2009 UEFA Champions League final

The 2009 UEFA Champions League final was played on 27 May 2009 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. The match determined the winners of the 2008–09 season of the UEFA Champions League, a tournament for the top football clubs in Europe. The match was won by Barcelona of Spain, who beat England's Manchester United 2–0. Samuel Eto'o opened the scoring in the 10th minute, and Lionel Messi added another goal 20 minutes from the end to earn Barcelona a historic treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, a feat never before achieved by a Spanish club. The match was refereed by Swiss referee Massimo Busacca.

This was Barcelona's third victory in the competition, 17 years after they first won the European Cup in 1992. Manchester United went into the match as the competition's defending champions, the first defending champions to reach the final since Juventus in 1997. Manchester United also sought to be the first team to retain the European Cup since A.C. Milan in 1990. It was the fifth year in a row in which the final involved at least one English team. The Stadio Olimpico had hosted three previous Champions League finals, in 1977, 1984 and 1996.

As winners of the 2008–09 Champions League, Barcelona later played against 2008–09 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2009 UEFA Super Cup, and they represented UEFA at the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup. For winning the final, Barcelona won €7 million in prize money, and Manchester United received €4 million as runners-up.

## Background

Barcelona and Manchester United had previously faced each other nine times in European competitions: three times in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and six times in the UEFA Champions League. Of those nine matches, Manchester United had recorded three wins to Barcelona's two, with the remaining four matches finishing in draws. The only time that the two teams met in a final came in 1991, when they contested the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup final. The first meeting between the two sides came in the third round of the 1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup; Barcelona won the first leg at the Camp Nou 2–0, but Manchester United won the return leg 3–0 at Old Trafford to reach the semi-finals. That result marked Manchester United's biggest win over Barcelona; Barcelona's biggest win was a 4–0 home victory in the group stage of the 1994–95 Champions League. The most recent meeting between the teams came in the semi-finals of the 2007–08 Champions League, when United held Barcelona to a 0–0 draw at the Camp Nou before beating them 1–0 at Old Trafford. Despite their record against Manchester United, Barcelona had an overall winning record against English clubs, having won 20 and lost 15 of their 52 matches against English opposition. Manchester United, on the other hand, had a losing record against Spanish teams; they had lost 11 and won 10 of their 37 matches.

Both teams had won the UEFA Champions League before; Manchester United had three titles, while Barcelona had two. The most recent of these had come only the season before, when Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. They won the first of their European Cups in 1968, beating Benfica 4–1 at Wembley Stadium, while their second was achieved in 1999 with a 2–1 win over Bayern Munich at Barcelona's home ground, the Camp Nou, in which they overturned a 1–0 Bayern lead with two goals in second-half injury time. Barcelona's first European Cup was won as recently as 1992, when they beat Sampdoria 1–0 after extra time at Wembley; their only other title came in 2006 with a 2–1 win over another English side, Arsenal. Prior to 2009, unlike Barcelona, Manchester United had never lost a European Cup final; Barcelona had lost three – in 1961, 1986 and 1994, to Benfica, Steaua București and A.C. Milan respectively.

Both teams went into the match as the champions of their respective countries – the first time that the final had been contested by domestic champions since 1999 – both winning with games to spare. Manchester United won their 11th Premier League title with a 0–0 draw at home to Arsenal on 16 May, while Barcelona were confirmed as La Liga champions for the first time in three years when Real Madrid lost to Villarreal on the same day. Both Manchester United and Barcelona were also looking for another Champions League title to cap a season in which they had won multiple trophies: Manchester United had already won four out of a possible seven trophies in 2008–09 and were playing for the possibility of becoming the third team to retain the European double (the domestic league and the European Cup) and win a treble along with the Football League Cup, while Barcelona were aiming to become the first Spanish club to win the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League.

## Road to Rome

### Barcelona

By virtue of their third-place finish in the 2007–08 La Liga, Barcelona entered the 2008–09 Champions League at the third qualifying round. Based on their UEFA coefficient, Barcelona were seeded for the third qualifying round draw, and drawn against Polish champions Wisła Kraków. A 4–0 win in the first leg at the Camp Nou made defeat in the second leg immaterial and Barcelona were entered into the group stage draw.

Barcelona's UEFA coefficient placed them in the top eight seeds for the draw, meaning that they would avoid having to play against Inter Milan, Liverpool, Chelsea or holders and their semi-final opponents from 2007–08, Manchester United. However, they could still draw Bayern Munich, Roma or Juventus. In the end, Barcelona were drawn into Group C against Sporting CP, Basel and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Four wins and a draw at home to Basel placed Barcelona on top of their group with a game to spare, and despite defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 6, they still had the third-best record amongst the qualifiers for the first knockout round. As group winners, Barcelona would avoid being drawn with other group winners, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Juventus and Bayern Munich, but they could still be drawn against runners-up such as Chelsea, Inter and Arsenal. The draw eventually paired them with Lyon and, as group winners, they would play the second leg at home.

In the first leg in Lyon, Barcelona fell behind to a seventh-minute free kick from Juninho, only for Thierry Henry to equalise halfway through the second half, giving Barcelona an away goal to take back to the Camp Nou. They needed a win or a no-score draw to guarantee passage, but a 4–1 half-time lead set the stage for a convincing 5–2 win. Two first-half goals from Henry and one each from Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o were followed by goals from Jean Makoun and Juninho either side of the interval to reduce Lyon's deficit. However, a goal from Seydou Keita in the fifth minute of injury time secured a 6–3 aggregate win and passage to the next round.

In the quarter-finals, Barcelona were drawn against their fellow leading-scorers in the competition, Bayern Munich, who had beaten Barcelona's group stage opposition, Sporting CP, 12–1 on aggregate in the previous round. However, despite Bayern's impressive scoring record, goals from Messi and Eto'o gave Barcelona a 2–0 lead within the first 12 minutes. Messi and Henry also scored to seal a 4–0 home victory before half-time. The lack of an away goal meant Bayern Munich would have to win by five clear goals to qualify for the semi-finals. After a goalless first half, they took the lead through Franck Ribéry in the 47th minute, but it was not enough for Bayern as Keita equalised in the 73rd minute to clinch a 5–1 aggregate win for the Spanish side.

The quarter-final draw also determined the teams' routes to the final, with Barcelona facing the prospect of meeting either Chelsea or Liverpool in the semi-finals. After a 3–1 win at Anfield, Chelsea qualified for the semi-finals with a 4–4 draw at Stamford Bridge. The semi-final first leg was played at the Camp Nou; although Barcelona enjoyed the majority of the possession, Chelsea's defence was resolute and they became the first side to keep a clean sheet in Barcelona in this season's competition, coming away with a goalless draw. Barcelona needed to avoid defeat to reach the final, but they found themselves a goal down within 10 minutes; after they failed to clear Frank Lampard's pass into the penalty area, Michael Essien fired a left-footed volley past Víctor Valdés into the roof of the net. The rest of the match continued much the same as the first leg, with Barcelona retaining most of the possession. Despite this, they found themselves guilty of several fouls, while Chelsea made four unsuccessful penalty appeals during the match. Meanwhile, Dani Alves received his third yellow card of the knockout phase, ruling him out of Barcelona's next match, and Eric Abidal was given a straight red card for a foul on Nicolas Anelka as the French forward was through on goal. However, television replays after the incident showed that there was little contact between Abidal and Anelka. Norwegian referee Tom Henning Øvrebø allowed a minimum of four minutes of injury time at the end of the second half; in the third of those four minutes – just when it looked like Chelsea were about to secure a repeat of the 2008 final – Messi played the ball across the edge of the penalty area to Andrés Iniesta, who shot just past Petr Čech's outstretched hand for the away goal that would send Barcelona to the final.

### Manchester United

As the reigning champions of the UEFA Champions League, Manchester United began their title defence at the group stage, for which they were given the top seed. This position amongst the top eight European clubs meant that they would avoid drawing former European champions Barcelona, Inter and Real Madrid until at least the first knockout round, although they were faced with the prospect of drawing Bayern Munich or Roma. Nevertheless, United ended up being drawn into Group E with two teams they had played against before: Villarreal (whom they had drawn in 2005–06) and Celtic (2006–07); and one they had not: Aalborg BK.

