2012 UEFA Europa League Final

2012 UEFA Europa League Final

Atlético Madrid Athletic Bilbao 3 0
Event	2011–12 UEFA Europa League
Date	9 May 2012
Venue	Arena Națională, Bucharest
Player of the Match	Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid)
Referee	Wolfgang Stark (Germany)
Attendance	52,347
Weather	Cloudy 15 °C (59 °F) 100% humidity
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The 2012 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League, the 41st season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA (after the UEFA Champions League), and the 3rd season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The match was played on 9 May 2012 at the Arena Națională in Bucharest, Romania, and was contested between two Spanish sides – Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. The match ended with Atlético Madrid winning 3–0, with Radamel Falcao scoring two goals and Diego scoring another.

The winners earned the right to play against Chelsea, the winners of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, in the 2012 UEFA Super Cup.

Venue

For more details on this topic, see Arena Națională.

The Arena Națională was announced by UEFA as the venue of the 2012 final on 30 January 2010. This was the first final of a European football club competition hosted by Romania.

The stadium was built on the site of the former national stadium, and opened on 6 September 2011 with a UEFA Euro 2012 Group D qualifier match between Romania and France.

Background

The final was preceded by an opening ceremony.

This was the second consecutive Europa League final contested by two teams from the same nation, and the ninth time overall (including UEFA Cup). The only other all-Spanish final of UEFA's second club competition was the 2007 UEFA Cup Final, when Sevilla defeated Espanyol. That was also the last final where both finalist teams had played only in the UEFA Cup/Europa League in their routes to the final (rather than dropping down from the UEFA Champions League, either after the early knockout rounds or after the group stage).

Both teams have played in one previous Europa League/UEFA Cup final. Atlético Madrid won the first Europa League final after its renaming in 2010, beating Fulham 2–1 after extra time. Athletic Bilbao lost in 1977 to Juventus on away goals after the tie finished 2–2 on aggregate. The two teams have never met in European competition before. They have met each other in three Copa del Rey finals, with Athletic Bilbao winning two and Atlético Madrid winning one. In the 2011–12 La Liga season, Athletic Bilbao won their home fixture 3–0 and Atlético Madrid won their home fixture 2–1.

After losing to Udinese on 20 October 2011, Atlético Madrid went on a run of 11 straight victories to the final, a record in the European football, winning their remaining group games to top their group and then defeating four knockout opponents both home and away.

Road to final

For more details on this topic, see 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.

Atlético Madrid				Round	Athletic Bilbao
Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg	Qualifying phase	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Strømsgodset	4–1	2–1 (H)	2–0 (A)	Third qualifying round	Bye
Vitória Guimarães	6–0	2–0 (H)	4–0 (A)	Play-off round	Trabzonspor	n/a†	0–0	Cancelled†
Opponent	Result			Group stage	Opponent	Result
Celtic	2–0 (H)			Matchday 1	Slovan Bratislava	2–1 (A)
Rennes	1–1 (A)			Matchday 2	Paris Saint-Germain	2–0 (H)
Udinese	0–2 (A)			Matchday 3	Red Bull Salzburg	2–2 (H)
Udinese	4–0 (H)			Matchday 4	Red Bull Salzburg	1–0 (A)
Celtic	1–0 (A)			Matchday 5	Slovan Bratislava	2–1 (H)
Rennes	3–1 (H)			Matchday 6	Paris Saint-Germain	2–4 (A)
Group I winner Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Atlético Madrid 6 4 1 1 11 4 +7 13 Udinese 6 2 3 1 6 7 −1 9 Celtic 6 1 3 2 6 7 −1 6 Rennes 6 0 3 3 5 10 −5 3				Final standings	Group F winner Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Athletic Bilbao 6 4 1 1 11 8 +3 13 Red Bull Salzburg 6 3 1 2 11 8 +3 10 Paris Saint-Germain 6 3 1 2 8 7 +1 10 Slovan Bratislava 6 0 1 5 4 11 −7 1
Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg	Knockout phase	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Lazio	4–1	3–1 (A)	1–0 (H)	Round of 32	Lokomotiv Moscow	2–2 (a)	1–2 (A)	1–0 (H)
Beşiktaş	6–1	3–1 (H)	3–0 (A)	Round of 16	Manchester United	5–3	3–2 (A)	2–1 (H)
Hannover 96	4–2	2–1 (H)	2–1 (A)	Quarter-finals	Schalke 04	6–4	4–2 (A)	2–2 (H)
Valencia	5–2	4–2 (H)	1–0 (A)	Semi-finals	Sporting CP	4–3	1–2 (A)	3–1 (H)

