2003–04 UEFA Champions League

Updated on Dec 07, 2024

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Champions Porto (2nd title) Champion FC Porto Dates 16 Jul 2003 – 26 May 2004 Matches played 125		Runners-up Monaco Top scorer Fernando Morientes Goals scored 309

Teams 32 (group stage)72 (total) Similar 2004–05 UEFA Champio, 2002–03 UEFA Champio, 2001–02 UEFA Champio, 2005–06 UEFA Champio, 1999–2000 UEFA Champio

Uefa champions league intro 03 04

The 2003–04 UEFA Champions League was the 12th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding from the European Cup in 1992, and the 49th tournament overall. The competition was won by Portugal's Porto, who defeated Monaco of the French Ligue 1 3–0 at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany for Portugal's first win since 1987. This was Porto's second European trophy in two years, following their UEFA Cup success from the previous season. This was the first UEFA Champions League competition to feature a 16-team knockout round instead of a second group stage.

After eliminating (in order) Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Deportivo La Coruña, Porto met AS Monaco in the final. Monaco had previously knocked out Lokomotiv Moscow, Real Madrid and Chelsea.

Milan were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Deportivo La Coruña in the quarter-finals.

Champions league 2003 04 final flash interview mourinho deco

Group stage

16 winners from the third qualifying round, 10 champions from countries ranked 1–10, and six second-placed teams from countries ranked 1–6 were drawn into eight groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group advanced to the Champions League play-offs, while the third-placed teams advanced to the Third Round of the UEFA Cup.

Tiebreakers, if necessary, were applied in the following order:

Points earned in head-to-head matches between the tied teams.
Total goals scored in head-to-head matches between the tied teams.
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches between the tied teams.
Cumulative goal difference in all group matches.
Total goals scored in all group matches.
Higher UEFA coefficient going into the competition.

Real Sociedad, Celta, Stuttgart and Partizan made their debut appearance in the group stage.

Final

As winners of the competition, Porto went on to represent Europe at the 2004 Intercontinental Cup.

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds.

Trivia

Monaco's 8–3 victory over Deportivo La Coruña at Stade Louis II on 5 November 2003 set the record for the highest scoring match (excluding qualifying or preliminary rounds) since the start of the Champions League era in 1992. That record was superseded on 22 November 2016, when Borussia Dortmund defeated Legia Warsaw 8–4 in their group stage matchday 5 match at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, Germany.

Due to a threat of terrorism following the bombing of an HSBC branch in Istanbul, Galatasaray's home match against Juventus in Group D was played at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.

Chelsea and Arsenal met in the quarter-finals, which was only the second time a local derby had been contested in the Champions League.

Monaco became the second French team after Marseille in 1993 to contest a Champions League final. As of 2016, they are also the last French team to have done so.

References

2003–04 UEFA Champions League Wikipedia

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