 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2009–10 UEFA Europa League | ||||||
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| Afterextra time | |||||||
| Date | 12 May 2010 | ||||||
| Venue | Volksparkstadion,Hamburg | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Diego Forlán(Atlético Madrid)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Nicola Rizzoli (Italy)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 49,000[3] | ||||||
| Weather | Cloudy night 8 °C (46 °F) 60%humidity[4] | ||||||
←2009(UEFA Cup) 2011 → | |||||||
The2010 UEFA Europa League final was the final match of the2009–10 UEFA Europa League, the first season of the revamped Europeanfootball competition formerly known as the UEFA Cup. Played at theVolksparkstadion inHamburg, Germany, on 12 May 2010,[5] the match was won bySpain'sAtlético Madrid, who, after extra time, beatEngland'sFulham 2–1.[6]
The win gave Atlético their second major European title, following the1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup. Having beaten defending championsShakhtar Donetsk on the way, Fulham were playing in their first final in only their second season of European football, and their second major final overall in the club's history.
As the winners, Atlético qualified automatically for the2010–11 UEFA Europa League by finishing third in their group. They also played in the2010 UEFA Super Cup inMonaco on 27 August 2010, where they took on Italy'sInter Milan, the winners of the2009–10 UEFA Champions League; Atlético won 2–0.
Atlético Madrid and Fulham had never played against each other before this match, and Atlético were Fulham's first ever Spanish opponents. Atlético, on the other hand, had played 19 previous matches against English opposition, winning six and losing five; the most recent of these was againstLiverpool in the semi-finals.[7]
Fulham were playing in only their second season of European football; in 2002–03, they won theIntertoto Cup and reached the third round of theUEFA Cup before being knocked out byHertha BSC. Atlético, however, had played in four previous European finals, including the1974 European Cup Final, which they lost toBayern Munich, and threeCup Winners' Cup finals. Their only European title came in1962, when they beatFiorentina 3–0 in a replay atNeckarstadion,Stuttgart, after the original match atHampden Park,Glasgow, finished as a 1–1 draw.[7]
The final was Fulham's last chance at qualification for European football in the following season. ThePremier League season had finished the previous weekend with Fulham finishing in 12th place, 17 points away from the Europa League places. Earlier in the season, they had been knocked out of theLeague Cup in the third round and in the sixth round of theFA Cup. Atlético were also unable to qualify for Europe via the league; they went into the match in ninth place in thePriméra División, eight points away from the league's Europa League places with one game left to play. However, they had a chance at qualification through theCopa del Rey; they played againstSevilla in thefinal on 19 May, but lost 2–0.[8]
TheVolksparkstadion was chosen as the venue for the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee inVaduz,Liechtenstein, on 28 March 2008. The committee – who selected the venue for the2010 UEFA Champions League Final at the same meeting – based their decision on a number of key criteria, including stadium capacity, facilities and security.[5]
Before 2010, only two European cup finals had ever been played in the city ofHamburg, both of them at theVolksparkstadion (English:the People's Park Stadium), when the finals of certain competitions were played over two legs on a home-and-away basis. The first was the1982 UEFA Cup Final second leg where hostsHamburger SV lost 3–0 to hand the UEFA Cup toIFK Göteborg of Sweden following a 1–0 defeat in the first leg atUllevi inGothenburg. The second one was the1983 European Super Cup first leg where the1983 European Cup winners Hamburg drew 0–0 with the1983 European Cup Winners' Cup winnersAberdeen.
