TECHNICAL REPORT 2003/04 ENGLISH SECTION
PARTIE FRANÇAISE
DEUTSCHER TEIL
STATISTICS
This Report has been prepared by UEFA’s Technical Department to serve not only as a record of the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League but also with the aim of offering some
2 data, reflections and opinions which, we hope, will give technicians food for thought and help to detect trends, analyse the present and lay the foundations for further enhancement of the club competition which is hailed by the critics as the best in the world. But, in football, there is no time to rest on laurels - least of all in the UEFA Cham- pions League. The past, how ever, can be used as the basis for future improvement. TECHNICAL REPORT COMPETITION REVIEW
Detecting trends in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League is like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. It’s hard to find rhyme or reason in a competition where one of the semi-finalists suffered an 8-3 defeat; where a team that had earned four points out of 18 in the group phase went on to reach the UEFA Cup final; or where the defending cham- pions threw away a 4-1 lead. Whereas, a year ago, reviews of the 2002/03 season were focusing on the success of a / FLASH PRESS JEAN-MARIE HERVIO PHOTO: minimal-risk philosophy, the following campaign was con- ducted as if someone had opened a window and allowed a Germany’s Lothar Matthäus made his UEFA Champions League debut as a coach on the bench of debutants FK Partizan gale to scatter carefully-ordered papers all over the office.
Admittedly, the increased knock-out component built into The two Turkish teams - each of them obliged by security the tournament’s structure had sown the seeds of surprises. concerns to play one of their home games in Germany - pro- But harvest-time arrived earlier than expected. AFC Ajax, duced creditable performances in individual matches but semi-finalists in the previous season, finished at the bottom were not consistent enough to reach the knock-out phase. of their group. Interestingly, in the light of what was to hap- The same could be said of the two Scottish representatives, pen in Portugal a few weeks after the Gelsenkirchen final, drawn into tough groups, let down by their away form or, in the three Greek teams managed two victories in their 18 the case of Rangers FC, affected by an inopportune plague matches. FC Internazionale, despite opening their cam- of injuries. Although Club Brugge KV provided one of the paign with a 3-0 win at Highbury and taking six points from shocks of the group stage by beating the defending champi- their first two matches, won no more games, replaced Héc- ons at San Siro, neither they nor RSC Anderlecht had quite tor Cúper with Alberto Zaccheroni, suffered a record-break- enough buoyancy to keep the Belgian ship afloat in the ing 5-1 home defeat against Arsenal FC and bowed out of knock-out phase. Debutants FK Partizan, coached by Lothar the competition. With S.S. Lazio finishing at the foot of Matthäus, deserve credit for drawing their three games in their group, the Italian contingent, the dominant force of Belgrade against Real Madrid and two of the season’s four the 2002/03 campaign, had been halved - and more may- UEFA club competition finalists. hem was to follow. The net result was a first knock-out round embracing all
AS Monaco’s left-flank pair of Patrice Evra (left) and four Spanish contestants along with three English teams, Jérôme Rothen fail to halt a foray by Luís Figo during two clubs apiece from France, Germany and Italy, plus the first leg of the quarter-final against Real Madrid CF PHOTO: NIGEL FRENCH / EMPICS single contestants from the Czech Republic, Portugal and Russia. AC Sparta Praha had qualified thanks to the added- time goal that defeated S.S. Lazio while FC Lokomotiv Moskva were pulling off another escape act to earn a berth in the knock-out stage for the second successive year. Mar- gins between success and failure were so slim that there 4 were no meaningless matches on Matchday 6 and, in two of the eight groups, all four teams could have finished in any of the four places. In Group A, one point separated the four clubs when they kicked-off their final fixtures. Such equality posted an early warning of subsequent sur- prises and made it nigh impossible to detect patterns or recipes for success. The winter break yielded few modifica- tions to squad lists but when the curtain went up on Act Two in February, some of the regular performers seemed to be caught out by the change in format. Instead of re-starting AC Milan’s Brazilian import Kaká with Matchday 3 of the second group stage, they were emerged as a star performer in abruptly thrown into the hurly-burly of knock-out football. an attacking midfield role
PHOTO: BUZZI
The other two major casualties were the 2003 runners-up, Juventus, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United, beaten 2-1 by FC Porto in the inaugural match at the Está- dio do Dragão. The Portuguese team’s last-minute equaliser at Old Trafford proved to be one of the key moments of the campaign, as José Mourinho’s side survived the fright and went on to take the title.