• † As a result of match-fixing allegations, Turkish club Fenerbahçe were removed from the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League and were replaced with Trabzonspor on 24 August 2011. As a result, Trabzonspor's second leg against Athletic Bilbao was cancelled, and Athletic Bilbao advanced to the group stage.

Pre-match

Ticketing

Athletic Bilbao fans in Bucharest before the match

The two finalist teams received 9,000 tickets each for distributing to their supporters. 20,000 tickets have been sold to local football fans with a further 3,000 tickets available for sale to fans worldwide via UEFA.com, with prices between 100 RON and 500 RON. The remaining tickets are allocated to the local organising committee, UEFA’s 53 national football associations, and commercial and broadcast partners.

Ambassador

Former Romanian player Miodrag Belodedici was named as the ambassador for the final.

Match

Details

9 May 2012 21:45 EEST	Atlético Madrid	3–0	Athletic Bilbao	Arena Națională, Bucharest Attendance: 52,347 Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)
	Falcao  7', 34' Diego  85'	Report

Atlético Madrid

Athletic Bilbao

GK 13 Thibaut Courtois RB 20 Juanfran CB 2 Diego Godín CB 23 Miranda LB 6 Filipe Luís CM 4 Mario Suárez CM 14 Gabi (c) RW 22 Diego 90' AM 7 Adrián 88' LW 11 Arda Turan 90+3' CF 9 Radamel Falcao 26' Substitutes: GK 25 Sergio Asenjo DF 3 Antonio López DF 18 Álvaro Domínguez 90+3' MF 8 Eduardo Salvio 88' MF 12 Paulo Assunção MF 19 Koke 90' FW 41 Pedro Martín Manager: Diego Simeone

GK 1 Gorka Iraizoz RB 15 Andoni Iraola (c) CB 24 Javi Martínez CB 5 Fernando Amorebieta 64' LB 3 Jon Aurtenetxe 46' RM 21 Ander Herrera 22' 63' CM 8 Ander Iturraspe 46' LM 10 Óscar de Marcos RW 14 Markel Susaeta 90+1' LW 19 Iker Muniain CF 9 Fernando Llorente Substitutes: GK 13 Raúl DF 6 Mikel San José MF 11 Igor Gabilondo MF 17 Iñigo Pérez 75' 46' MF 23 Borja Ekiza FW 2 Gaizka Toquero 63' FW 28 Ibai Gómez 46' Manager: Marcelo Bielsa

Man of the Match: Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid) Assistant referees: Jan-Hendrik Salver (Germany) Mike Pickel (Germany) Fourth official: Stéphane Lannoy (France) Additional assistant referees: Florian Meyer (Germany) Deniz Aytekin (Germany)

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions

Statistics

First half Atlético Madrid Athletic Bilbao Goals scored 2 0 Total shots 6 5 Shots on target 2 1 Saves 1 0 Ball possession 40% 60% Corner kicks 3 2 Fouls committed 17 8 Offsides 0 2 Yellow cards 1 1 Red cards 0 0

Second half Atlético Madrid Athletic Bilbao Goals scored 1 0 Total shots 9 11 Shots on target 4 2 Saves 2 3 Ball possession 42% 58% Corner kicks 0 6 Fouls committed 8 6 Offsides 2 1 Yellow cards 0 3 Red cards 0 0

Overall Atlético Madrid Athletic Bilbao Goals scored 3 0 Total shots 15 16 Shots on target 6 3 Saves 3 3 Ball possession 41% 59% Corner kicks 3 8 Fouls committed 25 14 Offsides 2 3 Yellow cards 1 4 Red cards 0 0

See also

• 2011–12 UEFA Europa League
• 2012 UEFA Champions League Final
• 2012 UEFA Super Cup

External links

• 2011–12 UEFA Europa League, UEFA.com
• 2012 final: National Stadium, Bucharest, UEFA.com

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