A total of sixEuropean Cup/UEFA Champions League finals and threeUEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals have been played in German cities, as well as oneUEFA Cup final since it became a single-legged match.[7]
The Volksparkstadion was opened in 2000 on the site of Hamburg's previous stadia: the Bahrenfelder Stadium and the original Volksparkstadion. The Bahrenfelder Stadium was built in 1925, but after a two-year renovation, it was replaced by the 75,000-capacity Volksparkstadion in 1953.Hamburger SV moved into the Volksparkstadion from their previous home atRothenbaum in 1963. The stadium then played host to three Group 1 matches at the1974 FIFA World Cup inWest Germany. 14 years later,UEFA Euro 1988 was held in West Germany and the Volksparkstadion was chosen to host the semi-final betweenWest Germany and theNetherlands. By the late 1990s, plans were laid down for a complete renovation of the stadium; the playing surface was rotated by 90 degrees to take advantage of the natural angle of sunlight and the stadium was rebuilt to hold more than 57,000 spectators. Building work began in 1998 and Hamburger SV returned to the ground in 2000. The stadium was used as a venue for the2006 FIFA World Cup, playing host to four group stage matches and the quarter-final betweenItaly andUkraine.[9][10]
The 'hosts' for the final, Hamburger SV were only eliminated from the tournament by Fulham at the semi-final stage. The disappointment of coming so close to playing a final at home was doubled for the Hamburg fans as this was the second consecutive year in which they had been knocked out at the same stage in the UEFA Cup/Europa League – in 2008–09, they lost out to local rivalsWerder Bremen. Two recent finals had involved a team playing at their usual stadium:Feyenoord defeatedBorussia Dortmund in Rotterdam in 2002, whileSporting CP lost toCSKA Moscow inLisbon in 2005.
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
 Atlético Madrid | Round |  Fulham | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions League | Europa League | |||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Qualifying phase (CL,EL) | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Bye | Third qualifying round |  Vėtra | 6–0 | 3–0 (A) | 3–0 (H) | |||
 Panathinaikos | 5–2 | 2–0 (A) | 3–2 (H) | Play-off round |  Amkar Perm | 3–2 | 3–1 (H) | 0–1 (A) |
| Opponent | Result | Group stage (CL,EL) | Opponent | Result | ||||
 APOEL | 0–0 (H) | Matchday 1 |  CSKA Sofia | 1–1 (A) | ||||
 Porto | 0–2 (A) | Matchday 2 |  Basel | 1–0 (H) | ||||
| Chelsea | 0–4 (A) | Matchday 3 |  Roma | 1–1 (H) | ||||
| Chelsea | 2–2 (H) | Matchday 4 | Roma | 1–2 (A) | ||||
| APOEL | 1–1 (A) | Matchday 5 | CSKA Sofia | 1–0 (H) | ||||
| Porto | 0–3 (H) | Matchday 6 | Basel | 3–2 (A) | ||||
| Group D third place | Final standings | Group E runners-up | ||||||
| Europa League | ||||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
 Galatasaray | 3–2 | 1–1 (H) | 2–1 (A) | Round of 32 |  Shakhtar Donetsk | 3–2 | 2–1 (H) | 1–1 (A) |
| Sporting CP | 2–2 (a) | 0–0 (H) | 2–2 (A) | Round of 16 | Juventus | 5–4 | 1–3 (A) | 4–1 (H) |
| Valencia | 2–2 (a) | 2–2 (A) | 0–0 (H) | Quarter-finals |  VfL Wolfsburg | 3–1 | 2–1 (H) | 1–0 (A) |
| Liverpool | 2–2 (a) | 1–0 (H) | 1–2 (a.e.t.) (A) | Semi-finals | Hamburger SV | 2–1 | 0–0 (A) | 2–1 (H) |
Like the recent finals of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup, the 2010 Europa League final was given its own unique visual identity. The design concept is intended to give the public a distinctive impression of the host city and will be used on all media associated with the event. The logo for the 2010 final was revealed at the EAST Hotel Cinema in Hamburg on 30 November 2009 – to coincide with the opening of ticket sales for German residents on 1 December – and the ceremony was attended by Karin Von Welck, the regional officer for sport and culture,German Football Association general secretaryWolfgang Niersbach, Hamburger SV chairmanBernd Hoffmann andGermany Under-19 coachHorst Hrubesch. The logo features an artistic impression of two footballers competing for a ball, set against a modern drawing of various elements of the Hamburg skyline.[11]
A trophy handover ceremony was held at theFischauktionshalle in Hamburg on 13 April 2010, at which a delegation from holdersShakhtar Donetsk – including chief executiveSerhiy Palkin, coachMircea Lucescu, defenderMariusz Lewandowski and midfielderJádson – returned the trophy to UEFA PresidentMichel Platini. Platini then presented the trophy to the mayor of Hamburg,Ole von Beust, for it to be put on display in the city until the day of the final. Also present at the ceremony were the presidents of Hamburger SV and the German Football Association: Bernd Hoffmann andTheo Zwanziger.[12][13]
Former Hamburg playerUwe Seeler was appointed as ambassador of the final.
