 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 1993–94 UEFA Champions League | ||||||
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| Date | 18 May 1994 | ||||||
| Venue | Olympic Stadium, Athens | ||||||
| Referee | Philip Don (England) | ||||||
| Attendance | 70,000 [1] | ||||||
The 1994 UEFA Champions League final, originally known as the 1994 European Cup final, was a football match between Italian club Milan and Spanish club Barcelona, played on 18 May 1994 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece.
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Having won La Liga for the fourth consecutive year, Barcelona were favourites to win a second European Cup/UEFA Champions League title in three years. Milan's preparation before the final was in disarray with injured or suspended talent and other issues. Milan's legendary striker Marco van Basten and their £13 million young sensation Gianluigi Lentini (then the world's most expensive footballer) were both injured, while Franco Baresi and defender Alessandro Costacurta were both suspended. UEFA regulations at the time, which limited teams to fielding a maximum of three non-nationals, meant that Milan coach Fabio Capello was forced to leave out Florin Răducioiu, Jean-Pierre Papin and Brian Laudrup. On Barcelona's side, the rule saw coach Johan Cruyff choosing not to pick Michael Laudrup in his squad for the final, which caused Capello to state after the game "Laudrup was the guy I feared but Cruyff left him out, and that was his mistake". [2] Laudrup left Barcelona for their arch-rival, Real Madrid, at the end of the season.
Milan played in their all-white away strip, which historically they use in finals of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, while Barcelona played in their red and blue strip. Milan dominated early and were rewarded when Dejan Savićević ran down the right flank and passed to Daniele Massaro, who tapped the ball into an empty net. Massaro banged in his second just before half-time to make it 2–0 after a solo run by Roberto Donadoni down the left wing. [3]
In the 47th minute, Savićević capitalised on a defensive error by Miguel Ángel Nadal to lob goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta for the third goal. Eight minutes later, after Savićević had hit a post and the Barcelona defence had failed to clear, Milan midfielder Marcel Desailly beat the offside trap to make it 4–0, which ended up being the final score. [4] Desailly became the first player to win the trophy in consecutive years with different clubs after winning with Marseille in 1993. [5]