The quarter-finals were to prove an even greater water-
PHOTO: ADAM DAVY ADAM / PHOTO: DAVY EMPICS shed, with only FC Porto’s victory over an accomplished There was an Edu in each team when RC Celta met Arsenal FC in the Olympique Lyonnais following the traditional path of a 2-0 first knock-out round. The Spanish club’s Brazilian shoots past Jens Lehmann but the English visitors were the 3-2 winners in Vigo. home win for the Portuguese, followed by a 2-2 draw in Lyon. The other three ties took more tortuous routes. The London derby tilted Arsenal’s way after the 1-1 draw with The immediate demise of the two German teams meant Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. But a 2-1 win at Highbury had that, among all the wind-scattered papers, one chapter of the Chelsea players chanting “we’re going to Madrid” in the the previous year’s script remained intact and legible. For dressing-room. They weren’t. They were going to Monaco. the second successive season, there would be no German representatives in the last eight. The two Spanish debu- Didier Deschamps’ AS Monaco had looked down and almost tants, Real Sociedad and RC Celta, also bowed out after out when falling 4-1 behind in Madrid and when going 1-0 losing both legs of their ties, with the latter - having down in the return. But a late goal in Madrid proved to be replaced head coach Miguel Angel Lotina with Radomir decisive as they produced a stirring second-half display at Antic - going on to make history as the first club to combine the Stade Louis II to win 3-1 against a Real Madrid side who UEFA Champions League and relegation in a single season. were too stunned to react. AC Milan were also left dazed by As so often happens, the two Eastern European contenders a 4-0 defeat in La Coruña after a seemingly conclusive 4-1 found it difficult to warm their engines after the winter win at home. break. With the pre-season favourites swept aside, all four semi- finalists could realistically contemplate hotel bookings in Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy congratulates Timo Germany. With forces so equal, mistakes would be fatal - as Hildebrand, the VfB Stuttgart goalkeeper who, after setting a new German league record, conceded only 7 goals in 8 UEFA Champions Chelsea discovered when they lost their way against ten- 5 League games man Monaco in the Principality. In the other tie, FC Porto and Deportivo La Coruña concentrated on avoiding errors and, after three hours of tension, a penalty settled the issue. It meant that the final in Gelsenkirchen, for only the second time in 12 years, would not involve a Spanish or Ital- ian team. It provided an unexpected climax to an exhilarat- ing season. If the 2002/03 campaign had been one for the risk-assessors, 2003/04 was one for the romantics. TS PHOTO: VLADIMIR RYS / BONGAR VLADIMIR RYS PHOTO: THE WINNING COACH José Mourinho
There was no sign of José Mourinho as the FC Porto players enjoyed their lap of honour in Gelsenkirchen. His reaction, after taking the gold medal from Lennart Johansson, was to head for the dressing-room tunnel and an emotional encounter with Mathilde and their two children. He had strung together success in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cham- pions League in successive seasons and, as a man who sets himself clear objectives, he realised that the Arena Auf-
Schalke represented the end of a road. “I am a successful “If I have no more coach,” he said at the Press Conference. “But if I have no titles in ten years’ time, I will not regard myself
more titles in ten years’ time, I will not regard myself as FOTO-NET PHOTO: as successful” successful.” It was already time to prepare for a new examination - or self-examination. Travelling as a twosome to FC Barcelona in 1996 set up another learning process when Louis van Gaal was drafted A year earlier, the trophy had been lifted by Carlo Ancelotti, in to replace Bobby a year later. This was the unique plat- a 43-year-old backed by solid experience as a player and form from which José launched his solo career in 2000 with coach. José Mourinho was the 2003/04 winner at the age of a short spell at SL Benfica, followed by a period in charge only 41 and with barely three complete seasons of experi- of União Leiria, a club close to his heart. He took over at FC ence as a head coach. Porto in January 2002. The rest, as they say, is history.