The regular capacity of the Volksparkstadion was just over 57,000; however, for the 2010 Europa League final and other international matches, the standing area in the north stand was converted to seating, reducing the capacity to around 51,500. Approximately 25% of the available tickets were allocated to each club for distribution to their own fans,[14] while approximately 5,100 tickets were retained for the international general public. Following the ticket application process for German residents – which ran from 1 December 2009 to 15 January 2010[11][15] – applications were opened to the international general public on 24 February 2010 and closed on 19 March. As demand exceeded the number of tickets available, successful applications were determined by a ballot at the end of March.[16][17]
The referee for the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final wasNicola Rizzoli, representing theItalian Football Federation.[2] Rizzoli had been an international referee since 2007, and took charge of his firstUEFA Champions League match in the August of that year, even before his first UEFA Cup match.[2] Since then, he refereed a further 10 Champions League matches and nine UEFA Cup/Europa League matches. His only Europa League assignment in 2009–10 – other than the final – was the second leg ofLiverpool's round of 16 tie againstLille atAnfield on 18 March 2010. Rizzoli had previously refereed quarter-finals in both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup.[18][19]
The refereeing team was entirely made up of officials from the same country; Rizzoli was joined by assistant referees Cristiano Copelli and Luca Maggiani, and the fourth official was Gianluca Rocchi.[2] As part of an ongoing experiment throughout the entire 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, there were also two additional assistant referees with the task of monitoring each penalty area; the extra officials for the 2010 final were Paolo Tagliavento and Andrea De Marco.[2]
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For Atlético, onlySergio Asenjo was unavailable through injury; the Spanish back-up goalkeeper started Atlético's match away toSporting de Gijón on 8 May after managerQuique Sánchez Flores rested his regular number 1,David de Gea, ahead of the Europa League final, but he tore ligaments in his right knee after 13 minutes and was ruled out for six months. As well as De Gea, Flores rested a further six regular first-team players for their penultimate league match:Luis Perea,Paulo Assunção,Simão,Raúl García,Diego Forlán, andSergio Agüero.[20]
In the Fulham camp, the most severe injury concerns related to top-scorerBobby Zamora and wingerDamien Duff; Zamora strained his Achilles tendon in the second leg of Fulham's semi-final againstHamburger SV on 29 April and missed the last three league games of the season, while Duff picked up a calf injury in the penultimate league game againstStoke City on 5 May. Other players with minor injuries includedPaul Konchesky (ankle),Brede Hangeland (knee),Aaron Hughes (groin),John Paintsil (muscle strain), andBjørn Helge Riise (stomach cramps).[21][22]
Neither team had any players missing through suspension, so the final team selections were largely as expected; the biggest surprise was from Fulham managerRoy Hodgson, who namedChris Baird at right-back ahead of Ghanaian internationalJohn Paintsil.[23]
Atlético started the stronger side and had a chance to take the lead in the 12th minute whenSergio Agüero latched onto a backpass fromDanny Murphy and played the ball intoDiego Forlán, whose shot struck the post.[24] The sustained pressure from the Spanish club was eventually rewarded when a mistimed shot from Agüero fell to Forlán, who struck the ball pastMark Schwarzer to give Atlético a 1–0 lead. The lead, however, only lasted for five minutes, beforeSimon Davies struckZoltán Gera's cross into the net on thehalf-volley to level the scores at 1–1.[6]
In the second half, Fulham began to gain a foothold in the game and went close to taking the lead after an hour when Simon Davies struck a shot following a poor clearance, which required a save from Atlético goalkeeperDavid de Gea. In the 55th minute,Bobby Zamora, who had been a fitness doubt prior to the game, was replaced byClint Dempsey, who became the first American to appear in a major European football final.[25] Atlético finished the 90 minutes as the stronger side, but with neither team able to score, the game went into extra time.[24] In extra time, it was again Atlético who looked the more likely to score, with both Forlán and Agüero having opportunities to hit the net. As the tie approached 120 minutes, however, the Spanish side scored a winner, when Agüero turned Fulham defenderAaron Hughes and crossed the ball to Forlán, who flicked the ball into the goal.[6] Forlán was subsequently named man of the match for his performance.[1]
          Atlético Madrid[26] |    Fulham[26] |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[2] |
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