How bad was Spurs v United in comparison to other European club finals?

The Guardian

22-05-2025

The attacking talents on show for both Italian sides were frightening. Juventus partnered David Trezeguet in attack with Alessandro Del Piero, while Milan opted for Pippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko in front of the creativity of Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Rui Costa. Such was the embarrassment of riches available to manager Carlo Ancelotti, Rivaldo was an unused sub. Yet after 120 minutes, the final remained goalless. Marcello Lippi, who had succeeded Ancelotti as Juve manager in 2001, was particularly culpable, having brought on the defensively minded Antonio Conte as a makeshift No 10 at half-time. How they missed the suspended Pavel Nedved. Milan prevailed in the shootout, with Paolo Maldini lifting the trophy at Old Trafford, but the final did nothing to dispel the belief that Italian football is a defensive game.
A goal of exquisite beauty punctuated an otherwise drab affair as Radamel Falcao earned victory for André Villas Boas's side, a triumph that would contribute to the Portuguese manager moving to Chelsea later that summer. Falcao's looping header from a brilliant Fredy Guarín cross was the only highlight, with Braga looking only to frustrate their neighbours before conceding and unable to muster any sort of response once they fell behind. Even Villas Boas conceded afterwards his disappointment that the final had 'not been the spectacle' he had envisaged, while the Guardian's Paul Doyle, on liveblogging duties that night, was a little more forthright in his summary of the match: 'Well that was torpid. Nice enough goal to win it, though.'
It is often the way that finals contested by teams from the same nation can be tight, cagey affairs – just look at this list – which is normally due to the finalists knowing each other well and often being concerned about losing to a long-established rival. In this case, it was much more to do with the fact that Spurs and Manchester United were lurching from dreadful domestic seasons, in which both sides lurked just above the Premier League relegation zone. The carrot of Champions League qualification and the stick of derision or potentially someone losing their job probably didn't help in opening up the contest, which was fittingly decided by a dismal Brennan Johnson deflection. Spurs fans won't care about that, or Ange Postecoglou's gameplan, which the Australian admitted afterwards was about 'minimising moments by having a strong foundation' – manager-speak for putting 10 men behind the ball for almost the entire second half.
The fairytale of Nottingham Forest winning their first European Cup under Brian Clough often seems to omit how the final against the Swedish club was a drab affair. In an age where back passes to the keeper were common, especially in tight and important matches decided by the odd goal, it was a game heavy on offsides and stoppages. Forest had thrilled many en route to the final, including in a 4-1 win over Grasshoppers in the first leg of their quarter-final, and a 3-3 draw with Cologne in the first leg of their semi-final, but a tall, physical Malmö nullified Forest in the final, before Trevor Francis's headed winner, in his first European appearance for the club, mercifully prevented the final from going into extra time. As ever, though, it was Clough who had the last word: 'It wasn't a great game but they were a boring team, Malmö. In fact the Swedes are quite a boring nation. But we still won, so who cares?'
'Two teams with their minds more obviously on correcting the perceived injustices of the past than on winning a match through the sort of expressive football that earned the European Cup its reputation fought each other virtually to a standstill in Milan,' began Richard Williams' match report from San Siro. This was both a disappointing match – a penalty each for Bayern and Valencia sending the game towards, you guessed it, more penalties in a shootout – but also two disappointing performances, particularly for that Valencia side. The La Liga team were appearing in their second successive final, having been thrashed by Real Madrid in the 2000 showpiece a year earlier. Owen Hargreaves did such a good job of negating Pablo Aimar that the Valencia manager, Héctor Cúper, withdrew the Argentinian playmaker at half-time. Ultimately, the Spanish side could not conquer man-of-the-match Oliver Kahn. The goalkeeper saved Mauricio Pellegrino's spotkick in the shootout to give Bayern their fourth European crown.