It would be stretching the point to describe José as a unique The team that achieved a treble of league, cup and UEFA coaching talent. But it’s fair to say that he enjoyed a unique Cup in 2003, followed by a double of league and UEFA education. Being born into a footballing family was an Champions League a year later, reflected his personality. advantage and starting young, at 27, was another plus. He The team structure was based on a 4-4-2 including a mid- studied with Carlos Queiroz - the two crossed paths again field diamond with Deco and Costinha fore and aft. They when FC Porto were drawn against Real Madrid in the group were well-prepared and well-organised, with José contrib- phase - and attended his first UEFA course alongside Carlos, uting Louis’ straight-talking, attention to detail and consci- meeting UEFA’s Technical Director, Andy Roxburgh, on his entious preparations, along with Bobby’s passion and ability home ground in Scotland. to detect and exploit the very best of each individual. Mes- sages were conveyed with a clear analytical mind and good Quite how much that added to his command of English is a communication skills. debatable point. But his language skills earned him the job as assistant to Bobby Robson when the Englishman joined FC More importantly, he infected the players with his own self- Porto in 1993. This gave José his first taste of UEFA Cham- belief and self-confidence. The team played with discipline pions League football and, when Bobby needed urgent sur- and obvious commitment to the collective cause. His moti- gery, a spell in charge of the team. vational skills were evident when the team travelled to Madrid on Matchday 6 for what was arguably the least important of the 13 games, as qualification for both teams 6 José Mourinho plants a kiss on the trophy in Gelsenkirchen. was secured and Porto would have needed to win by three But, after the moments of emotion, his mind was on the next clear goals to oust Carlos Queiroz’s team from first place. challenge They fought for - and deserved - a 1-1 draw. The result was statistically irrelevant. But, in terms of self-belief, it dem- onstrated to the squad that they could compete on level terms with the very best. They were rarely rated as favour- ites, but they were extremely difficult to beat.
As José walked away from the Arena AufSchalke, he had every right to feel satisfied. But, typically, he already had
PHOTO: FOTO-NET PHOTO: his mind on the next challenge. THE FINAL Art Deco
Speaking at UEFA’s Elite Coaches Forum before the start of the season, Felix Magath, the Stuttgart coach at the time, said that the new format, which eliminated the second league phase, ‘could create some surprises’. A final between AS Monaco FC and FC Porto, however, was surely not what anyone would have predicted. For the first time since the Bosman Ruling in 1995, a team from outside the four major markets (England, Germany, Spain and Italy) would be crowned European Champion.
On the evening of May the 26th, surprise and anticipation gave way to action, and the 2004 final got under way in the ultra-modern Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen. The teams - FC Porto in their customary blue and white stripes and AS Monaco FC, wearing their distinctive red and white jerseys - attacked the goals in front of their own joyous, ‘just-
happy-to-be-here’ supporters. FOTO-NET PHOTO: Deco, scorer of the second goal that was “the decisive moment of the match” had time to kiss the trophy before picking up the Man of the Match award
mentality were fine-tuned while working alongside the ulti- mate enthusiast Bobby Robson and the strong-willed Louis van Gaal. José Mourinho’s FC Porto, winners of the 2003 UEFA Cup, were built to his specification and in his like- ness. PHOTO: ALBERTO SABATTINI ALBERTO PHOTO: Wearing No. 19 and 19 years of age, FC Porto’s Carlos Alberto strikes the goal that changes the face of the final
In football, teams often reflect the characteristics of their A hundred metres from 7 the AS Monaco net, coach. It’s human nature to seek the mirror image, whether Vítor Baía celebrates it’s a family, a business or a football team. Didier Des- the third goal that clinches the title champs won the World Cup, the European Championship for FC Porto and the UEFA Champions League as a technically compe- tent, pragmatic, resilient, team-oriented player, and his Monaco side, which had knocked out Real Madrid and Chel-
sea to reach the final, reflected his particular attributes. In FOTO-NET PHOTO: contrast, José Mourinho was a student of the game who became famous through coaching - his self-confidence, tactical astuteness, passion for details, and fierce winning self and was forced to retire. “It’s clear that Ludo’s injury did not help us”, the Monaco boss said after the game. Croatian striker, Dado Prso found himself prematurely involved in the fray.