Two victories – away to Aalborg and at home to Celtic – and four draws were enough to secure passage to the knockout phase of the competition. Following a Celtic victory over Villarreal in the final group match, United went through as group winners. This meant that they would avoid Roma, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Porto and Juventus in the first knockout round; however, their potential opposition still included Inter, Lyon and Real Madrid. The draw paired Manchester United with José Mourinho's Inter, but since United had won their group, they were rewarded by having the second leg at home.

United started the first leg the better of the two sides, and although Inter improved in the second half, neither side was able to find the net during the match, and United took a 0–0 draw back to Old Trafford. The draw was also United's 20th match since their last defeat in the UEFA Champions League, breaking Ajax's 19-match record that had stood for 13 years. The lack of an away goal at the San Siro meant that United could not afford to concede a goal in the event of a draw. A fourth-minute headed goal from Nemanja Vidić, however, got the home side off to a good start, and Cristiano Ronaldo doubled United's lead four minutes into the second half. Shots from both Zlatan Ibrahimović and Adriano hit the frame of the Manchester United goal in either half of the match, but they were unable to find the back of the net, and the 2–0 result sent the English champions through to the next stage of the competition.

The draw for the quarter-finals paired United with Porto, against whom they had played in the first knockout round of the 2003–04 competition. The draw also determined the semi-final pairings, with United or Porto drawn to play against Arsenal or Villarreal. The first leg of the quarter-final was played at Old Trafford, giving Porto the chance to put the pressure on Manchester United with an away goal. That away goal came in the fourth minute of the game, but Wayne Rooney equalised 10 minutes later and Carlos Tevez gave United the lead in the 85th minute. However, with only one minute left in the game, United suffered a defensive lapse, allowing Mariano González to score Porto's second away goal. Those away goals meant that United travelled to the Estádio do Dragão in Porto needing a win or a score-draw of 2–2 or higher to remain in the competition. A 40-yard goal from Ronaldo in the sixth minute put United into the lead, and although both sides pressed for another goal, it proved to be the only one of the game, making Manchester United the first English side to win in Porto.

Meanwhile, a 1–1 draw in Villarreal and a 3–0 win at the Emirates Stadium secured Arsenal's status as United's semi-final opponents. The draw had determined that United would play the first leg at home, and after Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo had early chances, John O'Shea opened the scoring, firing home a Michael Carrick cross after Arsenal had failed to clear a corner. United continued to make chances throughout the game, but despite Arsenal making a couple of chances themselves, the match finished at 1–0 and United travelled to the Emirates Stadium a week later needing only to avoid defeat to become the first defending champions to reach the final since Juventus in 1997. Although Arsenal only needed to overturn a one-goal deficit, their chances of victory were drastically reduced within the first 11 minutes of the match; Park Ji-sung took advantage of a slip by Kieran Gibbs to double United's aggregate lead in the eighth minute, before Ronaldo fired home a 41-yard free kick in the 11th minute. With two away goals on the United scoreboard, Arsenal now had to score four goals to reach the final. However, it was United who scored the next goal, as they hit Arsenal on the break and Ronaldo scored within 15 seconds of Arsenal losing the ball at the other end of the pitch. 15 minutes from time, Arsenal were awarded a penalty kick after Darren Fletcher brought Cesc Fàbregas down in the penalty area, a foul for which Fletcher was sent off – although replays showed that Fletcher knocked the ball away from Fàbregas immediately before bringing him down, resulting in some controversy as to whether Fletcher deserved a red card for the foul. Robin van Persie scored the penalty to make the score 3–1, but it was not enough to prevent United from reaching the final unbeaten for the fourth time in their history.

## Pre-match

### Venue

The Stadio Olimpico in Rome was selected as the venue for the 2009 UEFA Champions League final at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 4 October 2006. The committee – who decided the venue for the 2008 final and the 2008 and 2009 UEFA Cup finals at the same meeting – based their decision on a number of factors, including stadium capacity, safety and security facilities, and accessibility.

The Stadio Olimpico had hosted three European Cup finals before 2009: the 1977 and 1984 finals, both of which were won by Liverpool – Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 in 1977 before beating home side Roma 4–2 on penalties after the match finished 1–1 after extra time; the most recent final to be held at the Stadio Olimpico was the 1996 final, which Juventus also won 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw with Ajax.

The construction of the stadium was commissioned by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in the mid-1930s as the centrepiece of a new sports complex in the city, to be named Foro Mussolini. After World War II, the complex was renamed Foro Italico and the stadium was radically redesigned as a 54,000-capacity arena for the 1960 Summer Olympics. After hosting the 1987 World Athletics Championships, the stadium was redeveloped in time for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, at which West Germany's 1–0 win over Argentina in the final was played there. The stadium's most recent renovation, in 2008, brought the capacity to 72,689.

Since 1999, the UEFA Champions League final has been given a unique visual identity in order to increase the marketing appeal of the event. Designed by London-based design and branding agency Radiant, the theme for the 2009 final was revealed on 25 October 2008, and it incorporated several typically Roman images; the logo was centred around an outline of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, upon which was written "MMIX" – "2009" in Roman numerals; around the base of the trophy was a stylised laurel wreath, and in the background was a simplified image of the interior of the Colosseum. An alternative logo consisting of the UEFA Champions League logo surrounded by a laurel wreath was also released. The entire theme was based on a colour scheme of deep red and silver-white.

A trophy handover ceremony was held in Rome on 21 April 2009, at which Ole Gunnar Solskjær, representing Manchester United as the previous season's champions, returned the trophy to UEFA president Michel Platini. Platini then presented the trophy to Gianni Alemanno, the Mayor of Rome, that it might be put on display in and around the city until the day of the final. Also present at the ceremony were the president and vice-president of the Italian Football Federation, Giancarlo Abete and Demetrio Albertini, the ambassador for the final, Bruno Conti, and Emilio Di Toro on behalf of the Italian National Olympic Committee.

### Ticketing

Although the usual capacity of the Stadio Olimpico is over 72,000, this was reduced to approximately 67,000 for the 2009 UEFA Champions League final. Approximately 10,000 tickets were made available to the general public, with recipients determined by a random ballot following an application period that ran from 2 to 16 March 2009. Each club was also allocated approximately 20,000 tickets for distribution to fans. Manchester United chose to limit ticket applications to season ticket holders, with preference given to those who had attended more of the club's Champions League away fixtures that season. Barcelona, meanwhile, allotted 80% of their ticket allocation to fans, with the remaining 20% going to the club's corporate sponsors. Unlike United, however, Barcelona opened ticket applications to all 150,000 of their members. The remaining 17,000 tickets were retained by UEFA for the "European football family", which comprises UEFA itself, the local organising committee, UEFA's member associations and its commercial partners.

Tickets for the 2009 final were similar to ATM cards, with an integrated chip storing the ticket holder's personal information in order to ensure that the ticket is being presented by its legitimate owner. As further security, tickets also had to be presented with an adequate form of photographic identification. However, despite these security measures, counterfeit tickets were still produced, forcing UEFA to issue a statement warning people against buying tickets from touts.

Despite only receiving 20,000 tickets for fans, it was expected that around 30,000 Manchester United fans would be travelling to Rome for the final, leading to police warning ticketless fans not to travel amidst fears of potential hooligans making the trip. Fans were also warned to avoid certain areas of the city that are known to be frequented by members of Rome's Ultra fan groups. Despite Rome's reputation as a hotbed for knife-related crime, dubbed "Stab City" by some, UEFA was confident that the 2009 final would pass without incident, but on the morning of the final, there were reports that a Manchester United fan had been stabbed in the leg the previous evening. It was also expected that a similar number of Barcelona fans would be arriving in Rome in the lead-up to the match. After the match, UEFA president Michel Platini praised the Rome police for their arrangement of security for the final.

