2004 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2004 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match played at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on 26 May 2004, to decide the winner of the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League. French club AS Monaco faced Portugal's Porto, who won the match 3–0, with Carlos Alberto, man of the match Deco and Dmitri Alenichev scoring the goals.

Before 2004, Porto's last triumph in the competition had been in 1987 – although they had won the UEFA Cup the previous season – while Monaco were playing in their first ever Champions League final. Both teams started their UEFA Champions League campaigns in the group stage and defeated former European champions on their way to the final. Porto beat 1968 and 1999 winners Manchester United while Monaco defeated nine-time champions Real Madrid.

Both teams were considered underdogs in the competition before the final stages and were led by young coaches: Monaco had former France national football team star Didier Deschamps and Porto were led by rising star José Mourinho, who left the team for Chelsea after the final.

Route to the final

AS Monaco

AS Monaco finished second in the French Ligue 1 the previous season, meaning that they entered the Champions League at the group stage. They were sorted in Group C alongside Deportivo, PSV Eindhoven and AEK Athens. After a first win in the Netherlands (2–1) and an easy game at Stade Louis II (4–0) against AEK Athens, Monaco went to Spain to be defeated 1–0 by Deportivo. The...
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