Alavés 4 - Liverpool 5

Alavés: Herrera; Contra, Téllez, Karmona, Eggen (Iván Alonso 22'), Geli; Astudillo (Magno 46'), Tomic, Desio, Jordi Cruyff; Javi Moreno (Pablo 65'). 5-4-1.
Liverpool: Westerveld; Babbel, Henchoz (Smicer 56'), Hyypia, Carragher; Hamann, Gerrard, McAllister, Murphy; Heskey (Fowler 65'), Owen (Berger 79'). 4-4-2.

Goals:
0-1. 03. Babbel. Header unmarked inside area after McAllister free kick.
0-2. 16. Gerrard. Took through pass from Owen and drove ball under keeper.
1-2. 27. Iván Alonso. Headed ball over keeper after Contra swung ball across.
1-3. 41. McAllister (penalty). After Herrera tripped Owen as he broke free in area.
2-3. 48. Javi Moreno. Came back to head past Westerveld after Contra cross.
3-3. 51. Javi Moreno. Low free kick through gap in defensive wall.
3-4. 73. Fowler. Took pass from McAllister and cut across edge of area to score.
4-4. 89. Jordi Cruyff. Headed down past keeper after corner from right.
4-5. 117. Geli (own goal). Headed McAllister free kick back over own keeper.

A golden goal three minutes from the end of extra time ended the dreams of Alavés in one of the best European finals seen in years. The Vitoria based side had reached the final in their first ever year in European football, beating the likes of Inter Milan and Kaiserslauten on their way to the meeting with Liverpool. In fact not only was it their first European final but also their first final in the history of the club, who only a few years ago were playing in the Spanish second division B. Against them they had the mighty reds of Liverpool, who were looking for the fiftieth trophy of their history, and who had already won the English League cup and English FA cup this season.

The Alavés manager Mané surprised everyone with the initial line up, opting to play three central defenders, with club captain Karmona coming in to the side and Astudillo playing on the right of midfield. They claimed they had not studied Liverpool, but Houllier had done his homework on his opponents, and drafted in Murphy on the left side of midfield to try and snuff out the threat of Contra down that wing. Heskey and Owen were once again the front runners, with Fowler on the bench as he had been in the FA cup final four days earlier. The Spanish side were clearly nervous at the beginning, with passes going astray and misunderstanding between players, and Liverpool took the lead within three minutes, Babbel getting on the end of McAllister's free kick from the right to head past the keeper. A few minutes later it was two as Owen found Gerrard, and it looked as if it was going to be a landslide for the English team.

However Alavés proved in earlier rounds that they should never be ruled out, and Mané brought on another attacker Iván Alonso for a defender, with Eggen the unlucky player when he was playing no worse than anyone else. The substitution proved to be inspired, with the Argentinian striker heading Contra's cross over Westerveld only five minutes after coming on. Suddenly they looked a different side, and Téllez, Javi Moreno and Tomic all forced the Dutch keeper into good saves as they came looking for the equaliser. But just before half time Liverpool re-established the two goal cushion on a quick counterattack, Herrera bringing down Owen inside the penalty area after the nippy forward had beaten the keeper for speed. Herrera was in fact lucky to stay on the field after French referee Vessière only gave him a yellow card, but although he got a hand to McAllister's penalty he could not stop it going in.

Once again commentators wrote Alavés off, but within six minutes of the restart they were level, with Javi Moreno somehow getting to a Contra cross to head past the keeper and then striking a low free kick through the defensive wall as Tomic and Téllez got in the middle of the Liverpool players to create a gap. Houllier resorted to Smicer and then Fowler, and Mané inexplicably took off Javi Moreno to bring on midfielder Pablo, a move he has yet to explain. Maybe it was because Moreno was selfishly looking for his hat-trick or possibly just to add an extra man to the middle of the park to keep tabs on Fowler, but it left Alavés without their most incisive forward. In any case there was no stopping Red Robbie as he put Liverpool back in the lead again, picking up another McAllister pass and making himself space on the edge of the area to place the ball wide of Herrera.

For the third time it seemed to be all over and Houllier replaced Owen by Berger to defend the lead, but Alavés threw everyone forward, with Westerveld saving from half time substitute Magno and then the Brazilian getting himself booked for diving in the penalty area. And then in the last minute Jordi Cruyff, the man who had been taking all the stick from the Liverpool fans for his past life at Manchester United, rose in front of the defence to head a corner down into the net. The TV cameras switched to his father Johan in the stands - was that a small tear in his eye - as Mané and the 8,000 or so Alavés fans leapt into the air. The match was going into extra time with a 'golden goal' sudden death finish, with a penalty shoot out to follow if nobody had scored in the thirty minute time period.

Both teams got the ball in the net in the first fifteen minutes of extra time, but first Iván Alonso and then Fowler were correctly ruled offside by the referee. Alavés though were reduced to ten men when Magno picked up a silly second yellow card, and he left the field with a wry smile on his face. Then with three minutes to go to the penalty shoot out Karmona also got his marching orders for a second bookable offence, leaving the Basques with nine. McAllister, the man of the match, stepped up to swing the resulting free kick over into the penalty box, and Geli, trying to head it clear, only succeeded in tipping it over his own keeper and in to the net. The game was over and the Alavés players collapsed to the ground in tears as Liverpool celebrated their first European trophy in 17 years. It was an unfitting end to a great cup run, and they now have to pick themselves up by Saturday for the game against Barcelona to try and get back into Europe for next season. But Alavés had done Spanish football proud, and had lived up to their nickname of El Glorioso. They couldn't have done any more.