The 2009 Greek Cup final was the 65th final of the Greek Cup. The match took place on 2 May 2009 at the Olympic Stadium. The contesting teams were AEK Athens and Olympiacos. It was AEK Athens' nineteenth Greek Cup final in their 85-year history and Olympiacos' thirty fourth Greek Cup final and second consecutive in their 84 years of existence. With 8 goals, including 2 turnarounds and a penalty shoot-out of 29 penalties in total, the match was widely considered as the most entertaining final in the tournament. It was the last match for the captain of Olympiacos, Predrag Đorđević as a footballer, having spent 13 years of his 17 years playing for the club.

Venue

This was the sixteenth Greek Cup final held at the Athens Olympic Stadium, after the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2002 finals.

The Athens Olympic Stadium was built in 1982 and renovated once in 2004. The stadium is used as a venue for AEK Athens and Panathinaikos and was used for Olympiacos and Greece on various occasions. Its current capacity is 69,618 and it hosted three European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals in 1983, 1994 and 2007, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in 1987, the 1991 Mediterranean Games and the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Background AEK Athens had reached the Greek Cup final eighteen times, winning eleven of them. The last time that they had won the Cup was in 2002, (2–1 against Olympiacos). The last time that they had played in a final was in 2006, where they had lost to Olympiacos by 3–0.

Olympiacos had reached the Greek Cup final thirty three times, winning twenty three of them. The last time that they had played in a Final was in 2008, where they had won against Aris by 2–0.

The two teams had met each other in a Cup final four times in the 1953, 1956, 2002 and 2006 finals.

Route to the final

AEK AthensRoundOlympiacosOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd leg Ilisiakos 2–1 (A) Round of 32 Diagoras 3–2 (A) Kerkyra 1–0 (H) Round of 16 OFI 2–0 (A) Skoda Xanthi 2–2 (a) 1–2 (A) 1–0 (H) Quarter-finals PAOK 2–1 0–1 (A) 2–0 (H) Panserraikos 3–1 3–1 (H) 0–0 (A) Semi-finals Asteras Tripolis 4–3 2–2 (A) 2–1 (H)

Match Details

GK 23 Sebastián SajaRB 31 Nikolaos Georgeas CB 25 Sotirios Kyrgiakos (c)  CB 5 Daniel MajstorovićLB 4 Geraldo Alves DM 8 Tamandani Nsaliwa CM 1 Pantelis Kafes RM 11 Gustavo Manduca  LM 32 Ignacio ScoccoSS 10 Rafik Djebbour  CF 18 Ismael BlancoSubstitutes:GK 77 Jürgen MachoDF 6 Georgios Alexopoulos  MF 16 Vasilios PliatsikasMF 24 Agustín Pelletieri  MF 56 Perparim HetemajFW 9 Edinho  FW 83 Michalis PavlisManager: Dušan Bajević GK 71 Antonios Nikopolidis (c)RB 35 Vasilis TorosidisCB 21 Avraam Papadopoulos CB 18 Paraskevas AntzasLB 3 Didier DomiDM 2 Christos Patsatzoglou CM 20 DuduRM 7 Luciano Galletti LM 23 Sebastián Leto AM 25 Fernando BelluschiCF 10 DiogoSubstitutes:GK 1 Leonidas PanagopoulosDF 14 Michał ŻewłakowDF 30 Anastasios PantosMF 8 Óscar MF 11 Predrag Đorđević MF 33 Giannis PapadopoulosFW 27 Matt Derbyshire Manager: Ernesto Valverde Man of the Match: Matt Derbyshire (Olympiacos)

Assistant referees: Thanasis Thanasakoudis (Macedonia) Dimitris Bozatzidis (Macedonia) Fourth official: Michael Koukoulakis (Heraklion)Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shootout if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions

See also 2008–09 Greek Football Cup

References