UEFA Cup Final 2002

Lore & Background

Each club needed to progress through two group stages, and two knockout rounds to reach the final. Real Madrid won their group and moved into the second group stage, which they also won, before facing the defending champions Bayern Munich and Barcelona in the knockout stage. Bayer Leverkusen finished second in their group behind Barcelona and progressed to the second group stage. There, they won their group, before beating the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United to progress to the final. Before the match, a minute of silence was held in honour of Ukrainian manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who died two days earlier.

Reader's Guide

Real Madrid were regarded as favourites before the match and took the lead in the eighth minute through Raúl. Lúcio equalised five minutes later, before Zinedine Zidane scored the winning goal on the stroke of half-time, a left-footed volley into the top corner that has since gone down as one of the greatest goals in the history of the competition, to secure Real Madrid's ninth European Cup.

Did You Know?

• In the 2001–02 season, Bayer Leverkusen finished second in the Bundesliga and lost in the 2002 DFB-Pokal Final.
• Five Leverkusen players, Michael Ballack, Hans-Jörg Butt, Oliver Neuville, Carsten Ramelow, and Bernd Schneider went on to add a fourth silver medal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
• The gold medal-winning Brazil squad also included a Leverkusen player in Lúcio.