The Thriller of Westfalen
On May 16, 2001, the UEFA Cup final was held at Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, and what the spectators witnessed that evening was anything but the kind of bus-parking, trench-digging, “please let’s not concede” bunker football that often appears in single-leg matches where the stakes are high.
Liverpool FC faced Deportivo Alavés, which at first did not seem like a clash of giants, yet what happened on that night far exceeded all expectations.
For Liverpool, it was their first European final since the Heysel disaster, while for Alavés, it was their very first — and so far, only — European cup final in history.
The Reds arrived at the showdown in fine form, having already lifted the League Cup and, just four days earlier, the FA Cup after defeating Arsenal.
It had been a strong season overall: in the Premier League they improved on the previous year’s fourth-place finish, ending the campaign in third, behind only Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson’s “Red Devils”, who claimed the title.
The team featured remarkable talents such as the then only 20-year-old Michael Owen, who finished as the club’s top scorer, and Steven Gerrard, who celebrated his 21st birthday exactly two weeks after the final. Even at that young age, his emerging leadership, football intelligence and technical brilliance were unmistakable. Also on the pitch was future club legend Jamie Carragher, the in-form Czech player Vladimír Šmicer, the towering 192 cm English powerhouse Emile Heskey, and Robbie Fowler, who came on as a substitute in the final and found the net.
The competition format at the time did not yet include the group stages that many fans are now familiar with. Instead, teams had to navigate a two-legged knockout system where away goals carried significant weight. In fact, UEFA would hold on to this rule for another 20 years, firmly believing that scoring on foreign turf was a far greater challenge, especially when the opposing fans’ flying spit seemed to brush the backs of the visiting players’ necks.
Liverpool’s road to the final led them past Rapid București, Slovan Liberec, Olympiacos, Roma, Porto, and finally Barcelona in the semifinals.
Gerard Houllier was the team’s manager, and as with every journey that leads to success, there were key moments along the way. Michael Owen’s double in Rome decided one of the toughest ties. Gary McAllister’s composed penalty against Barcelona secured their place in the final. The team’s rock-solid defending at Camp Nou earned them a 0–0 draw, and the list could go on. In truth, every moment is a key moment, because if even a single blade of grass had bent differently, everything might have changed, like the butterfly of chaos whose wings can stir a storm on the other side of the world.
Alavés belonged to a slightly different category. You could say they were the classic underdog of the tournament. They finished 10th in La Liga that season, after a 6th-place finish in the 1999–2000 campaign. What they achieved in the cup was one of, if not the greatest, runs in the club’s history. They were the quintessential small team, galloping all the way to the final in Dortmund not even as dark horses, but rather as grey ones.
There are moments when belief meets talent, when something intangible begins to flow, like tiny drops of oil igniting into pillars of flame. That was what Alavés experienced on their remarkable run. No one expected it from them, no one truly believed it could happen until they did it. But they believed.
We’ve seen things like this before, and whenever an underdog goes on a run like that, you get the feeling they’ve tapped into something special, some feeling that defies logic, maybe even sporting explanation. I believe it’s the result of a collective energy within the team, a shared sense of belief in themselves, alongside the obvious elements of tactical awareness and preparation that every success requires.
The charge began against Gaziantepspor, with a goalless draw at home. In the return leg, the Turks took the lead twice (1–0 and 2–1), but the Spaniards fought back, led by a brace from Ivan Tomic, eventually taking the tie 4–3 on aggregate.
In the following round, they eliminated the Norwegian side Lillestrøm with an aggregate score of 5–3, and then went on to defeat another Norwegian team, Rosenborg, by 4–2 on aggregate.
In the fourth round came perhaps the toughest challenge yet, Inter Milan. In the first leg, Alavés came back from a 3–1 deficit to earn a draw. Inter had pulled ahead with two goals from Álvaro Recoba and one from Christian Vieri, but Oscar Téllez and Iván Alonso struck back to make it 3–3 for the home side.
Then, on the hallowed turf of San Siro, the Spaniards stunned the Italians in the final 20 minutes. Goals from Jordi Cruyff and Iván Tomić sealed a 2–0 victory and a 5–3 aggregate win, sending the Milanese giants home in disbelief.
Next came an all-Spanish clash against Rayo Vallecano. Alavés took firm control in the first leg with a commanding 3–0 victory, and although they lost the return match 2–1, the 4–2 aggregate score was enough to carry them proudly into the semifinals.
In the semifinals they faced Kaiserslautern, and the goals poured down like bird droppings from a sick pigeon over a freshly washed car. The first leg ended in a stunning 5–1 victory for Alavés, in a match that saw four penalties awarded, three of which were converted by the Spanish side. There was still plenty of firepower left for the return leg, where Alavés triumphed 4–1 away from home, sealing an incredible 9–2 aggregate scoreline.