More than 3,000 Manchester United fans congregated just outside the city in a field that came to be known as "Fergie's Field". The venue provided ticketless fans with the opportunity to watch the match on a giant screen, and kept them away from the streets of Rome's city centre, although the alcohol ban that came into effect in the city at 17:00 (Central European Summer Time) on 26 May was still in force.

### Match ball

The official match ball for the 2009 Champions League final was the adidas Finale Rome. Based on the "Starball" design that has been used for the Champions League final since 2001 and become synonymous with the UEFA Champions League, the Finale Rome was unveiled on 16 March 2009. The colour scheme was a traditional Roman burgundy with a gold border around the stars. The ball used the same panel configuration as the Adidas Europass and the Adidas Teamgeist before it, and the same thermal bonding process was used to adhere the panels to each other, while the surface of the ball featured the same "PSC-Texture" as was debuted with the Europass; the surface of the ball was covered with thousands of tiny pimples, which was designed to improve the grip between boot and ball.

### Officials

The referee for the 2009 UEFA Champions League final was Massimo Busacca, representing the Swiss Football Association. Having been on FIFA's list of internationally accredited referees since 1999, Busacca had experience of officiating 32 UEFA Champions League matches, six of them during the 2008–09 season, and most recently the second leg of Manchester United's quarter-final against Porto on 15 April 2009. He also took charge of the first leg of the semi-final between Manchester United and Barcelona in the 2007–08 competition. Busacca also refereed at both the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008, and took charge of the 2007 UEFA Cup Final between Espanyol and Sevilla at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on 16 May 2007.

As usual, the referee was supported by assistant referees and a fourth official from the same country; in the 2009 final, Massimo Busacca was assisted by Matthias Arnet and Francesco Buragina, with Claudio Circhetta as the fourth official.

### Kits

Having been designated as the official "home" team, Barcelona were given the first choice of kits for the final and opted to wear their traditional red and blue shirts in a halved design. Since the Barcelona home kit clashed with both Manchester United's home and European away kits, the Red Devils wore their white domestic away kit for the first time in a European Cup final. They wore blue for their first European Cup final against Benfica in 1968, but wore red for both of their most recent finals in 1999 and 2008. Manchester United had previously worn white against Barcelona in five matches, losing just one of them – a 2–0 defeat in 1984 – while the only win in white came in the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup Final. The other three matches finished in draws: two 3–3 and one 0–0. Barcelona, on the other hand, had won two of their five European Cup finals – they wore orange for their win over Sampdoria in 1992 but wore their usual blue and red stripes for their most recent win in 2006 against Arsenal. However, two of their European Cup final defeats came against teams wearing white – against Steaua București in 1986 and against A.C. Milan in 1994.

### Opening ceremony

The 2009 UEFA Champions League final officially opened with the opening of the UEFA Champions Festival at Rome's Arco di Costantino and the Parco di Colle Oppio above the Colosseum. The Champions Festival was opened by former Italy international goalkeeper Luca Marchegiani on 23 May 2009 and ran until the afternoon on the day of the final, culminating with a football match between a European side coached by former Netherlands international Ruud Gullit and an all-Italian team featuring Milan one-club man Alessandro Costacurta and final ambassador Bruno Conti. Other attractions at the Champions Festival included appearances by representatives from both clubs (Bryan Robson and Ole Gunnar Solskjær for Manchester United and Hristo Stoichkov for Barcelona), exhibitions featuring memorabilia from past UEFA Champions League tournaments and the European Champion Clubs' Cup on display.

Immediately prior to the match itself came the opening ceremony for the final. The ceremony began with 64 members of the Rustavi Ensemble dance group performing a choreographed routine to a variation of the UEFA Champions League Anthem. At the culmination of the routine, the players emerged from the tunnel, accompanied by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli singing Il Gladiatore – a song based on Earth from the soundtrack to the film Gladiator – before Bocelli sang supporting vocals to the UEFA Champions League Anthem. Before they emerged from their dressing room, manager Pep Guardiola played the Barcelona team a specially commissioned seven-minute film showing their best moments from the season interspersed with clips from the film Gladiator. The film culminated with the late Luciano Pavarotti's version of Nessun Dorma, and it left several of the players in tears. With his players motivated for the game, Guardiola said nothing as they emerged into the tunnel.

## Match

### Team selection

Two Barcelona players missed the final through suspension: right-back Dani Alves, who picked up his third yellow card of the tournament in Barcelona's semi-final second leg against Chelsea on 6 May 2009; and left-back Eric Abidal, who was sent off in the same game for a professional foul on Nicolas Anelka. Defender Rafael Márquez also missed the match after he picked up a knee injury in the first leg of the semi-final, ruling him out for the rest of the season. Forward Thierry Henry and semi-final-winning midfielder Andrés Iniesta were also doubts for the final; Henry damaged his right posterior cruciate ligament in Barcelona's 6–2 league win over Real Madrid on 2 May 2009, while Iniesta was discovered to have suffered a tear in his right thigh following Barça's 3–3 draw with Villarreal on 10 May. Both Henry and Iniesta returned to light training on 22 May, but they had not yet resumed training with the main squad and remained doubts for the final. Carles Puyol, however, was available for selection after he served a one-match suspension in the semi-final second leg.

Manchester United's starting right-winger from the 2008 final, Owen Hargreaves, missed the match as he was still in rehabilitation after a double knee operation to cure his tendinitis problems that had seen him play little part in the 2008–09 Champions League campaign. It had been expected that defender Wes Brown would also miss the match after suffering a recurrence of a foot injury, but he returned to training quicker than expected and was involved in United's match against Hull City on 24 May, although he picked up a slight knock during the game. Rio Ferdinand was also a doubt following a calf injury that has kept him out of the United side since the semi-final second leg against Arsenal; Alex Ferguson had said that Ferdinand might not start in Rome if he was not fit to play against Hull, but he later admitted that Ferdinand was on course to recover in time to play in the match. Second-choice goalkeeper Ben Foster also missed the match after requiring surgery to repair a ruptured ligament in his right thumb in May 2009. On the other hand, following John O'Shea's winning goal in Manchester United's semi-final first leg victory over Arsenal, United manager Alex Ferguson suggested that the Irish utility player would be guaranteed a place in the starting line-up were United to reach the final. O'Shea's place in the team was confirmed at Manchester United's media day the week before the final. South Korean midfielder Park Ji-sung was also promised a place in the team after he missed the 2008 final, finally making him the first Asian to appear in a European Cup final. Cristiano Ronaldo suffered a slight injury scare in training the night before the final, requiring a bandage on his lower right leg, but he was eventually fit enough to play in the match.

Meanwhile, midfielder Darren Fletcher was forced to miss the final after picking up a red card in the second leg of the semi-final. While replays showed that Fletcher played the ball before felling Cesc Fàbregas in the penalty area, the UEFA appeals process only allows for cards to be rescinded in the case of mistaken identity. Despite this, an appeal was submitted by Manchester United on "compassionate" grounds. Barcelona decided to appeal against the suspensions of Abidal and Alves after United lodged an appeal against Fletcher's red card. Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola came out in support of overturning all three players' suspensions. The appeals were declared unsuccessful on 11 May, with UEFA saying in a statement that the appeals were not submitted within the required 24-hour deadline of the matches and that even if they had been submitted on time then "they would have been rejected as unfounded as there were no grounds for contesting the referees' original decisions." By upholding the suspensions, UEFA made Abidal, Alves and Fletcher the first players to miss a Champions League final through suspension since Juventus' Pavel Nedvěd sat out the 2003 final at Old Trafford.

### Summary

#### First half

Barcelona kicked the match off, but Manchester United showed their intent from the outset, forcing goalkeeper Víctor Valdés to concede a throw-in after just 10 seconds. Further pressure on the attack resulted in Yaya Touré fouling Anderson within Cristiano Ronaldo's shooting range. Ronaldo fired the free kick directly at Valdés, but the Spanish goalkeeper could only parry the ball and Gerard Piqué did well to divert Park Ji-sung's follow-up effort over the bar. The resulting corner was cleared, but only as far as Wayne Rooney, whose snap-shot was wayward and went out for a goal kick.

