On 15 May 2002, at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen met in the Champions League final. On 15 May 2027 it will be 25 years since the goal many consider the most beautiful ever scored in a final. Real were celebrating their 100th anniversary that season and could not have found a better present.

The road to Scotland

Vicente del Bosque's Real went straight into the group stage and won both of their groups, with 13 and 16 points. In the quarter-finals they overturned a 2-1 defeat by Bayern with a 2-0 win in Madrid, and in the semi-finals they beat Barcelona 2-0 at the Camp Nou.

Klaus Toppmöller's Leverkusen were the surprise of the season. They started in the qualifiers against Red Star Belgrade, finished second behind Barcelona in the first group stage and top of their second group. They knocked out Liverpool with a 4-2 win in the second leg and Manchester United on away goals, after 2-2 at Old Trafford and 1-1 in Germany.

Hampden, silence and rain

It was Real's second final at Hampden, after the legendary 7-3 over Eintracht in 1960. There were 50,499 spectators under cloud and showers, and the referee was Switzerland's Urs Meier.

Before kick-off there was a minute's silence for Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Dynamo Kyiv's legendary coach, who had died two days earlier.

The centenary shirt

Real wore the all-white centenary shirt by adidas, with no sponsor on the chest. It had a gold anniversary crest, gold numbers and gold trim on the collar, and all the outfield players wore long sleeves.

It was Real's first European Cup in an adidas shirt, as in 1998 they had worn Kelme. Leverkusen played in the shirt they had worn since 2000, with red and black stripes, rather than the new one they had unveiled in the cup final.

The Germans also had absentees: Zé Roberto was suspended and Nowotny injured. Brdarić and Živković played instead, with Ramelow as captain and Michael Ballack in midfield.

Three goals in one half

In the 8th minute Raúl took advantage of a long throw by Roberto Carlos to make it 1-0. Six minutes later Lúcio rose above Hierro from a Schneider free kick and equalised with a header. Real, who committed 31 fouls to Leverkusen's 17, picked up two yellow cards, while the Germans had none.

Just before half-time Solari found Roberto Carlos, who sent a high cross into the box. Zinedine Zidane waited for the ball at the edge of the area and with a left-footed volley sent it into the top corner for 2-1.

Young Casillas

Toppmöller had already replaced Brdarić with Dimitar Berbatov in the 39th minute. In the second half Leverkusen pressed, and they finished with 13 shots to 7 and six corners to none. In the 68th minute goalkeeper César was injured and his place was taken by 20-year-old Iker Casillas.

Morientes had chances for 3-1 but was stopped by Lúcio, and at one point even goalkeeper Butt went up and headed a free kick just over.

In seven minutes of stoppage time Casillas made three great saves, with Berbatov, Ballack and Baştürk all coming close. Del Bosque had already sent on McManaman for Figo and Flávio Conceição for Makélélé. Zidane was named man of the match.

Why it went down in history

It was Real's ninth European Cup, in their centenary year, and Zidane's first. His volley became one of the best-known images of the competition.

For Leverkusen it was the third missed chance within days, after second place in the Bundesliga and defeat in the cup final, which earned them the ironic nickname "Neverkusen". A few weeks later five of their players took silver with Germany at the World Cup, while Lúcio won it with Brazil.

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Photo: Hampden Park in Glasgow (2024) – Goodreg3, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC0.