The 2001 UEFA Cup final was a football match between Liverpool of England and Alavés of Spain on 16 May 2001 at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, Germany.

The first leg was held at Rapid's home ground Stadionul Giuleşti-Valentin Stănescu, where Nick Barmby gave Liverpool a 1–0 win with a goal in the 28th minute.

The first leg at Anfield was heading for a 0–0 draw, until the 87th minute when Emile Heskey scored to give Liverpool a 1–0 victory.

Liverpool were heading for a 2–1 victory courtesy of goals from Barmby and Steven Gerrard, until Olympiacos equalised in the last minute to earn a 2–2 draw.

The first leg was held at Roma's home ground the Stadio Olimpico, where Liverpool had won the European Cup twice in 1977 and 1984.

They looked like they had the opportunity to do so when the referee awarded a penalty towards the end of the match after he had adjudged that Markus Babbel had handled the ball.

Roma were unable to score the necessary goal following the incident and Liverpool progressed to the quarter-finals courtesy of a 2–1 aggregate victory.

[16] Houllier defended his tactics after the match, stating: "If I'd gone out and attacked and lost by three goals, you would be calling me naive.

Alavés won the match 3–1 with goals from Ibon Begoña, Óscar Téllez and Cosmin Contra.

The second leg in Spain was a 2–2 draw, which ensured that Alavés won the tie 5–3 on aggregate to progress to the third round.

The first leg in Spain saw Internazionale go ahead 3–1 midway through the second half after Álvaro Recoba scored twice and Christian Vieri once.

Alavés fought back to equalise in the 73rd minute after goals from Óscar Téllez and Iván Alonso secured a 3–3 draw.

[21] The second leg at Internazionale's home ground the San Siro appeared to heading for a 0–0 draw until the 78th minute when Jordi Cruyff scored.

Rayo took a 2–0 lead in the second leg at their ground the Estadio Teresa Rivero, but a late Cruyff goal ensured that Alavés would progress to the semi-finals.

Kaiserslautern scored a consolation goal, but Alavés won the match 4–1 to progress to the final in their first season in European competition courtesy of a 9–2 aggregate victory.

Their first trophy was the Football League Cup which they had won in February, defeating Birmingham City 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out after the match had finished 1–1.

[30] The Liverpool manager, Gérard Houllier, was wary of the threat posed by Alavés, despite their lack of experience in European competition.

Striker Jordi Cruyff believed being the underdogs would suit them: "We haven't been favourites in any of the rounds up to this stage, which means our opponents have felt that they really have to have a go and attack us as much as possible.

[34] They nearly added to their lead minutes later when Heskey was put through on goal from a McAllister pass, but Alavés goalkeeper Martín Herrera cleared the ball with his feet.

Alonso's header fell to Moreno, who went past Henchoz, but his shot was saved by Westerveld after it hit his chest.

Owen had run into the penalty area past the Alavés defence, where he was brought down by Herrera, who was booked for the foul.

Contra put a cross from the right side of the pitch into the penalty area, which was met by Moreno, whose header beat Westerveld to make the scoreline 3–2.

[33] In the 82nd minute, Alavés had an appeal for a penalty after a tackle by Hamann brought Magno down, but the Brazilian was subsequently booked for diving.

[34] With two minutes remaining, Liverpool goalkeeper Westerveld conceded a corner, which was headed into the goal by Cruyff to make the scoreline 4–4.

[33] With a minute of the first half of extra-time remaining, Fowler thought he had scored the winning goal but it was disallowed as he was offside.

[33] Three minutes later, Liverpool had a chance to score, but Fowler could not reach Gerrard's cross and the ball was subsequently cleared from the Alavés penalty area.

[34] In the 115th minute of the match, Alavés were reduced to nine men, when Karmona received a second yellow card for fouling Šmicer.

[34] As a result of the golden goal, Liverpool had won the match 5–4 to win their third UEFA Cup and complete a treble.

"[40] The Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier hailed his players after the match: "When you play in a European final, you are looking for immortality.

Esnal saluted his players for their character especially for equalising twice in the match: "We played with pride and class to get the score back to 4–4 at the end of normal time, the result of that, however, was that we were half dead going into extra-time.