 6 Germany Markus Babbel        Booked 106'
CB 12 Finland Sami Hyypiä (c)
CB 2 Switzerland Stéphane Henchoz Substituted off 55'
LB 23 England Jamie Carragher
RM 21 Scotland Gary McAllister        Booked 11'
CM 16 Germany Dietmar Hamann
CM 17 England Steven Gerrard
LM 13 England Danny Murphy
CF 8 England Emile Heskey Substituted off 64'
CF 10 England Michael Owen Substituted off 78'

Substitutes:
GK 19 France Pegguy Arphexad
DF 27 France Grégory Vignal
DF 29 England Stephen Wright
MF 7 Czech Republic Vladimír Šmicer Substituted in 55'
MF 15 Czech Republic Patrik Berger Substituted in 78'
MF 20 England Nick Barmby
FW 9 England Robbie Fowler Substituted in 64'
Manager:
France Gérard Houllier

Alaves
GK 1 Argentina Martín Herrera Booked 40'
CB 5 Spain Antonio Karmona (c) Red card 116'
CB 6 Spain Óscar Téllez         Booked 95'
CB 4 Norway Dan Eggen Substituted off 22'
RWB 2 Romania Cosmin Contra Booked 49'
LWB 7 Spain Delfí Geli
RM 14 Netherlands Jordi Cruijff
CM 15 Yugoslavia Ivan Tomić
CM 16 Argentina Hermes Desio
LM 18 Argentina Martín Astudillo Booked 11' Substituted off 46'
CF 9 Spain Javi Moreno Substituted off 64'
Substitutes:
GK 25 Spain Kike
MF 3 Spain Ibón Begoña
MF 17 Spain Raúl Gañán
MF 20 Spain Jorge Azkoitia
FW 10 Spain Pablo         Substituted in 64'
FW 11 Brazil Magno Mocelin         Red card 98' Substituted in 46'
FW 19 Uruguay Iván Alonso Substituted in 22'
Manager:
Spain Mané

Man of the Match:
Scotland Gary McAllister (Liverpool)

Liverpool's victory was their third UEFA Cup success, level with Internazionale and Juventus as the teams with the most success in the competition. Their victory also meant they completed a Treble of cup victories, as they had won the Football League Cup and the FA Cup earlier in the season.

The match was hailed as one of the most exciting finals in modern times, with Alan Hansen declaring: "the best final ever." Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier hailed his players after the match: "When you play in a European final, you are looking for immortality. People remember who was playing and when you look at programmes from finals you just recall the facts of the game. These boys have produced a game which will be remembered for a long time — and that is thanks to Alavés too."

Houllier hit back at critics that had labelled Liverpool as boring before the match: "Maybe we are a boring side — as I seem to keep reading — but I will put up with that. We must have scored 122 of our 123 goals on the counter attack, but all I know is that our total this season is the third highest in Liverpool's history."

The performance of Gary McAllister was lauded after the match with Trevor Brooking stating: "Gary McAllister was outstanding." Alan Hansen also praised McAllister's performance: "Gary McAllister was outstanding. At 36, to keep going the way he did, keep taking those free-kicks and producing it when it counted, was sensational. He fully deserved his man of the match award."

Alavés manager José Manuel Esnal praised his players despite their loss: "Dortmund has seen a great final, and it was possibly the smallest team in the competition that made it great." Esnal saluted his players for their character especially for equalising twice in the match: "We played with pride and class to get the score back to 4–4 at the end of normal time, the result of that, however, was that we were half dead going into extra-time. But we're the same team as we were two hours ago. One side always has to lose a final, just as one wins."

Despite their success, Liverpool were not celebrating immediately after the match, as they had an important match in the Premier League on the Saturday following the final. The match against Charlton Athletic was a must-win match for Liverpool if they wanted to finish in third place in the league and claim the final UEFA Champions League qualification place. The subsequent match was won 4–0 by Liverpool to secure their place in the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League.

Winning the UEFA Cup entitled Liverpool to compete in the 2001 UEFA Super Cup against Champions League winners Bayern Munich. Liverpool won the match 3–2 to secure their second Super Cup victory.

Match report here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_UEFA_Cup_Final

Post your memories lads. I can see Milner emulating Gary Mac......

[C-R]

I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I watched this match, it had absolutely everything in this match, my nerves were in shreds by the end of it

Sevilla will surely be favourites for this year's final, but regardless of that let's hope it's not another nerve shreder

Great post btw Reg mate, brings back some memories 

[leeroy74]

https://youtu.be/x-Wj3WbgVCo