 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2001–02 UEFA Champions League | ||||||
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| Date | 15 May 2002 | ||||||
| Venue | Hampden Park,Glasgow | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Zinedine Zidane(Real Madrid)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Urs Meier (Switzerland)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 50,499[1] | ||||||
| Weather | Mostly cloudy, rain showers 15 °C (59 °F)[3] | ||||||
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The2002 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the2001–02 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary clubfootball competition. The show-piece event was contested betweenBayer Leverkusen of Germany andReal Madrid of Spain atHampden Park inGlasgow, Scotland,[4] on 15 May 2002 to decide the winner of the Champions League.[4] Leverkusen appeared in the final for the first time, whereas Real Madrid appeared in their 12th final.
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 championsBayern Munich andBarcelona 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 ofLiverpool andManchester United to progress to the final.
Before the match, a minute of silence was held in honour of Ukrainian managerValeriy Lobanovskyi, who died two days earlier.[5]
Real Madrid were regarded as favourites before the match and took the lead in the eighth minute throughRaúl.Lúcio equalised five minutes later, beforeZinedine 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,[6] to secure Real Madrid's ninth European Cup.
In the following table, finals until 1992 were in the European Cup era, since 1993 were in the UEFA Champions League era.
| Teams | Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|
 Bayer Leverkusen | None |
 Real Madrid | 11 (1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1962,1964,1966,1981,1998,2000) |
          Bayer Leverkusen[7] |     Real Madrid[7] |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: | Match rules
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In the2001–02 season, Bayer Leverkusen finished second in theBundesliga and lost in the2002 DFB-Pokal Final. After the match, Leverkusen managerKlaus Toppmöller expressed his disappointment on finishing this strong season without a title, stating: "the disappointment is huge – you don't always get the rewards you deserve in football, and no-one knows that better than us after what we have been through. We must seek consolation. Doing what we have done means we have had a very good season – but what has happened to us is difficult and makes us feel bitter."[9]
Five Leverkusen players,Michael Ballack,Hans-Jörg Butt,Oliver Neuville,Carsten Ramelow, andBernd Schneider went on to add a fourth silver medal at the2002 FIFA World Cup. However, the gold medal-winning Brazil squad also included a Leverkusen player inLúcio.
