2002 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2002 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary club football competition. The show-piece event was contested between Bayer Leverkusen of Germany and Real Madrid of Spain at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland on Wednesday, 15 May 2002, to decide the winner of the Champions League. 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 champions Bayern Munich and Barcelona 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 of Liverpool and Manchester United to progress to the final.

Before the match, a minute of silence was held in honour of Ukrainian manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who died two days earlier.

Real Madrid were regarded as favourites before the match and took the lead in the eighth minute through Raúl. Lúcio equalised five minutes later, before Zinedine 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, to secure Real Madrid's ninth European Cup.

Teams
In the following table, finals until 1992 were in the European Cup era, since 1993 were in the UEFA Champions League era.

Summary
The match pitted Leverkusen, who had beaten Manchester United in the semi-finals to deny Sir Alex Ferguson a homecoming to Glasgow, against Real Madrid. Real Madrid won 2–1, clinching their ninth European Cup title, and their third in five years. However, the match is remembered as a very close one. Real Madrid's Spanish forward Raúl opened the scoring in the eighth minute, but, five minutes later, Brazilian defender Lúcio levelled the scores with a header that beat goalkeeper César. But in the 45th minute, one of the greatest goals in UEFA Champions League history was scored; Zinedine Zidane received a high, arcing cross from Roberto Carlos on the edge of the penalty area, volleying a left-footed shot into the top corner. In the 68th minute, César was injured and had to be replaced by 20-year-old Iker Casillas. With the young Casillas between the posts, Real Madrid managed to hold their ground against a very attacking Leverkusen side, until the final whistle from referee Urs Meier.

Post match
In the 2001-02 season, Bayer Leverkusen finished second in the Bundesliga and lost in the 2002 DFB-Pokal Final. After the match, Leverkusen manager Klaus 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."

Five Leverkusen players, Michael Ballack, Hans-Jörg Butt, Oliver Neuville, Carsten Ramelow, and Bernd Schneider went on to add a fourth silver medal at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. However, the gold medal winning Brazil squad also included a Leverkusen player in Lúcio.