Last update 13 October, 2026 by football hung
Say Alavés 2001 is remembering a final that still hurts. The Vitoria team lost the UEFA Cup final against Liverpool by 5-4. That's what the scoreboard says. What does not fit into that result is the number of times that Mané's team refused to accept their fate. He 16 of may, in Dortmund, raised a 2-0, survived a 3-1 and found a 4-4 when there was barely time to breathe. ended with 9 players and defeated by a golden own goal. It's hard to invent a crueler way to go without a drink.
Y, however, Try mentioning that match among fans who saw it. Before the name of the champion, that of Alavés appears. Not because Liverpool did not deserve their recognition, but because that Vitoria team achieved something quite difficult: that a defeat would continue to be counted with pride.
Alavés 2001: a team that stopped asking for permission
It is advisable to put aside an idea that is too comfortable: Alavés did not reach a European final solely based on enthusiasm. There was a coach, Jose Manuel Esnal, Mane, capable of operating different parts. There was a job, a forward in a state of grace and players who did not need a solemn presentation to compete. Martin Herrera, Contra, Krmon, Tellez, Enter, desire, Jordi Cruyff, Javi Moreno or Iván Alonso were not extras in a film starring others.
In an interview with Sports world, Javi Moreno remembered that locker room as the best of his career and highlighted Mané's balance between demand and freedom. It is a detail that explains more than many tactical labels. On such a long journey, believing in your partner was also a way of playing.
The tie against Inter helps to understand it. In Vitoria they went from 1-3 al 3-3; in Milan they won 0-2. That was not a stroke of luck. 90 minutes. Were 2 games in which they refused to let the opponent's shirt decide the outcome. Then Rayo Vallecano and Kaiserslautern arrived. The final was no longer a tabletop fantasy.
Dortmund: Liverpool were not just any guests
In front was Gérard Houllier's Liverpool. Owen, Gerrard, Fowler, McAllister. A team with history and a present, who had already won the League Cup and the FA Cup that season. UEFA could complete its treble of cups. For the English it was a coronation night; for Alavés, the ability to forever change the size of your story.
The difference in trajectories added excitement, but it is not advisable to turn it into a caricature. Liverpool were not the bad guy in the story and the Vitorians had not traveled to Germany to receive applause. There was a cup in dispute. That is why that final has its own place among the best finals in football history: He did not sustain himself in nostalgia, but in everything that happened on the grass.
By one 2-0 Javi Moreno's double
Babbel scored in the minute 4 and Gerrard in the 16. Two shots before the match had finished settling. Iván Alonso cut in the 27, but the penalty converted by McAllister in the 41 left the rest in 3-1. Every time Alavés found a gap, Liverpool seemed to close the door.
Until Javi Moreno appeared. He marked on the 48 and repeated in the 51, this time missing. In 3 minutes turned an uphill final into a new game. He 3-3 did not erase the previous suffering, but it forced Liverpool to start again. And it forced those watching at home to stop talking about an honorable defeat.
The Silla striker would later admit that that free-kick held a special place in his memory.. It is perfectly understood. There are goals that improve a statistic and others that change the pulse of a night. That made Dortmund stop seeming so far from Vitoria.
Jordi Cruyff and the headbutt that prolonged the dream
Fowler put the 4-3 in the minute 73. Again from behind. Once again it remained to be decided if Alavés had a better response. Jordi Cruyff found it in the 89, with a header that took the final to extra time. No need to embellish that sequence too much.: 4-4, one minute left and a fan that once again had the right to imagine itself champion.
That's a good part of the strength of this story.. There was no clean comeback, of those that are counted in a straight line. There was progress, falls and another rush forward. Alavés did not get the lead on the scoreboard, but it made the favorite never feel safe.
The golden goal that left no time to respond
The extension left the Vitorians with 9 for the expulsions of Magno and Karmona. After, A foul by McAllister ended in a shot by Delfí Geli towards his own goal. The game ended there. There was no center kick, no last load, no chance to find another tie. Liverpool were champions.
The official UEFA record pick up that one 5-4. To understand why the outcome was immediate, we must remember How the golden goal and the silver goal worked. In Dortmund the first was in force: scoring during extra time meant ending the final.
Reducing the memory to Geli would be deeply unfair. His action was the last episode, not the explanation of the whole night. In front there was an exhausted team, inferior and still standing. The cruelty of the outcome consisted precisely in that: after so many responses, the norm no longer allowed another.
Official video: Liverpool-Alavés goals 2001
Summary published by the official UEFA channel. You can also watch the final summary on YouTube.
A defeat that did not dwarf Alavés
The passing of the years has not converted the 5-4 in a victory. There is no need to cheat with the score to assess what happened. Liverpool won the cup; Alavés left a reference to return to when talking about the great matches of football. Competing like this also changes the memory of a club.
In it 25 birthday, SER Vitoria gathered memories of that final that continued to unite different generations of Alavesistas. That permanence says a lot. The protagonists age, T-shirts change and football invents new formats. But there is a conversation that in Vitoria continues to lead to the same place: that Wednesday when there was one cup missing and there was plenty of equipment.
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