Despite the enforced change, Monaco continued to domi- nate possession, but Porto were always a threat on the counter. Suddenly, the stalemate was broken: Deco crossed the ball into the box, and Carlos Alberto, the 19-year-old who had come from Fluminense FC in Brazil, tried to set-up Derlei but ‘lady luck’ intervened. The ball rebounded off a
PHOTO: FOTO-NET PHOTO: defender, and the young Brazilian volleyed the ball, right A no-holds-barred clash with Hugo Ibarra demonstrates that Deco’s footed, beyond Monaco goalkeeper Flavio Roma. A human art is not incompatible with strength and endeavour sea of blue and white was activated behind the bulging net.
For the first 20 minutes, caution underpinned the strategy The Monaco players increased their tempo while retaining of both teams - both young coaches (Mourinho, 41 and Des- their structure and style. They operated with a zonal back champs, 35) reluctant to gamble with so much at stake. four, with the Greek, Andreas Zikos, playing the role of There was as much action in the technical area as there was midfield protector. Three mobile midfield players supported on the pitch. José Mourinho, dressed in a business suit and the twin strikers: Fernando Morientes and the recently looking like someone on his way to a fashion show in Milan, introduced Dado Prso. FC Porto, on the other hand, favoured was his usual animated self. Opposite, the conservative a midfield diamond shape, with Costinha the ‘anchorman’ Didier Deschamps - the man in the black leather coat - had and the artful Deco the inspiration behind, and sometimes a staccato approach, only communicating with the field beyond, the front two of Derlei and Carlos Alberto. For the when it was absolutely necessary. After 23 minutes, he had remainder of the first half, Monaco chased and Porto waited to intervene when his captain, Ludovic Giuly, injured him- - the latter exploiting the offside trap and avoiding risk.
FC Porto “on a mental high that only big-time winners can know”
8 PHOTO: JEAN-MARIE HERVIO / FLASH PRESS JEAN-MARIE HERVIO PHOTO: With the job done, Derlei and subsequently Man-of-the- Match Deco were substituted. Each left the pitch to raptur- ous applause. Monaco, to their credit, tried desperately to score. Both Rodriguez and Squillaci, however, failed to hit the target in the final few minutes. When it was over, those of the blue persuasion, on and off the pitch, were ecstatic - on a mental high that only big-time winners can know.
VIO / FLASH PRESS Those bedecked in red had lost all sense of togetherness and were lost in their personal misery. José Mourinho accepted his gold medal, and then promptly removed it from around his neck. As he prematurely left the scene of
PHOTO: JEAN-MARIE HER PHOTO: his ultimate triumph, a sense of closure prevailed. This was The scoreboard at the Arena AufSchalke shows the results of a man in a hurry, and like a Portuguese seafarer of the past, FC Porto’s dagger-blows in search of a new horizon.
