1994 UEFA Champions League Final

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 Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece.

1994 UEFA Champions League Final
Match programme cover
Event1993–94 UEFA Champions League
Milan Barcelona
4 0
Date18 May 1994
VenueOlympic Stadium, Athens
RefereePhilip Don (England)
Attendance70,000

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 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 left Barcelona for their arch-rival, Real Madrid, at the end of the season.

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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

Teams

In the following table, finals until 1992 were in the European Cup era, since 1993 were in the UEFA Champions League era.

Team Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
Milan 6 (1958, 1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1993)
Barcelona 3 (1961, 1986, 1992)

Road to the final
Further information: 1993–94 UEFA Champions League
Milan Round Barcelona
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
FC Aarau 1–0 1–0 (A) 0–0 (H) First round Dynamo Kyiv 5–4 1–3 (A) 4–1 (H)
Copenhagen 7–0 6–0 (A) 1–0 (H) Second round Austria Wien 5–1 3–0 (H) 2–1 (A)
Opponent Result Group stage Opponent Result
Anderlecht 0–0 (A) Matchday 1 Galatasaray 0–0 (A)
Porto 3–0 (H) Matchday 2 Monaco 2–0 (H)
Werder Bremen 2–1 (H) Matchday 3 Spartak Moscow 2–2 (A)
Werder Bremen 1–1 (A) Matchday 4 Spartak Moscow 5–1 (H)
Anderlecht 0–0 (H) Matchday 5 Galatasaray 3–0 (H)
Porto 0–0 (A) Matchday 6 Monaco 1–0 (A)
Group B winner
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Milan 6 8
2 Porto 6 7
3 Werder Bremen 6 5
4 Anderlecht 6 4
Source: UEFA
 Final standings Group A winner
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Barcelona 6 10
2 Monaco 6 7
3 Spartak Moscow 6 5
4 Galatasaray 6 2
Source: UEFA
Opponent Result Knockout phase Opponent Result
Monaco 3–0 (H) Semi-finals Porto 3–0 (H)

Match

Details
Milan 4–0 Barcelona
Massaro  22', 45+2'
Savićević  47'
Desailly  58'		 Report
Attendance: 70,000
Referee: Philip Don (England)
Milan[5]
Barcelona[5]
GK1 Sebastiano Rossi
RB2 Mauro Tassotti (c) 35'
LB3 Christian Panucci 88'
CM4 Demetrio Albertini 53'
CB5 Filippo Galli
CB6 Paolo Maldini 83'
LM7 Roberto Donadoni
CM8 Marcel Desailly
RM9 Zvonimir Boban
CF10 Dejan Savićević
CF11 Daniele Massaro 45'
Substitutes:
GK12 Mario Ielpo
DF13 Stefano Nava 83'
MF14 Angelo Carbone
MF15 Gianluigi Lentini
FW16 Marco Simone
Manager:
Fabio Capello
GK1 Andoni Zubizarreta
RB2 Albert Ferrer 58'
CM3 Pep Guardiola
CB4 Ronald Koeman
CB5 Miguel Ángel Nadal 54'
CM6 José Mari Bakero (c) 48'
LB7 Sergi 55' 71'
RW8 Hristo Stoichkov 24'
CM9 Guillermo Amor
CF10 Romário
LW11 Txiki Begiristain 51'
Substitutes:
DF12 Juan Carlos
GK13 Carles Busquets
MF14 Eusebio 51'
MF15 Jon Andoni Goikoetxea
MF16 Quique Estebaranz 71'
Manager:
Johan Cruyff

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

See also

References
  1. ABC(spanish newspaper), 20 May 1994
  2. Leach, Conrad (31 May 2016). "Golden Goal: Daniele Massaro for Milan v Barcelona (1994)". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  3. Thomas, Russell (13 December 2007). "Milan style - how the Guardian saw the 1994 final". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. Smyth, Rob (13 May 2020). "Milan v Barcelona 1994 Champions League final: as it happened". Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  5. Wilson, Jonathan (2008). Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics. Orion. p. 318. ISBN 978-1-4091-0204-5.
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