2012 UEFA Europa League Final

2012 UEFA Europa League Final
Match programme cover
Event 2011–12 UEFA Europa League
Date 9 May 2012
Venue Arena Națională, Bucharest
Man of the Match Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid)[1]
Referee Wolfgang Stark (Germany)[2]
Attendance 52,347[3]
Weather Cloudy
15 °C (59 °F)
100% humidity

The 2012 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League, the 41st season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA (after the UEFA Champions League), and the 3rd season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The match was played on 9 May 2012 at the Arena Națională in Bucharest, Romania,[4][5] and was contested between two Spanish sides – Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. The match ended with Atlético Madrid winning 3–0, with Radamel Falcao scoring two goals and Diego scoring another. In doing so, Falcao was named man of the match, and became the first player to win back-to-back Europa League titles with different teams.

The winners earned the right to play against Chelsea, the winners of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, in the 2012 UEFA Super Cup.

Venue

The Arena Națională was announced by UEFA as the venue of the 2012 final on 30 January 2010.[6] This was the first final of a European football club competition hosted by Romania.

The stadium was built on the site of the former national stadium, and opened on 6 September 2011 with a UEFA Euro 2012 Group D qualifier match between Romania and France.

Background

The final was preceded by an opening ceremony.

This was the second consecutive Europa League final contested by two teams from the same nation, and the ninth time overall (including UEFA Cup).[7] The only other all-Spanish final of UEFA's second club competition was the 2007 UEFA Cup Final, when Sevilla defeated Espanyol. That was also the last final where both finalist teams had played only in the UEFA Cup/Europa League in their routes to the final (rather than dropping down from the UEFA Champions League, either after the early knockout rounds or after the group stage).

Both teams have played in one previous Europa League/UEFA Cup final. Atlético Madrid won the first Europa League final after its renaming in 2010, beating Fulham 2–1 after extra time. Athletic Bilbao lost in 1977 to Juventus on away goals after the tie finished 2–2 on aggregate. The two teams have never met in European competition before. They have met each other in three Copa del Rey finals, with Athletic Bilbao winning two and Atlético Madrid winning one. In the 2011–12 La Liga season, Athletic Bilbao won their home fixture 3–0 and Atlético Madrid won their home fixture 2–1.[8]

After losing to Udinese on 20 October 2011, Atlético Madrid went on a run of 11 straight victories to the final, a record in European football, winning their remaining group games to top their group and then defeating four knockout opponents both home and away.

Road to final

Spain Atlético Madrid Round Spain Athletic Bilbao
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Qualifying phase Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Norway Strømsgodset 4–1 2–1 (H) 2–0 (A) Third qualifying round Bye
Portugal Vitória Guimarães 6–0 2–0 (H) 4–0 (A) Play-off round Turkey Trabzonspor n/a 0–0 Cancelled
Opponent Result Group stage Opponent Result
Scotland Celtic 2–0 (H) Matchday 1 Slovakia Slovan Bratislava 2–1 (A)
France Rennes 1–1 (A) Matchday 2 France Paris Saint-Germain 2–0 (H)
Italy Udinese 0–2 (A) Matchday 3 Austria Red Bull Salzburg 2–2 (H)
Italy Udinese 4–0 (H) Matchday 4 Austria Red Bull Salzburg 1–0 (A)
Scotland Celtic 1–0 (A) Matchday 5 Slovakia Slovan Bratislava 2–1 (H)
France Rennes 3–1 (H) Matchday 6 France Paris Saint-Germain 2–4 (A)
Group I winners
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Spain Atlético Madrid 6411114+713
Italy Udinese 623167−19
Scotland Celtic 613267−16
France Rennes 6033510−53
Final standings Group F winners
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Spain Athletic Bilbao 6411118+313
Austria Red Bull Salzburg 6312118+310
France Paris Saint-Germain 631287+110
Slovakia Slovan Bratislava 6015411−71
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Knockout phase Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Italy Lazio 4–1 3–1 (A) 1–0 (H) Round of 32 Russia Lokomotiv Moscow 2–2 (a) 1–2 (A) 1–0 (H)
Turkey Beşiktaş 6–1 3–1 (H) 3–0 (A) Round of 16 England Manchester United 5–3 3–2 (A) 2–1 (H)
Germany Hannover 96 4–2 2–1 (H) 2–1 (A) Quarter-finals Germany Schalke 04 6–4 4–2 (A) 2–2 (H)
Spain Valencia 5–2 4–2 (H) 1–0 (A) Semi-finals Portugal Sporting CP 4–3 1–2 (A) 3–1 (H)