Both teams struggled to put a flowing move together in the opening exchanges, but it was United who had the better chances, both falling to Ronaldo. The first came in the seventh minute: having been played the ball by Michael Carrick, Ronaldo turned away from Piqué on the edge of the centre circle, before hitting a shot just wide from almost 40 yards; the second saw the ball break to Ronaldo after Anderson and Patrice Evra had linked up well down the left flank. The Portuguese winger controlled the ball on the chest before hitting the ball just past the far post.

Despite United's early pressure, it was Barcelona who scored the first goal of the match. Edwin van der Sar cleared the ball downfield for Manchester United, but it was headed away by Barcelona's midfield anchor Sergio Busquets. Carrick was first to the ball for Manchester United, but he could only head it as far as Xavi, who passed to Andrés Iniesta. The Manchester United defence backed away from the Spaniard, who – after exchanging passes with Lionel Messi – played the ball into the path of Samuel Eto'o in the Manchester United penalty area. Nemanja Vidić attempted to shepherd the Cameroonian striker towards the goal line, but Eto'o easily stepped inside him and toe-poked the ball past Van der Sar to make it 1–0 to Barcelona inside 10 minutes.

The goal shifted the balance of the game in Barcelona's favour, as United had been on top in terms of shots and possession up to that point. Almost immediately after the restart, Vidić gave away an unnecessary corner. In a rehearsed corner move, Xavi played the ball back to the edge of the penalty area towards Messi, but the tournament's top scorer was unable to make a proper connection. Nevertheless, Barça retained possession through some sharp inter-passing involving Xavi and Iniesta. When United did manage to regain the ball, however, it was quickly given away by a poor pass from Carrick, while Anderson mis-timed a kick and completely missed the ball. It was now Barcelona's turn to pressurise the United players, forcing them into backward passes or long, hopeful balls forward.

The quality of the teams' passing remained the main difference between them; however, in the 16th minute, Barcelona lost the ball and Ryan Giggs sent a long ball forward to Ronaldo. Ronaldo's first touch took him inside Piqué before going back outside the former Manchester United defender, who cynically blocked Ronaldo's run, earning himself the first yellow card of the match. Ronaldo shaped to take the free kick himself, but it was Giggs who shot for goal, only to curl the ball just over the bar.

Barcelona responded quickly, as Carles Puyol found Eto'o with a long throw-in down the right wing. The Cameroonian then found Messi, who cut inside and hit a curling 35-yard shot that just shaved the top of the crossbar. A quick-passing move from United followed, culminating with a through-ball to Park in the inside right channel, only for Valdés to cut out the pass, taking out the South Korean in the process. The resulting throw-in eventually broke to Ronaldo, whose 30-yard shot went just wide. Valdés' clash with Park, however, left him requiring treatment, and although the injury was not sufficient to necessitate a substitution, Valdés chose to leave his next few goal kicks to Piqué.

In the 22nd minute, a lofted through-pass from Carrick found Rooney on the left wing, but the Liverpudlian's cross was blocked by Touré and went out for a corner kick. The corner, taken by Giggs, found Ronaldo, but the Portuguese got too far under the ball and headed over. Precise passing from the Barcelona midfield got the Catalans moving upfield until a shoulder charge from Anderson sent Iniesta stumbling to the ground in the inside-left channel 30 yards from goal. The consequent free kick was taken by Xavi, who sent the ball just wide of the near post. Another free kick followed, as Messi was bundled over by a double-challenge from Vidić and Carrick, but it came to nothing.

With ten minutes left until half-time, the Manchester United defence effectively switched off and allowed Touré to dribble unopposed to within 15 yards of their penalty area before slipping the ball out wide to Puyol, whose low cross was diverted behind by Vidić. The corner kick was taken short and the eventual cross was headed behind for another corner on the opposite side by Evra. The second corner was crossed in towards Piqué, but he was unable to make contact with the ball.

With half-time fast approaching, Barcelona's confidence began to show: first, Messi attempted to flick a pass over the top of the United defence to Thierry Henry, which Rio Ferdinand intercepted; Iniesta then tried an ambitious back-heel that Van der Sar collected; and finally Messi sped through three Manchester United defenders towards the by-line, only for his cut-back cross to be pounced upon by Van der Sar and then cleared by Vidić. On the stroke of half-time, Iniesta himself then attempted to flick the ball through to Henry, but it was just too high for the French striker, and referee Massimo Busacca took that cue to blow the whistle for the interval.

#### Second half

After bringing on Carlos Tevez in place of Anderson at half time, Manchester United kicked off the second half in a different formation, with Tevez joining Ronaldo up front in a familiar 4–4–2. Both teams attempted to settle into their customary passing rhythms, but – unlike the first half – it was Barcelona who settled first; Manchester United's passes in their attacking third of the field failed to find their targets, and Iniesta eventually came away with the ball before flicking a pass through to Xavi, who played a through-ball to Henry on the left wing. The French forward turned Ferdinand inside-out, but his shot from a narrow angle was straight at Van der Sar and ended up going out for a throw-in. Xavi then again passed the ball out to the left flank, where Henry nonchalantly left it for the on-rushing Sylvinho; the Brazilian full-back whipped in a cross for Eto'o, but it was caught on the edge of the six-yard box by Van der Sar.

Pressure high up the pitch from Barcelona kept Manchester United in their own half, forcing them into attempting long balls downfield. A scrappy few moments in and around the centre circle followed, but Manchester United eventually came away with the ball. However, a lapse in communication between Giggs and Evra on the left wing allowed Eto'o to steal in and advance on the Manchester United goal. He cut in from the right wing and played a through-ball just out of reach of Messi, who went to ground after O'Shea had put his hand on Messi's shoulder. A period of sustained pressure from Barcelona followed, culminating with a run from Iniesta, who could only be stopped by a foul from Tevez on the edge of the Manchester United penalty area. The consequent free kick was taken by Xavi, who curled the ball around the defensive wall and onto the post with Van der Sar beaten.

United responded with their first extended period of possession of the half, working the ball into wide areas to be crossed into the middle, but Rooney's first couple of attempted centres were well cleared by Piqué. At the third attempt, though, Rooney's cross evaded the Barcelona defence as Touré kicked at thin air; however, it also failed to find a Manchester United player in the penalty area, both Ronaldo and Park going close. After Ronaldo was called offside in the 59th minute – despite appearing to be level with the last defender – Giggs stole the ball mid-way inside the Barcelona half before playing the ball to Ronaldo on the left wing. The Portuguese forward stepped over the ball several times in an attempt to wrong-foot Puyol, before cutting inside and playing the ball across the edge of the area towards Carrick. A sliding challenge from Busquets prevented a shot, only for the English midfielder to slide the ball out for a Barcelona goal kick while attempting to play Rooney through. Rooney was again played down the right wing a few moments later, but his low cross was diverted behind by Piqué, and the resulting corner came to nothing. A left-wing attack from Ronaldo followed, but after cutting inside, he gave the ball away cheaply. Barcelona immediately went on the attack down the other end, but Henry was unable to get past O'Shea and his shot was well saved by Van der Sar low at the near post.

In the 66th minute, Alex Ferguson completed his attacking quartet by bringing Dimitar Berbatov on in place of Park. Ronaldo was penalised for a high elbow when challenging for a header with Puyol a minute later, before Rooney forced another corner off Piqué in the 69th minute. However, United's numbers up front in search of another goal left them wanting in defence; a weak clearance from Van der Sar was cut out by Puyol who played the ball to Eto'o on the right side of the penalty area. The ball broke to Xavi on the edge of the area, who crossed for Messi to send a looping header over the United goalkeeper and into the far side of the goal for a two-goal lead. Immediately after the goal, Henry was replaced by Seydou Keita, allowing Barcelona to adopt a more defensive stance.

