1994 UEFA Champions League Final

1994 UEFA Champions League Final

Match programme cover
Event 1993–94 UEFA Champions League
Date 18 May 1994
Venue Olympic Stadium, Athens
Referee Philip Don (England)
Attendance 70,000

The 1994 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match between Italian club Milan and Spanish club Barcelona, played on 18 May 1994 at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece.

Barcelona were favourites to win their second European Cup/UEFA Champions League in three years, having just won La Liga for the fourth year in a row. Milan's preparation before the final was in disarray: legendary striker Marco van Basten was still out with a long-term injury, and £13 million young sensation Gianluigi Lentini (then the world's most expensive footballer) was also injured; sweeper and captain, Franco Baresi was suspended, as was defender Alessandro Costacurta; and UEFA regulations at the time that limited teams to fielding a maximum of three non-nationals meant that coach Fabio Capello was forced to leave out Florin Răducioiu, Jean-Pierre Papin and Brian Laudrup. On Barcelona's side, the rule saw Johan Cruyff choosing not to pick Michael Laudrup in his squad for the final which caused Capello to state after the game: "Laudrup was the guy I feared but Cruyff left him out, and that was his mistake".[1] Laudrup was to leave Barcelona at the end of the season for their arch-rivals, Real Madrid.

Milan played in their all-white away strip, which historically they use in finals of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, while Barcelona played in their red and blue strip. Milan dominated early and were rewarded when Dejan Savićević ran down the right flank and passed to Daniele Massaro, who tapped the ball into an empty net. Massaro banged in his second just before half-time to make it 2–0 after a solo run by Roberto Donadoni down the left wing.

In the 47th minute, Savićević capitalised on a defensive error by Miguel Ángel Nadal to lob goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta for the third goal. Eight minutes later, after Savićević had hit a post and the Barcelona defence had failed to clear, Milan defender Marcel Desailly beat the offside trap to make it 4–0, which ended up being the final score. Many pundits have described Milan's performance against Barcelona in the final as the greatest ever by a team in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history. Desailly became the first player to win the trophy in consecutive years with different clubs after winning with Marseille in 1993.

Road to the final

For more details on this topic, see 1993–94 UEFA Champions League.
Italy Milan Round Spain Barcelona
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Switzerland FC Aarau 1–0 1–0 (A) 0–0 (H) First round Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv 5–4 1–3 (A) 4–1 (H)
Denmark Copenhagen 7–0 6–0 (A) 1–0 (H) Second round Austria Austria Wien 5–1 3–0 (H) 2–1 (A)
Opponent Result Group stage Opponent Result
Belgium Anderlecht 0–0 (A) Matchday 1 Turkey Galatasaray 0–0 (A)
Portugal Porto 3–0 (H) Matchday 2 France Monaco 2–0 (H)
Germany Werder Bremen 2–1 (H) Matchday 3 Russia Spartak Moscow 2–2 (A)
Germany Werder Bremen 1–1 (A) Matchday 4 Russia Spartak Moscow 5–0 (H)
Belgium Anderlecht 0–0 (H) Matchday 5 Turkey Galatasaray 3–0 (H)
Portugal Porto 0–0 (A) Matchday 6 France Monaco 1–0 (A)
Group B winner
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Italy Milan 624062+48
Portugal Porto 6312106+47
Germany Werder Bremen 62131115−45
Belgium Anderlecht 612359−44
Final standings Group A winner
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Spain Barcelona 6420133+1010
France Monaco 631294+57
Russia Spartak Moscow 6132612−65
Turkey Galatasaray 6024110−92
Opponent Result Knockout phase Opponent Result
France Monaco 3–0 (H) Semi-finals Portugal Porto 3–0 (H)

Match details

18 May 1994
21:15 EEST
Milan Italy 4–0 Spain Barcelona
Massaro  22', 45+2'
Savićević  47'
Desailly  58'
Report

MatchCentre
[2]

Olympic Stadium, Athens
Attendance: 70,000
Referee: Philip Don (England)
Milan
Barcelona
GK 1 Italy Sebastiano Rossi
RB 2 Italy Mauro Tassotti (c)  35'
CB 5 Italy Filippo Galli
CB 6 Italy Paolo Maldini  83'
LB 3 Italy Christian Panucci  88'
RM 9 Croatia Zvonimir Boban
CM 4 Italy Demetrio Albertini  53'
CM 8 France Marcel Desailly
LM 7 Italy Roberto Donadoni
CF 10Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan Savićević
CF 11Italy Daniele Massaro  45'
Substitutes:
GK 12Italy Mario Ielpo
DF 13Italy Stefano Nava  83'
MF 14Italy Angelo Carbone
MF 15Italy Gianluigi Lentini
FW 16Italy Marco Simone
Manager:
Italy Fabio Capello
GK 1 Spain Andoni Zubizarreta
RB 2 Spain Albert Ferrer  58'
CB 4 Netherlands Ronald Koeman
CB 5 Spain Miguel Ángel Nadal  54'
LB 7 Spain Sergi  55'  71'
CM 3 Spain Pep Guardiola
CM 6 Spain José Mari Bakero (c)  48'
CM 9 Spain Guillermo Amor
RW 8 Bulgaria Hristo Stoichkov  24'
LW 11Spain Txiki Begiristain  51'
CF 10Brazil Romário
Substitutes:
GK 13Spain Carles Busquets
DF 12Spain Juan Carlos
MF 14Spain Eusebio  51'
MF 15Spain Ion Andoni Goikoetxea
MF 16Spain Quique Estebaranz  71'
Manager:
Netherlands Johan Cruyff

Assistant referees:
England Rob Harris (England)
England Roy Pearson (England)
Fourth official:
England Martin Bodenham (England)

References

  1. ABC(spanish newspaper), 20 May 1994
  2. Wilson, Jonathan (2008). Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics. Orion. p. 318. ISBN 978-1-4091-0204-5.

External links

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