Pre-match

Ticketing

Athletic Bilbao fans in Bucharest before the match

The two finalist teams received 9,000 tickets each for distribution to their supporters. 20,000 tickets have been sold to local football fans with a further 3,000 tickets available for sale to fans worldwide via UEFA.com, with prices between 100 RON and 500 RON. The remaining tickets are allocated to the local organising committee, UEFA’s 53 national football associations, and commercial and broadcast partners.[10]

Ambassador

Former Romanian player Miodrag Belodedici was named as the ambassador for the final.[11]

Match

Details

Atlético Madrid Spain 3–0 Spain Athletic Bilbao
Falcao  7', 34'
Diego  85'
Report
Atlético Madrid
Athletic Bilbao
GK13Belgium Thibaut Courtois
RB20Spain Juanfran
CB2Uruguay Diego Godín
CB23Brazil Miranda
LB6Brazil Filipe Luís
CM4Spain Mario Suárez
CM14Spain Gabi (c)
RW22Brazil Diego 90'
AM7Spain Adrián 88'
LW11Turkey Arda Turan 90+3'
CF9Colombia Radamel FalcaoYellow card 26'
Substitutes:
GK25Spain Sergio Asenjo
DF3Spain Antonio López
DF18Spain Álvaro Domínguez 90+3'
MF8Argentina Eduardo Salvio 88'
MF12Brazil Paulo Assunção
MF19Spain Koke 90'
FW41Spain Pedro Martín
Manager:
Argentina Diego Simeone
GK1Spain Gorka Iraizoz
RB15Spain Andoni Iraola (c)
CB24Spain Javi Martínez
CB5Venezuela Fernando AmorebietaYellow card 64'
LB3Spain Jon Aurtenetxe 46'
RM21Spain Ander HerreraYellow card 22' 63'
CM8Spain Ander Iturraspe 46'
LM10Spain Óscar de Marcos
RW14Spain Markel SusaetaYellow card 90+1'
LW19Spain Iker Muniain
CF9Spain Fernando Llorente
Substitutes:
GK13Spain Raúl
DF6Spain Mikel San José
MF11Spain Igor Gabilondo
MF17Spain Iñigo PérezYellow card 75' 46'
MF23Spain Borja Ekiza
FW2Spain Gaizka Toquero 63'
FW28Spain Ibai 46'
Manager:
Argentina Marcelo Bielsa

Man of the Match:
Colombia Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid)[1]

Assistant referees:
Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany)
Mike Pickel (Germany)
Fourth official:
Stéphane Lannoy (France)
Additional assistant referees:
Florian Meyer (Germany)
Deniz Aytekin (Germany)

Match rules[12]

  • 90 minutes
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
  • Seven named substitutes
  • Maximum of three substitutions

Statistics

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Atkin, John (9 May 2012). "Falcao at double as Atlético march to title". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Stark gets Bucharest call-up". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 7 May 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Full Time Summary" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 7 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  4. "2011/12 draw and match calendar". UEFA.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012.
  5. "UEFA Europa League trophy handed to Bucharest". UEFA.com. 11 April 2012. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  6. "UEFA unveil 2011 and 2012 final venues". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 January 2009. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  7. "Final shining spotlight on local rivalries". UEFA.com. 7 May 2012.
  8. "Bucharest stage set for all-Spanish showpiece". UEFA.com. 27 April 2012.
  9. "Fenerbahçe replaced in UEFA Champions League". UEFA. 24 August 2011. Archived from the original on 19 October 2011.
  10. "UEFA Europa League Final 2012 ticket sales launched". UEFA.com. 7 March 2012.
  11. "Ambassador: Miodrag Belodedici". UEFA.com. 1 March 2012.
  12. "Regulations of the UEFA Europa League 2011/12" (PDF). UEFA.com. Nyon: Union of European Football Associations. March 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 "Team statistics" (PDF). UEFA. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
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