With an hour gone and Porto still holding its one goal lead, Andy Roxburgh the coaches took action. First, José Mourinho, never one to avoid a decision, took off Carlos Alberto and introduced the experienced Russian internationalist Dmitri Alenitchev. The new man took over Deco’s role behind the front and the Porto No. 10 joined Derlei in attack. Didier Deschamps then gambled - Shabani Nonda, a striker, replaced midfielder Cissé to create an attacking triangle, with Morientes at its apex. Deschamps’ move was brave, Mourinho’s decisive. Following a quick, classic counter-attack, which included a contribution by substitute Alenitchev on the left-hand side, Deco, with a coolness reminiscent of Roberto Baggio or Alessandro Del Piero, deftly dispatched the ball straight into the back of the Monaco net. There were less than 20 AS Monaco’s industrious midfielder, Lucas Bernardi, minutes of the match remaining and the cup was heading is consoled by Vítor Baía for Portugal. As José Mourinho said at the post-match press conference, “the second goal was the decisive moment”.
AS Monaco threw caution to the wind. Composed possession play became frenetic, all-out attack. And FC Porto, like a cat waiting patiently to pounce on its excitable prey, retreated, compressed, and prepared to strike again. It didn’t take long. Four minutes after Deco’s gem, Dmitri Alenitchev put FC Porto three goals ahead when he smashed home a deflected pass from team-mate Derlei. It was the culmination of another impressive counter-attack, again down the left flank. The ball bounced twice in the penalty 9 box before Alenitchev struck it, and for the Monaco sup- porters, massed behind the goal, it must have seemed like a dagger blow (as seen in a slow-motion movie). This, however, was not make-believe, but reality. Even Prince Albert, Monaco’s heir to the throne, must have felt the
chill of defeat, despite wearing a ‘triple’ scarf (three / EMPICS ASHTON MATTHEW PHOTO: Monaco scarves specially joined to make one). At that moment, the only triple with any significance was FC Por- to’s goals’ tally. ESCAPE TO VICTORY
There’s a strange alchemy attached to mixing Deportivo La Bremen had beaten RSC Anderlecht 5-3 despite going 0-3 Coruña with the UEFA Champions League. In the Spanish down within 33 minutes of the home game played in championship, the Galicians are consistent performers and, December 1993. as the regularity of their appearances in the UEFA Champi- ons League demonstrates, they have not finished outside Yet during the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League, Javier the top three in the last five seasons. Javier Irureta, with Irureta’s team offered their supporters even stronger emo- over 550 first division games chalked up on his track record, tions during a roller-coaster ride to the semi-finals. has built a solid, well-organised and highly-respected side. In Spain, they are a known quantity - and known for their The thinking man’s coach. In 2003/04, Javier Irureta quality. But drop them into a stadium dressed up in starball passed the landmarks livery and the whole mix starts to bubble and fizz. There of 550 Spanish league games and 50 in the never seems to be a dull moment. UEFA Champions League PHOTO: ADAM DAVY / EMPICS ADAM DAVY PHOTO: Deportivo had given us a sample in March 2001, when they were trailing Luís Fernández’s Paris Saint-Germain FC 0-3 after 55 minutes of the game at Riazor. They won 4-3 to record the biggest comeback since Otto Rehhagel’s Werder They plunged into the deepest trough on the first Wednes- day of November. Two weeks earlier, they had been made to wait until the 83rd minute to score the solitary goal that beat AS Monaco at Riazor. By that stage of the return match at the Stade Louis II, eleven goals had been scored and eight of them had been machine-gunned into Deportivo’s
The body language net. “In all my career,” Javier Irureta admitted after the radiates a mix of self- nightmare, “I have never found it so difficult to compre- belief and disbelief as goalkeeper José Fran- hend a result. They seemed to score every time they cisco Molina chairs attacked. We had as many chances, but we failed to take Jorge Andrade off the pitch at Riazor them.”
The 8-3 scoreline set new records. But Deportivo raised eyebrows even higher on the first Wednesday of April when they eliminated the defending champions AC Milan despite losing the first leg 4-1 at San Siro. It was Carlo Ancelotti’s turn to lament “Deportivo did everything right and we did PHOTO: BUZZI PHOTO: everything wrong”.