And so we arrive here, the final, Wednesday, May 16th, Dortmund.
At 20:45 the ball was set in motion, and it did not stop until the drama reserved for the night had fully unfolded.
The Final
It didn’t take long for the first goal to arrive. In the 3rd minute, Liverpool took the lead when Gary McAllister’s free kick found Markus Babbel inside the box, who slipped beautifully between two Alavés defenders and headed the ball into the net.
Next came the 16th minute, when Liverpool extended their lead. From a perfect pass by Michael Owen, Gerrard broke through, spotting the gap in the slipping Alavés defense. Owen served the ball to him masterfully, and Gerrard struck it toward the near post with a mix of grace and power. His legs moved like a gazelle’s, and the ball slipped under Martín Herrera’s hand into the net, giving LFC a lightning-fast 2–0 advantage.
In the 22nd minute came a substitution: the Uruguayan Iván Alonso stepped onto the pitch, and just four minutes later he repaid the trust in him with a magnificent header. From the right wing, the Romanian Cosmin Contra sent in a cross, and Alonso rose above Babbel as if a small trampoline had launched him. The way he headed the ball back in the opposite direction of his own movement, rising over a taller defender with perfect rhythm and timing , even in slow motion, it was pure art.
Alavés showed agile, confident football, coming dangerously close to equalizing. After their first goal, they clearly took control of the match, momentum was on their side, and you could almost feel the equalizer hanging in the air. But that’s not how it turned out. Owen received a long ball from Dietmar Hamann, dribbled past the keeper, and was brought down near the edge of the box. It was a close call, but the foul happened inside the penalty area, and the Anfield side were awarded a penalty.
I’ve watched the replay many times, the keeper came out unnecessarily, perhaps misjudging the speed of the long pass, thinking it would slip past Owen’s feet, but Owen managed to control it perfectly.
In the 40th minute, Gary McAllister calmly converted the penalty. It was a real gut punch for the Spaniards, yet they didn’t give up. The first half ended with Liverpool leading 3–1.
At this point, in the minds of Liverpool supporters, the chorus of You’ll Never Walk Alone was already echoing. Amid gentle rivers of beer, many were no doubt planning the afterparty that would follow the inevitable victory.
We can’t know what was said in the Alavés dressing room at halftime, but they certainly didn’t come back out with their heads down. Barely two minutes into the second half, Javi Moreno scored his team’s second header of the night. Once again, Contra was stirring things up on the wing as if trying to smooth out a lumpy pudding, and he delivered a superb cross right onto Moreno’s head. Stepping back between two defenders, Moreno directed a beautiful header into the net.
They didn’t give the crowd much time to catch their breath. Just two minutes later, Javi Moreno struck again to level the score, this time with a free kick that slipped under the jumping wall. Moreno finished the tournament with six goals in total, earning himself a share of the top scorer title.
In the 64th minute came a decisive substitution, as Robbie Fowler replaced Emile Heskey. Just eight minutes after coming on, Fowler restored Liverpool’s lead. It was probably the kind of moment when a few hot-blooded Spaniards, accompanied by some choice Spanish words beginning with p, might have karate-kicked their television sets in frustration.
But anyone who might have done that unfortunately missed the grand finale, because Alavés came back into the match yet again. (Now picture Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face here.) In the 88th minute, when everyone was already glancing nervously at their watches, Jordi Cruyff rose inside the box and headed the ball into the net after Liverpool keeper Sander Westerveld came out poorly to claim a corner.
Extra time followed, thirty minutes under the golden goal rule, which meant that the first team to score would immediately win the match.
Golden Goal
Liverpool started extra time well, and within three minutes Alonso managed to put the ball into the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
From that point on, a rain of yellow and red cards followed, mostly sparked by the Spanish side’s challenges. Óscar Téllez was the first to be booked, then Magno Mocelin was sent off after receiving a second yellow for a rough two-footed tackle that tested Babbel’s bone durability.
The Alavés players were exhausted, having given everything they had. They fought bravely, but the ending was pure drama or, staying true to the title, the climax of a thriller, the kind where a sudden twist reveals that the detective chasing the killer has been the killer all along.
In the 116th minute, Antonio Karmona pulled down Šmicer and received his second yellow card, reducing Alavés to nine men. More importantly, that foul led to the free kick that brought the match to its end.
Gary McAllister curled the free kick into the box, and the ball, glancing off poor Delfí Geli’s head, looped over the advancing goalkeeper and dropped into his own net.
An own goal in the 116th minute ended the match, securing a historic treble for Liverpool.
Gary McAllister was named Man of the Match.
Despite the heartbreaking ending, the Spanish underdogs fought with incredible heart and spirit. Through their thrilling performance in the final and their remarkable journey to get there, they etched their name into the history books of both their club and European top-level football.
2001 UEFA Cup final highlights – Liverpool-Alaves