United responded to the goal immediately, as Giggs made a surging run through the Barcelona defence before playing the ball to Berbatov in the inside-right channel. The Bulgarian forward's low cross found Giggs in the centre, and the United captain's shot was deflected to Ronaldo on the far side of the goal, only for the Portuguese's shot to be blocked by Valdés. The resulting corner reached Berbatov on the far side of the goal, but it was deemed to have crossed the goal line first and Barcelona were awarded a goal kick, from which they launched another attack. Messi played a through-ball to Puyol on the right flank, but as the Barcelona captain reached the goal line, he was fouled by Ronaldo, who – despite going in two-footed – escaped the referee's book. Puyol himself rose to head Xavi's free kick towards goal, but it was directly at Van der Sar, who claimed the ball easily.

Manchester United used their third and final substitute in the 75th minute, replacing Giggs with Paul Scholes, who took over as team captain. Ronaldo and Scholes each received yellow cards in the 78th and 80th minutes, respectively; Ronaldo's yellow card was awarded for a robust shoulder-charge on Puyol as the Barcelona right back shepherded the ball out for a goal kick, while Scholes was booked for a late challenge on Busquets. While the referee played advantage after Scholes' foul, Iniesta cut inside from the left wing and hit a shot that was saved above the head of Van der Sar. An extended spell of Barcelona possession followed, as they strung a series of around 20 passes together, culminating with Puyol attempting to clip the ball over the onrushing Van der Sar, who blocked the shot. Both players went for the follow-up, but the Dutch goalkeeper was first to the ball and sent Puyol sprawling.

In the 85th minute, Scholes clipped the ball over the top of the Barcelona defensive line to Rooney, who chested the ball down for Tevez, only to be given offside. Scholes then found Rooney again on the left wing with a raking ball from deep inside his own half, but Rooney's first touch was heavy, allowing Puyol to get back and put the ball out for a corner. Rooney took the corner short to Tevez, whose cross was just beyond the reach of Berbatov and diverted behind again by Puyol. Rooney also took the second corner, which was met by Berbatov, but he put the ball high over the crossbar.

As the match entered its closing stages, the referee allotted a minimum of three minutes of injury time. The first of these saw Van der Sar make a poor pass after the ball was played back to him by Ferdinand, allowing Iniesta to steal in and play the ball towards Messi in the United penalty area, only for Vidić to get there ahead of the Argentine and knock the ball out for a corner. Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola brought Pedro on for Iniesta in the second minute of added time, before Vidić was immediately shown a yellow card for a clash of heads with Messi when going for a header. That was to be the final act of the match, as referee Massimo Busacca blew for full-time as soon as Xavi took the free kick.

#### Trophy presentation

At the final whistle, Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola offered his commiserations to each of Manchester United's players, while former Manchester United defender Gerard Piqué talked with his erstwhile teammates. Both teams then retreated to either end of the stadium to applaud their fans.

While match referee Massimo Busacca and his assistants collected their mementoes of the final, the Barcelona team formed a guard of honour for the Manchester United players, just as the English side had done for Chelsea in 2008. Led by their manager, Alex Ferguson, and team captain, Ryan Giggs, the Manchester United team then ascended the specially constructed rostrum to collect their runners-up medals from UEFA president Michel Platini and secretary David Taylor. Other dignitaries present included Manchester United chief executive David Gill; The Football Association's president Prince William, and chairman Lord Triesman; Barcelona president Joan Laporta; Juan Carlos I of Spain; Royal Spanish Football Federation president Ángel María Villar; and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Ferguson also collected a commemorative plaque from Platini, but immediately handed it to Giggs.

After offering his commiserations to Manchester United's players, Joan Laporta then joined the Barcelona team to lead them up the podium, closely followed by manager Guardiola. Laporta himself collected Barcelona's commemorative plaque before accepting a medal from Platini. Once the entire Barcelona team had collected their medals, Platini made his way to the front of the podium to present Carles Puyol with the European Champion Clubs' Cup. The Barcelona captain promptly held the trophy aloft with accompaniment from the UEFA Champions League Anthem and explosions of golden confetti, before leading his team on a lap of honour.

### Details

### Statistics

## Reaction

During the match, UEFA.com users were able to vote for their man of the match; the public vote went to the scorer of Barcelona's second goal, Lionel Messi. The UEFA Technical Study Group, however, chose the man who provided the cross for Messi's goal, Xavi, as their man of the match, citing his control of the tempo of the match as the reason for their decision. Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola took the time to give special praise to Messi, whom he said he moved back into the midfield in order to increase the team's effectiveness when in possession of the ball. Messi had been withdrawn from his usual right-wing role into a more central position, while Samuel Eto'o, who had started the match as Barcelona's lone centre-forward, was moved out to the right. Guardiola also lauded the bravery of his entire team, stating that he believed that his team's victory hinged on their hard work and propensity for taking risks in attack, but he admitted that although his side had had the best season in the history of the club, they were not yet the best Barcelona team.

In the Manchester United camp, manager Alex Ferguson admitted that his team had been beaten by the better side and that the game was all but lost after the first goal. United forward Cristiano Ronaldo, however, criticised his team's tactics, saying that "everything went wrong". Ferguson paid tribute to Messi and the midfield partnership of Xavi and Iniesta, while Wayne Rooney lauded Iniesta as "the best player in the world". Ferguson also expressed his regret at the unavailability of midfielder Darren Fletcher, who was suspended for the match, and lamented at his side's "shoddy" defending and ineffectiveness when in possession. Nevertheless, Ferguson paid tribute to Guardiola's achievement of winning the treble in his first season of management. Barcelona's victory also made Guardiola only the sixth man to win the competition as both a player and a manager, following in the footsteps of Miguel Muñoz, Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, Carlo Ancelotti and, most recently, Frank Rijkaard, who also won the Champions League as Barcelona manager.

The match turned out to be the last for Carlos Tevez as a Manchester United player, as he chose not to make his loan spell with the club permanent and joined their local rivals, Manchester City. After announcing his intention to leave Manchester United, Tevez criticised Ferguson's team selection for the 2009 Champions League final, saying that Ferguson should have included him in the starting line-up, with the rationale that the match was the only final that Manchester United had lost in his time at the club.

The match was also Ronaldo's last game at Manchester United for over twelve years, as he completed a world record £80 million transfer to Real Madrid on 1 July. He would later go on to rejoin United in August 2021, and departing once more in November 2022.

Television audiences for the final reached more than 10 million in both Spain and the United Kingdom. 11.3 million people watched the match on Spain's Antena 3 network – the largest viewing figures for that station in the past year – while another 600,000 watched on Canal+ Spain. In the United Kingdom, however, although the match received the highest ratings of any programme that evening, viewing figures were down by 1.5 million on the previous year's final, with just 9.6 million watching on ITV1, although an additional 1.79 million watched on Sky Sports 1. Despite there being no Italian or French representative in the final, the figures were much the same in those two countries as they were in Spain and the United Kingdom, with Italy's Rai Uno garnering an average viewership of 9.63 million and France's TF1 receiving 8.25 million. Only 6.55 million people watched the match on Germany's Sat.1 channel. According to a survey, global viewing figures for the match averaged 109 million; this put the UEFA Champions League final above the Super Bowl (106 million viewers in 2009) as the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. Total figures, which included viewers who watched only part of the match, put the Champions League final even further ahead of the Super Bowl, with 206 million viewers compared to 162 million.

In the United Kingdom, bookmakers made a profit from bets on a Manchester United victory. William Hill reported two bets of around £20,000 placed on Manchester United, while Paddy Power received one of £5,500 and Ladbrokes one of £3,000. Ladbrokes also took a bet of £10,000 on a Barcelona win, but bookmakers reported that most of the money was put on Manchester United. Extrabet.com paid out £12,000 to a £3,000 bet on Samuel Eto'o to score the first goal at odds of 4–1.

## Rewards

Both teams received significant financial rewards; for winning the final, Barcelona won €7 million in prize money, and Manchester United received €4 million as runners-up. Despite losing the match, Manchester United earned the most money overall from their 2008–09 Champions League campaign, receiving €38.281 million compared to Barcelona's €30.968 million, due to their share of the market pool, based on the value of the television market in their home countries.

As winners of the UEFA Champions League, Barcelona competed in the 2009 UEFA Super Cup, in which they beat 2008–09 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk 1–0 at Stade Louis II in Monaco on 28 August 2009, and in the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, where they beat Estudiantes of Argentina in the final.

