2012 Uefa Europa League Final

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. In doing so, Falcao was named man of the match, and became the first player to win back-to-back Europa League titles with different teams.

2012 UEFA Europa League Final

Match programme cover
Event	2011–12 UEFA Europa League
Atlético Madrid Athletic Bilbao 3 0
Date	9 May 2012
Venue	Arena Națională, Bucharest
Man of the Match	Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid)
Referee	Wolfgang Stark (Germany)
Attendance	52,347
Weather	Cloudy night 11 °C (52 °F) 83% humidity
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The winners earned the right to play against Chelsea, the winners of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, in the 2012 UEFA Super Cup.

 

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.

 

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 before the 2019 UEFA Europa League 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 European football, winning their remaining group games to top their group and then defeating four knockout opponents both home and away.

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 winners Pos Team v t e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1   Atlético Madrid 6 4 1 1 11 4 +7 13 Advance to knockout phase 2   Udinese 6 2 3 1 6 7 −1 9 3   Celtic 6 1 3 2 6 7 −1 6 4   Rennes 6 0 3 3 5 10 −5 3 Source: Soccerway				Final standings	Group F winners Pos Team v t e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1   Athletic Bilbao 6 4 1 1 11 8 +3 13 Advance to knockout phase 2   Red Bull Salzburg 6 3 1 2 11 8 +3 10 3   Paris Saint-Germain 6 3 1 2 8 7 +1 10 4   Slovan Bratislava 6 0 1 5 4 11 −7 1 Source: Soccerway
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.

Ticketing

 

The two finalist teams received 9,000 tickets each for distribution 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.

Officials

In May 2012, German referee Wolfgang Stark was appointed for the final. Joining him were fellow German officials Mike Pickel and Jan-Hendrik Salver as assistant referees, Deniz Aytekin and Florian Meyer as additional assistant referees, Mark Borsch as reserve assistant referee, and French official Stéphane Lannoy as fourth official.

Ambassador

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

Details

9 May 2012 (2012-05-09)

21:45 EEST

Atlético Madrid	3–0	Athletic Bilbao
Falcao   7', 34' Diego   85'	Report

Arena Națională, Bucharest

Attendance: 52,347

Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)

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

Statistics

• 1921 Copa del Rey Final
• 1956 Copa del Generalísimo Final
• 1985 Copa del Rey Final
• 2011–12 UEFA Europa League
• 2012 UEFA Champions League Final
• 2012 UEFA Super Cup
• Athletic Bilbao in European football
• Atlético Madrid in European football
• Spanish football clubs in international competitions