both fc porto and valencia cf had new coaches on the bench for the 2004 uefa super cup final and claudio ranieri was soon looking comfortable in his new surroundings as the spanish champions made off with the first piece of silverware of the new european season.
ranieri had replaced rafael benítez at the helm of the uefa cup winners following their triumph in the final against olympique de marseille, but he admitted he owed a debt of gratitude to his predecessor after valencia had secured a 2-1 victory. "i have received a great team from rafa benítez," he said. "i'm lucky to have a team that can play with its eyes shut."
ranieri had introduced new italian signings bernardo corradi and marco di vaio, but it was valencia talisman rubén baraja, valencia's driving force the previous season, who again proved their catalyst here.
on 32 minutes he opened the scoring with a powerful header, meeting curro torres's cross firmly from close to the penalty spot and sending it flying past the right arm of vitor baía.
valencia's second goal came midway through the second half. vicente rodríguez was the architect with a superb delivery to the far post where di vaio's header directed the ball in off the woodwork. valencia had discovered their fluency, and only the crossbar denied baraja a third goal from another headed opportunity.
porto were back in the uefa super cup for the second year in succession, looking to make amends for their 1-0 defeat by milan in 2003. the uefa champions league winners now had spaniard victor fernández at the helm, but were in a period of transition following the departures of several key players during the summer.
the fight that had seem them to victory over as monaco fc the previous may, however, had not deserted them. after maniche had sent a free header over the bar, ricardo quaresma reduced the deficit with 12 minutes to play. it was a fabulous drive from 25 metres, but not enough to prevent a second successive super cup defeat for porto.
yardımcı hakemler: steinar holvik , ole hermann borgan
porto: vitor baia, jorge costa, pepe, nuno valente, georgios seitaridis, hugo leal (dk. 61 ricardo quaresma), costinha, maniche, carlos alberto, helder postiga, benni mccarthy (dk. 72 cesar peixoto)
yedekler: nuno simoes, pedro emanuel, ricardo costa, raul meireles, hugo almeida
teknik direktör: jose mourinho
valencia: canizares, carlos marchena, amedeo carboni, david navarro, curro torres, david albelda, ruben baraja, vicente rodriguez, rufete, bernardo corradi (dk. 89 pablo aimar), marco di vaio (dk. 77 mista)
yedekler: andres palop, marco caneira, stefano fiore, mohamed sissoko, xisco munoz
teknik direktör: claudio ranieri
gol: (0-1) dk. 32 ruben baraja (0-2) dk. 67 marco di vaio (1-2) dk. 78 ricardo quaresma
sarı kart: dk. 42 benni mccarthy, dk. 52 jorge costa, dk. 73 ricardo quaresma (porto) dk. 16 david navarro, dk. 39 david albelda (valencia)
kupa valencia'nın 2003-04 sezonunda şampiyonlar ligi kupası'nı kazanan porto ile son uefa kupası şampiyonu valencia'nın monaco'daki mücadelesinde gülen taraf ispanyol ekibi oldu: 2-1. kupayı getiren golleri baraja ve di vaio kaydetti. valencia 1980 yılından sonra ikinci kez bu kupaya uzanırken ispanyol takımları 5. kez kupayı ispanya'ya götürmüş oldu.