PSV’s Mateja Kezman, pursued by Nourredine Naybet (left) and 10 Jorge Andrade, during another topsy-turvy match that almost put an end to Deportivo’s roller-coaster campaign PHOTO: ADAM DAVY / EMPICS ADAM DAVY PHOTO: Both results were spectacular. But the psychological under- currents are fascinating from the technician’s point of view. The nightmare in Monaco had started with Deportivo con- ceding four goals in half-an-hour. They then scored in the 39th and 45th minutes and, both physically and mentally,
engaged top gear. At that point, Javier Irureta felt his side / FLAS PRESS JEFFROY GUY PHOTO: had a realistic chance of winning the game. But in the two The scoreboard at the Stade Louis II tells the tale of an epic evening minutes of added-time before the interval, Dado Pršo com- pleted his hat-trick. The psychological pendulum swung the That point arrived in the 35th minute when playmaker Juan other way. Carlos Valerón combined with Albert Luque to make it 2-0. When Luque added a third a minute before the break, Deportivo had hit their target. At half-time, the dressing- room was buzzing and Irureta could hardly get a word in edgeways to underline the need to keep playing football rather than defending the status quo. His own contribution was to make three second-half changes that maintained the structure of the team, while Carlo Ancelotti made three attacking changes including the replacement of defender Giuseppe Pancaro for attacking midfielder Rui Costa. But the only goal was scored by Deportivo midfielder Fran, the local boy who has become the standard-bearer of the Gali- cian club. PHOTO: TONY MARSHALL / EMPICS MARSHALL TONY PHOTO: “The crucial factor was to reach a point where they began to fear Irureta sent his players to perform a rare lap of honour for defeat”. The point was reached when Juan Carlos Valerón headed the second goal the supporters who had shouted themselves hoarse and were still rubbing their eyes in disbelief - along with mil- lions of TV viewers all over the world. The AC Milan dress- The Monegasques breathed a sigh of relief and settled back ing-room was silent, as the players struggled to find expla- into a confident counter-attacking game; the fires had been nations. The defending champions were left to reflect on quenched in Galician bellies. the psychological perils of winning the first leg too hand- somely… If, in Monaco, Deportivo conceded three goals immediately before and after the break, in Milan they conceded four. They had taken an early lead against the European champi- ons and had looked as comfortable as they had in Turin when eliminating the 2002/03 finalists Juventus in the pre- vious round. But a 10-minute ‘blip’ left them needing to overturn a 4-1 deficit in the return at Riazor. Javier Irureta used all his motivational skills in convincing his players that they could do it.
On paper, the 3-0 target required one goal per half-hour. 11 But Irureta realised that scoring early could be the key. In their favour, he told his players, was the difficult task fac- ing AC Milan in terms of preparing themselves psychologi- cally to defend a seemingly conclusive lead. Walter Pandi- ani put Deportivo ahead after five minutes. “That was important,” Irureta admitted, “but, having done that job, the real key was going to be a second goal. We knew that if we scored again, Milan would start to realise they could
lose. That was the crucial factor - to reach a point where / FLASH PRESS JEAN-MARIE HERVIO PHOTO: they began to fear defeat.”
Walter Pandiani celebrates the goal that eliminated Juventus - AC Milan’s opponents in the 2003 final MORIENTES AND MONACO on the Mark
After two seasons of domination by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Excluding the qualifying rounds, the goals tally for the sea- Real Madrid CF as leading marksman and top goalscoring son was 309 in 125 matches, an average of 2.47 goals per team respectively, new names topped the charts: Fernando game - less than the previous season when 431 goals were Morientes (on loan from Real Madrid) and his ‘adopted’ club scored in 157 matches, an average of 2.7. In the following AS Monaco took the goalscoring honours. Morientes found chart, the categories and the tactical actions prior to a goal the net nine times - two more than team-mate Dado Pršo being scored were interpreted as follows: who was in second place. The contributions of the Spaniard and the Croatian helped AS Monaco to reach the UEFA Champions League final and to be recognised as the 2003/ 04 top scorers with 27 goals.
Technical Report