## See also

- 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup final – contested between same teams
- 2009 UEFA Cup final
- 2009 UEFA Super Cup
- 2009 FIFA Club World Cup
- 2011 UEFA Champions League final – contested between same teams
- FC Barcelona in international football competitions
- Manchester United F.C. in European football
- Messi–Ronaldo rivalry

Final of the 2008–09 edition of the UEFA Champions League

International club association football competitions hosted by Italy


1257 Samalas eruption

In 1257, a catastrophic eruption occurred at the Samalas volcano on the Indonesian island of Lombok. The event had a probable Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, making it one of the largest volcanic eruptions during the current Holocene epoch. It left behind a large caldera that contains Lake Segara Anak. Later volcanic activity created more volcanic centres in the caldera, including the Barujari cone, which remains active.

The event created eruption columns reaching tens of kilometres into the atmosphere and pyroclastic flows that buried much of Lombok and crossed the sea to reach the neighbouring island of Sumbawa. The flows destroyed human habitations, including the city of Pamatan, which was the capital of a kingdom on Lombok. Ash from the eruption fell as far as 340 kilometres (210 mi) away in Java; the volcano deposited more than 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi) of rocks and ash.

The aerosols injected into the atmosphere reduced the solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, causing a volcanic winter and cooling the atmosphere for several years. This led to famines and crop failures in Europe and elsewhere, although the exact scale of the temperature anomalies and their consequences is still debated. The eruption may have helped trigger the Little Ice Age, a centuries-long cold period during the last thousand years.

Before the site of the eruption was known, an examination of ice cores around the world had detected a large spike in sulfate deposition from around 1257 providing strong evidence of a large volcanic eruption occurring at that time. In 2013, scientists linked the historical records about Mount Samalas to these spikes. These records were written by people who witnessed the event and recorded it on the Babad Lombok, a document written on palm leaves.

## Geology

Samalas (also known as Rinjani Tua) was part of what is now the Rinjani volcanic complex, on Lombok, in Indonesia. The remains of the volcano form the Segara Anak caldera, with Mount Rinjani at its eastern edge. Since the destruction of Samalas, two new volcanoes, Rombongan and Barujari, have formed in the caldera. Mount Rinjani has also been volcanically active, forming its own crater, Segara Muncar. Other volcanoes in the region include Agung, Batur, and Bratan, on the island of Bali to the west.

Lombok is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in the Sunda Arc of Indonesia, a subduction zone where the Australian plate subducts beneath the Eurasian plate at a rate of 7 centimetres per year (2.8 in/year). The magmas feeding Mount Samalas and Mount Rinjani are likely derived from peridotite rocks beneath Lombok, in the mantle wedge. Before the eruption, Mount Samalas may have been as tall as 4,200 ± 100 metres (13,780 ± 330 ft), based on reconstructions that extrapolate upwards from the surviving lower slopes, and thus taller than Mount Kinabalu which is presently the highest mountain in tropical Asia; Samalas's current height is less than that of the neighbouring Mount Rinjani, which reaches 3,726 metres (12,224 ft).

The oldest geological units on Lombok are from the Oligocene–Miocene, with old volcanic units cropping out in southern parts of the island. Samalas was built up by volcanic activity before 12,000 BP. Rinjani formed between 11,940 ± 40 and 2,550 ± 50 BP, with an eruption between 5,990 ± 50 and 2,550 ± 50 BP forming the Propok Pumice with a dense rock equivalent volume of 0.1 cubic kilometres (0.024 cu mi). The Rinjani Pumice, with a volume of 0.3 cubic kilometres (0.072 cu mi) dense rock equivalent, may have been deposited by an eruption from either Rinjani or Samalas; it is dated to 2,550 ± 50 BP, at the end of the time range during which Rinjani formed. The deposits from this eruption reached thicknesses of 6 centimetres (2.4 in) at 28 kilometres (17 mi) distance. Additional eruptions by either Rinjani or Samalas are dated 11,980 ± 40, 11,940 ± 40, and 6,250 ± 40 BP. Eruptive activity continued until about 500 years before 1257. Most volcanic activity now occurs at the Barujari volcano with eruptions in 1884, 1904, 1906, 1909, 1915, 1966, 1994, 2004, and 2009; Rombongan was active in 1944. Volcanic activity mostly consists of explosive eruptions and ash flows.

The rocks of the Samalas volcano are mostly dacitic, with a SiO
2 content of 62–63 percent by weight. Volcanic rocks in the Banda arc are mostly calc-alkaline ranging from basalt over andesite to dacite. The crust beneath the volcano is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) thick, and the lower extremity of the Wadati–Benioff zone is about 164 kilometres (102 mi) deep.

## Eruption

The events of the 1257 eruption have been reconstructed through geological analysis of the deposits it left and by historical records. The eruption probably occurred during the northern summer in September (uncertainty of 2–3 months) that year, in light of the time it would have taken for its traces to reach the polar ice sheets and be recorded in ice cores and the pattern of tephra deposits. 1257 is the most likely year of the eruption, although a date of 1258 is also possible.

### Phases

The phases of the eruption are also known as P1 (phreatic and magmatic phase), P2 (phreatomagmatic with pyroclastic flows), P3 (Plinian) and P4 (pyroclastic flows). The duration of the P1 and P3 phases is not known individually, but the two phases combined (not including P2) lasted between 12 and 15 hours. The eruption column reached a height of 39–40 kilometres (24–25 mi) during the first stage (P1), and of 38–43 kilometres (24–27 mi) during the third stage (P3); it was high enough that SO2 in it and its sulfur isotope ratio was influenced by photolysis at high altitudes.

### Event

The eruption began with a phreatic (steam explosion powered) stage that deposited 3 centimetres (1.2 in) of ash over 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi) of northwest Lombok. A magmatic stage followed, and lithic-rich pumice rained down, the fallout reaching a thickness of 8 centimetres (3.1 in) both upwind on East Lombok and on Bali. This was followed by lapilli rock as well as ash fallout, and pyroclastic flows that were partially confined within the valleys on Samalas's western flank. Some ash deposits were eroded by the pyroclastic flows, which created furrow structures in the ash. Pyroclastic flows crossed 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) of the Bali Sea, reaching the Gili Islands to the west of Samalas and Taliwang east of Lombok, while pumice blocks presumably covered the Alas Strait between Lombok and Sumbawa. The deposits show evidence of interaction of the lava with water, so this eruption phase was probably phreatomagmatic. It was followed by three pumice fallout episodes, with deposits over an area wider than was reached by any of the other eruption phases. These pumices fell up to 61 kilometres (38 mi) to the east, against the prevailing wind, in Sumbawa, where they are up to 7 centimetres (2.8 in) thick.

The deposition of these pumices was followed by another stage of pyroclastic flow activity, probably caused by the collapse of the eruption column that generated the flows. At this time the eruption changed from an eruption-column-generating stage to a fountain-like stage and the caldera began to form. These pyroclastic flows were deflected by the topography of Lombok, filling valleys and moving around obstacles such as older volcanoes as they expanded across the island incinerating the island's vegetation. Interaction between these flows and the air triggered the formation of additional eruption clouds and secondary pyroclastic flows. Where the flows entered the sea north and east of Lombok, steam explosions created pumice cones on the beaches and additional secondary pyroclastic flows.

Coral reefs were buried by the pyroclastic flows; some flows crossed the Alas Strait between Sumbawa and Lombok and formed deposits on Sumbawa. These pyroclastic flows reached volumes of 29 cubic kilometres (7.0 cu mi) on Lombok, and thicknesses of 35 metres (115 ft) as far as 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Samalas. The pyroclastic flows altered the geography of eastern Lombok, burying river valleys and extending the shoreline; a new river network developed on the volcanic deposits after the eruption.

