UEFA Cup Final 2000-2001

Uefa Cup Final, 16th May 2001, Dortmund, 20:45pm

Liverpool 5-4 (a.e.t.) Alaves

Referee: Giles Veissiere H-T: 3-1 Att: 48,050

Match Report

Liverpool won the toss and kicked-off. Within the first four minutes Liverpool had scored. Markus Babbel headed in a Gary McAllister free-kick to put Liverpool 1–0 up. They nearly added to their lead minutes later when Emile Heskey was put through on goal from a McAllister pass, but Alavés goalkeeper Martín Herrera cleared the ball with his feet. Two minutes later, Martín Astudillo was shown a yellow card for a challenge on Heskey. Liverpool player Gary McAllister also received a yellow card after he confronted the Alavés player over his challenge. Alavés first opportunity to score was in the 12th minute. They were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area following a challenge by Stéphane Henchoz. Oscar Téllez curled a shot towards Liverpool's goal, however, Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld pushed the ball away from goal. Three minutes later, Michael Owen collected a Dietmar Hamann pass and played a diagonal pass to Steven Gerrard, whose shot beat the Alavés keeper Herrera to put Liverpool 2–0 ahead.

Minutes later Alavés made the first substitution of the match when Iván Alonso replaced defender Dan Eggen. The change had the desired effect as four minutes later, Alavés scored. Right wing-back Cosmin Contra put the ball into the area form the right side of the pitch and Alonso rose above Babbel to head the ball into the net to make the scoreline 2–1. Immediately afterwards, Alavés were almost level when Contra put another ball into the penalty area, however, Henchoz cleared the ball before an Alavés player could reach it. In the 35th minute, Alavés were again nearly level. Alonso's header fell to Javi Moreno, who went past Henchoz his shot was saved by Westerveld after it his chest. The rebound fell to Ivan Tomić, but Westerveld again saved his shot. Five minutes later, Liverpool were awarded a penalty. Michael Owen had run into the penalty area past the Alavés defence, he was brought down by Herrera was who was booked for the foul. Gary McAllister took the penalty and scored to put Liverpool 3–1 ahead.

In contrast to the first-half, it was Alavés who started the half the better of the two sides. Contra put a cross from the right side of the pitch into the penalty area, which was met by Moreno, whose header beat Westerveld to make the scoreline 3–2. Four minutes later Alavés had equalised. They were awarded a free-kick 25 yards away from goal and Moreno went straight through the Liverpool wall and into the goal past Westerveld. Liverpool reacted to the scoreline being levelled at 3–3 by substituting Stéphane Henchoz with Vladimír Šmicer. Steven Gerrard was placed in the right-back position as a result of the change. Three minutes later, Owen was brought down by defender Antonio Karmona, who was subsequently booked. Liverpool were awarded a free-kick, which Gary McAllister hit into the Alavés wall. In the 64th minute, both sides made substitutions. Liverpool replaced Emile Heskey with Robbie Fowler, while

Alavés goalscorer Javi Moreno with Pablo. Eight minutes later, Gary McAllister passed the ball to Fowler who moved towards the centre of the pitch from the left-hand side and hit his shot into the corner of the net to put Liverpool 4–3 up with 18 minutes of the match remaining. Two minutes later, Liverpool substituted Michael Owen for Patrik Berger. In the 82nd minute, Alavés had an appeal for a penalty after Hamann was adjudged to have brought Magno down, the Brazilian was subsequently booked for diving. With two minutes remaining, Liverpool goalkeeper Sander Westerveld conceded a corner. The subsequent corner is headed into the goal by Jordi Cruyff to make the scoreline 4–4. Two minutes into injury-time, Contra went down under pressure from Gerrard in the Liverpool penalty area. Again, the referee deemed that there was no penalty. Following this, the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of 90 minutes if play. The match would now go into a 30 minute extra-time period.

The golden goal was used during extra-time, which that whatever team scored first would win. Liverpool kicked off the first half of extra-time and within three minutes, Alavés looked like they had scored a golden goal. Ivan Alonso had put the ball in the Liverpool goal, but it was ruled out as Alonso was offside.[23] A minute later, Óscar Téllez was booked for fouling Robbie Fowler. Within four minutes, Alavés had been reduced to 10 men. Magno was shown a second yellow card for a two-footed challenge on Markus Babbel. With a minute of the first half of extra-time remaining, Fowler thought he had scored the winning goal, however it was disallowed as he was offside.

Alavés kicked off the second half of extra-time and within seconds, Babbel was booked for bringing down Delfí Geli 30 yards from goal. The resulting free-kick was put wide by Hermes Desio. Three minutes later, Liverpool had a chance to score, but Fowler could not reach Steven Gerrard's cross and the ball was subsequently cleared from the Alavés penalty area. In the 115th minute of the match, Alavés were reduced to nine men, when Antonio Karmona received a second yellow card for fouling Smicer. McAllister took the resulting free-kick, which was headed into his own goal by Alavés defender Delfí Geli. As a result of the golden goal, Liverpool had won the match 5–4 to win their third UEFA Cup and complete a Treble.