2010 UEFA Europa League final

The opening ceremony took place immediately before the teams emerged.

The Volksparkstadion was chosen as the venue for the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, on 28 March 2008. The committee – who selected the venue for the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final at the same meeting – based their decision on a number of key criteria, including stadium capacity, facilities and security.[5]

Match ball

Like the recent finals of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup, the 2010 Europa League final was given its own unique visual identity. The design concept is intended to give the public a distinctive impression of the host city and will be used on all media associated with the event. The logo for the 2010 final was revealed at the EAST Hotel Cinema in Hamburg on 30 November 2009 – to coincide with the opening of ticket sales for German residents on 1 December – and the ceremony was attended by Karin Von Welck, the regional officer for sport and culture, German Football Association general secretary Wolfgang Niersbach, Hamburger SV chairman Bernd Hoffmann and Germany Under-19 coach Horst Hrubesch. The logo features an artistic impression of two footballers competing for a ball, set against a modern drawing of various elements of the Hamburg skyline.[11]

A trophy handover ceremony was held at the Fischauktionshalle in Hamburg on 13 April 2010, at which a delegation from holders Shakhtar Donetsk – including chief executive Serhiy Palkin, coach Mircea Lucescu, defender Mariusz Lewandowski and midfielder Jádson – returned the trophy to UEFA President Michel Platini. Platini then presented the trophy to the mayor of Hamburg, Ole von Beust, for it to be put on display in the city until the day of the final. Also present at the ceremony were the presidents of Hamburger SV and the German Football Association: Bernd Hoffmann and Theo Zwanziger.[12][13]

Former Hamburg player Uwe Seeler was appointed as ambassador of the final.

The regular capacity of the Volksparkstadion was just over 57,000; however, for the 2010 Europa League final and other international matches, the standing area in the north stand was converted to seating, reducing the capacity to around 51,500. Approximately 25% of the available tickets were allocated to each club for distribution to their own fans,[14] while approximately 5,100 tickets were retained for the international general public. Following the ticket application process for German residents – which ran from 1 December 2009 to 15 January 2010[11][15] – applications were opened to the international general public on 24 February 2010 and closed on 19 March. As demand exceeded the number of tickets available, successful applications were determined by a ballot at the end of March.[16][17]

The referee for the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final was Nicola Rizzoli, representing the Italian Football Federation.[2] Rizzoli had been an international referee since 2007, and took charge of his first UEFA Champions League match in the August of that year, even before his first UEFA Cup match.[2] Since then, he refereed a further 10 Champions League matches and nine UEFA Cup/Europa League matches. His only Europa League assignment in 2009–10 – other than the final – was the second leg of Liverpool's round of 16 tie against Lille at Anfield on 18 March 2010. Rizzoli had previously refereed quarter-finals in both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup.[18][19]

The refereeing team was entirely made up of officials from the same country; Rizzoli was joined by assistant referees Cristiano Copelli and Luca Maggiani, and the fourth official was Gianluca Rocchi.[2] As part of an ongoing experiment throughout the entire 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, there were also two additional assistant referees with the task of monitoring each penalty area; the extra officials for the 2010 final were Paolo Tagliavento and Andrea De Marco.[2]

For Atlético, only Sergio Asenjo was unavailable through injury; the Spanish back-up goalkeeper started Atlético's match away to Sporting de Gijón on 8 May after manager Quique Sánchez Flores rested his regular number 1, David de Gea, ahead of the Europa League final, but he tore ligaments in his right knee after 13 minutes and was ruled out for six months. As well as De Gea, Flores rested a further six regular first-team players for their penultimate league match: Luis Perea, Paulo Assunção, Simão, Raúl García, Diego Forlán, and Sergio Agüero.[20]

In the Fulham camp, the most severe injury concerns related to top-scorer Bobby Zamora and winger Damien Duff; Zamora strained his Achilles tendon in the second leg of Fulham's semi-final against Hamburg on 29 April and missed the last three league games of the season, while Duff picked up a calf injury in the penultimate league game against Stoke City on 5 May. Other players with minor injuries included Paul Konchesky (ankle), Brede Hangeland (knee), Aaron Hughes (groin), John Paintsil (muscle strain), and Bjørn Helge Riise (stomach cramps).[21]

Neither team had any players missing through suspension, so the final team selections were largely as expected; the biggest surprise was from Fulham manager Roy Hodgson, who named Chris Baird at right-back ahead of Ghanaian international John Paintsil.[22]

Atlético started the stronger side and had a chance to take the lead in the 12th minute when Sergio Agüero latched onto a backpass from Danny Murphy and played the ball into Diego Forlán, whose shot struck the post.[23] The sustained pressure from the Spanish club was eventually rewarded when a mistimed shot from Agüero fell to Forlán, who struck the ball past Mark Schwarzer to give Atlético a 1–0 lead. The lead, however, only lasted for five minutes, before Simon Davies struck Zoltán Gera's cross into the net on the half-volley to level the scores at 1–1.[6]

In the second half, Fulham began to gain a foothold in the game and went close to taking the lead after an hour when Simon Davies struck a shot following a poor clearance, which required a save from Atlético goalkeeper David de Gea. In the 55th minute, Bobby Zamora, who had been a fitness doubt prior to the game, was replaced by Clint Dempsey, who became the first American to appear in a major European football final.[24] Atlético finished the 90 minutes as the stronger side, but with neither team able to score, the game went into extra time.[23] In extra time, it was again Atlético who looked the more likely to score, with both Forlán and Agüero having opportunities to hit the net. As the tie approached 120 minutes, however, the Spanish side scored a winner, when Agüero turned Fulham defender Aaron Hughes and crossed the ball to Forlán, who flicked the ball into the goal.[6] Forlán was subsequently named man of the match for his performance.[1]