### Rock and ash

Volcanic rocks ejected by the eruption covered Bali and Lombok and parts of Sumbawa. Tephra in the form of layers of fine ash from the eruption fell as far away as Java, forming part of the Muntilan Tephra, which was found on the slopes of other volcanoes of Java, but could not be linked to eruptions in these volcanic systems. This tephra is now considered to be a product of the 1257 eruption and is thus also known as the Samalas Tephra. It reaches thicknesses of 2–3 centimetres (0.79–1.18 in) on Mount Merapi, 15 centimetres (5.9 in) on Mount Bromo, 22 centimetres (8.7 in) at Ijen and 12–17 centimetres (4.7–6.7 in) on Bali's Agung volcano. In Lake Logung 340 kilometres (210 mi) away from Samalas on Java it is 3 centimetres (1.2 in) thick. Most of the tephra was deposited west-southwest of Samalas. Considering the thickness of Samalas Tephra found at Mount Merapi, the total volume may have reached 32–39 cubic kilometres (7.7–9.4 cu mi). The dispersal index (the surface area covered by an ash or tephra fall) of the eruption reached 7,500 square kilometres (2,900 sq mi) during the first stage and 110,500 square kilometres (42,700 sq mi) during the third stage, implying that these were a Plinian eruption and an Ultraplinian eruption respectively.

Pumice falls with a fine graining and creamy colour from the Samalas eruption have been used as a tephrochronological marker on Bali. Tephra from the volcano was found in ice cores as far as 13,500 kilometres (8,400 mi) away, and a tephra layer sampled at Dongdao island in the South China Sea has been tentatively linked to Samalas. Ash and aerosols might have impacted humans and corals at large distances from the eruption.

There are several estimates of the volumes expelled during the various stages of the Samalas eruption. The first stage reached a volume of 12.6–13.4 cubic kilometres (3.0–3.2 cu mi). The phreatomagmatic phase has been estimated to have had a volume of 0.9–3.5 cubic kilometres (0.22–0.84 cu mi). The total dense rock equivalent volume of the whole eruption was at least 40 cubic kilometres (9.6 cu mi). The magma erupted was trachydacitic and contained amphibole, apatite, clinopyroxene, iron sulfide, orthopyroxene, plagioclase, and titanomagnetite. It formed out of basaltic magma by fractional crystallization and had a temperature of about 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). Its eruption may have been triggered either by the entry of new magma into the magma chamber or the effects of gas bubble buoyancy.

### Intensity

The eruption had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7, making it one of the largest eruptions of the current Holocene epoch. Eruptions of comparable intensity include the Kurile lake eruption (in Kamchatka, Russia) in the 7th millennium BC, the Mount Mazama (United States, Oregon) eruption in the 6th millennium BC, the Cerro Blanco (Argentina) eruption about 4,200 years ago, the Minoan eruption (in Santorini, Greece) between 1627 and 1600 BC, the Tierra Blanca Joven eruption of Lake Ilopango (El Salvador) in the 6th century, and Mt. Tambora in 1815. Such large volcanic eruptions can result in catastrophic impacts on humans and widespread loss of life both close to the volcano and at greater distances.

### Caldera

The eruption created the 6–7 kilometres (3.7–4.3 mi) wide Segara Anak caldera where the Samalas mountain was formerly located; within its 700–2,800 metres (2,300–9,200 ft) high walls, a 200 metres (660 ft) deep crater lake formed called Lake Segara Anak. The Barujari cone rises 320 metres (1,050 ft) above the water of the lake and has erupted 15 times since 1847. A crater lake may have existed on Samalas before the eruption and supplied its phreatomagmatic phase with 0.1–0.3 cubic kilometres (0.024–0.072 cu mi) of water. Alternatively, the water could have been supplied by aquifers. Approximately 2.1–2.9 cubic kilometres (0.50–0.70 cu mi) of rock from Rinjani fell into the caldera, a collapse that was witnessed by humans and left a collapse structure that cuts into Rinjani's slopes facing the Samalas caldera.

The eruption that formed the caldera was first recognized in 2003, and in 2004 a volume of 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cu mi) was attributed to this eruption. Early research considered that the caldera-forming eruption occurred between 1210 and 1300. In 2013, Lavigne suggested that the eruption occurred between May and October 1257, resulting in the climate changes of 1258. Several villages on Lombok are constructed on the pyroclastic flow deposits from the 1257 event.

## Research history

A major volcanic event in 1257–1258 was first discovered from data in ice cores; specifically increased sulfate concentrations were found in 1980 within the Crête ice core (Greenland, drilled in 1974) associated with a deposit of rhyolitic ash. The 1257–1258 layer is the third largest sulfate signal at Crête; at first a source in a volcano near Greenland had been considered but Icelandic records made no mention of eruptions around 1250 and it was found in 1988 that ice cores in Antarctica – at Byrd Station and the South Pole – also contained sulfate signals. Sulfate spikes were also found in ice cores from Ellesmere Island, Canada, and the Samalas sulfate spikes were used as stratigraphic markers for ice cores even before the volcano that caused them was known.

The ice cores indicated a large sulfate spike, accompanied by tephra deposition, around 1257–1259, the largest in 7,000 years and twice the size of the spike due to the 1815 eruption of Tambora. In 2003, a dense rock equivalent volume of 200–800 cubic kilometres (48–192 cu mi) was estimated for this eruption, but it was also proposed that the eruption might have been somewhat smaller and richer in sulfur. The volcano responsible was thought to be located in the Ring of Fire but could not be identified at first; Tofua volcano in Tonga was proposed at first but dismissed, as the Tofua eruption was too small to generate the 1257 sulfate spikes. A volcanic eruption in 1256 at Harrat al-Rahat near Medina was also too small to trigger these events. Other proposals included several simultaneous eruptions. The diameter of the caldera left by the eruption was estimated to be 10–30 kilometres (6.2–18.6 mi), and the location was estimated to be close to the equator and probably north of it.

While at first no clear-cut climate anomaly could be correlated to the 1257 sulfate layers, in 2000 climate phenomena were identified in medieval records of the northern hemisphere that are characteristic for volcanic eruptions. Earlier, climate alterations had been reported from studies of tree rings and climate reconstructions. The deposits showed that climate disturbances reported at that time were due to a volcanic event, the global spread indicating a tropical volcano as the cause.

The suggestion that Samalas/Rinjani might be the source volcano was first raised in 2012, since the other candidate volcanoes – El Chichón and Quilotoa – did not match the chemistry of the sulfur spikes. El Chichon, Quilotoa and Okataina were also inconsistent with the timespan and size of the eruption. The conclusive link between these events and an eruption of Samalas was made in 2013 on the basis of radiocarbon dating of trees on Lombok and the Babad Lombok, a series of writings in Old Javanese on palm leaves that described a catastrophic volcanic event on Lombok which occurred before 1300. These findings induced Franck Lavigne, a geoscientist of the Pantheon-Sorbonne University who had already suspected that a volcano on that island may be responsible, to conclude that the Samalas volcano was this volcano. The role of the Samalas eruption in the global climate events was confirmed by comparing the geochemistry of glass shards found in ice cores to that of the eruption deposits on Lombok. Later, geochemical similarities between tephra found in polar ice cores and eruption products of Samalas reinforced this localization.

## Climate effects

### Aerosol and paleoclimate data

Ice cores in the northern and southern hemisphere display sulfate spikes associated with Samalas. The signal is the strongest in the southern hemisphere over the last 1000 years; one reconstruction even considers it the strongest of the last 2500 years. It is about eight times stronger than that of Krakatau. In the northern hemisphere it is only exceeded by the signal of the destructive 1783/1784 Laki eruption. The ice core sulfate spikes have been used as a time marker in chronostratigraphic studies. Ice cores from Illimani in Bolivia contain thallium and sulfate spikes from the eruption. For comparison, the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo ejected only about a tenth of the amount of sulfur erupted by Samalas. Sulfate deposition from the Samalas eruption has been noted at Svalbard, and the fallout of sulfuric acid from the volcano may have directly affected peatlands in northern Sweden.

In addition, the sulfate aerosols may have extracted large amounts of the beryllium isotope 10
Be from the stratosphere; such an extraction event and the subsequent deposition in ice cores may mimic changes in solar activity. The amount of sulfur dioxide released by the eruption has been estimated to be 158 ± 12 million tonnes. The mass release was greater than for the Tambora eruption; Samalas may have been more effective at injecting tephra into the stratosphere, and the Samalas magma may have had a higher sulfur content. After the eruption, it probably took weeks to months for the fallout to reach large distances from the volcano. When large scale volcanic eruptions inject aerosols into the atmosphere, they can form stratospheric veils. These reduce the amount of light reaching the surface and cause lower temperatures, which can lead to poor crop yields. Such sulfate aerosols in the case of the Samalas eruption may have remained at high concentrations for about three years according to findings in the Dome C ice core in Antarctica, although a smaller amount may have persisted for an additional time.

Other records of the eruption's impact include decreased tree growth in Mongolia between 1258 and 1262 based on tree ring data, frost rings (tree rings damaged by frost during the growth season), light tree rings in Canada and northwestern Siberia from 1258 and 1259 respectively, thin tree rings in the Sierra Nevada, California, U.S. cooling in sea surface temperature records off the Korean Peninsula and in lake sediments of northeastern China, a very wet monsoon in Vietnam, droughts in many places in the Northern Hemisphere as well as in southern Thailand cave records, and a decade-long thinning of tree rings in Norway and Sweden. Cooling may have lasted for 4–5 years based on simulations and tree ring data.

Another effect of the eruption-induced climate change may have been a brief decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. A decrease in the growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations was recorded after the 1992 Pinatubo eruption; several mechanisms for volcanically driven decreases in atmospheric CO
2 concentration have been proposed, including colder oceans absorbing extra CO
2 and releasing less of it, decreased respiration rates leading to carbon accumulation in the biosphere, and increased productivity of the biosphere due to increased scattered sunlight and the fertilization of oceans by volcanic ash.

The Samalas signal is only inconsistently reported from tree ring climate information, and the temperature effects were likewise limited, probably because the large sulfate output altered the average size of particles and thus their radiative forcing. Climate modelling indicated that the Samalas eruption may have reduced global temperatures by approximately 2 °C (3.6 °F), a value largely not replicated by proxy data. Better modelling with a general circulation model that includes a detailed description of the aerosol indicated that the principal temperature anomaly occurred in 1258 and continued until 1261. Climate models tend to overestimate the climate impact of a volcanic eruption; one explanation is that climate models tend to assume that aerosol optical depth increases linearly with the quantity of erupted sulfur when in reality self-limiting processes limit its growth. The possible occurrence of an El Niño before the eruption may have further reduced the cooling.

The Samalas eruption, together with 14th century cooling, is thought to have set off a growth of ice caps and sea ice, and glaciers in the Alps, Bhutan Himalaya, the Pacific Northwest and the Patagonian Andes grew in size. The advances of ice after the Samalas eruption may have strengthened and prolonged the climate effects. Later volcanic activity in 1269, 1278, and 1286 and the effects of sea ice on the North Atlantic would have further contributed to ice expansion. The glacier advances triggered by the Samalas eruption are documented on Baffin Island, where the advancing ice killed and then incorporated vegetation, conserving it. Likewise, a change in Arctic Canada from a warm climate phase to a colder one coincides with the Samalas eruption.

### Simulated effects

According to 2003 reconstructions, summer cooling reached 0.69 °C (1.24 °F) in the southern hemisphere and 0.46 °C (0.83 °F) in the northern hemisphere. More recent proxy data indicate that a temperature drop of 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) occurred in 1258 and of 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) in 1259, but with differences between various geographical areas. For comparison, the radiative forcing of Pinatubo's 1991 eruption was about a seventh of that of the Samalas eruption. Sea surface temperatures too decreased by 0.3–2.2 °C (0.54–3.96 °F), triggering changes in the ocean circulations. Ocean temperature and salinity changes may have lasted for a decade. Precipitation and evaporation both decreased, evaporation reduced more than precipitation.

Volcanic eruptions can also deliver bromine and chlorine into the stratosphere, where they contribute to the breakdown of ozone through their oxides chlorine monoxide and bromine monoxide. While most bromine and chlorine erupted would have been scavenged by the eruption column and thus would not have entered the stratosphere, the quantities that have been modelled for the Samalas halogen release (227 ± 18 million tonnes of chlorine and up to 1.3 ± 0.3 million tonnes of bromine) would have reduced stratospheric ozone although only a small portion of the halogens would have reached the stratosphere. One hypothesis is that the resulting increase in ultraviolet radiation on the surface of Earth may have led to widespread immunosuppression in human populations, explaining the onset of epidemics in the years following the eruption.

### Climate effects in various areas

Samalas, along with the 1452/1453 mystery eruption and the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, was one of the strongest cooling events in the last millennium, even more so than at the peak of the Little Ice Age. After an early warm winter 1257–1258 resulting in the early flowering of violets according to reports from the Kingdom of France, European summers were colder after the eruption, and winters were long and cold.

The Samalas eruption came after the Medieval Climate Anomaly, a period early in the last millennium with unusually warm temperatures, and at a time when a period of climate stability was ending, with earlier eruptions in 1108, 1171, and 1230 already having upset global climate. Subsequent time periods displayed increased volcanic activity until the early 20th century. The time period 1250–1300 was heavily disturbed by volcanic activity from four eruptions in 1230, 1257, 1276 and 1286, and is recorded by a moraine from a glacial advance on Disko Island, although the moraine may indicate a pre-Samalas cold spell. These volcanic disturbances along with positive feedback effects from increased ice may have started the Little Ice Age even without the need for changes in solar radiation, though this theory is not without disagreement. The Little Ice Age was a period of several centuries during the last millennium during which global temperatures were depressed; the cooling was associated with volcanic eruptions.

Other inferred effects of the eruption are:

- The most negative Southern Annular Mode excursion of the last millennium. The Southern Annular Mode is a climatic phenomenon in the Southern Hemisphere that governs rainfall and temperatures there and is usually fairly insensitive towards external factors such as volcanic eruptions, greenhouse gases and the effects of insolation variations.
- Effects of volcanic eruptions on the El Niño-Southern Oscillation have been debated. Onset of El Niño conditions during a climate period where La Niña was more common, as the eruption may have induced a moderate to strong El Niño event. Climate proxies such as a wet year in the Western United States endorse the occurrence of an El Niño event in the year after the Samalas eruption, while temperature records from corals at Palmyra Atoll indicate that no El Niño was triggered.
- A short-term decrease of the intensity of tropical cyclones caused by a change of the atmospheric temperature structure. Paleotempestology research in the Atlantic however suggests that the effect of the 13th century volcanic eruptions may have been to redistribute the occurrence of hurricanes rather than reducing their frequency.
- Changes in the Atlantic subpolar circulation and a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation which lasted long after the eruption, possibly aiding in the onset of the Little Ice Age as well.
- A sea level drop in the Crusader states of about 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in), perhaps associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation. Global sea level declined after the Samalas eruption, followed by a recovery between 1250-1400.
- A modification of the North Atlantic oscillation, causing it to first acquire positive and later, in the subsequent decades, more negative values. A beginning decrease in solar activity as part of the Wolf minimum in the solar cycle contributed to the later decline.
- A stronger East Asian winter monsoon, leading to colder sea surface temperatures in the Okinawa Trough.
- A brief but noticeable excitation in the climate pattern known as the "Pacific Meridional Mode".
- A decline in moisture availability in Europe.
- Warmer winters in the Northern Hemisphere continents owing to changes in the polar vortex and the Arctic Oscillation.
- Anomalies in δ18O patterns around the world.
- Changes in the terrestrial carbon cycle.
- The onset of Bond event 0 and a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone that led to changes in precipitation patterns in India.
- A notable weakening of the Indian Summer Monsoon and of atmospheric pressure gradients in the eastern Mediterranean, causing a shutdown of the summertime Etesian winds over Greece.
- An abrupt onset of cooling phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability.

Other regions such as Alaska were mostly unaffected. There is little evidence that tree growth was influenced by cold in what is now the Western United States, where the eruption may have interrupted a prolonged drought period. The climate effect in Alaska may have been moderated by the nearby ocean. In 1259, Western Europe and the west coastal North America had mild weather and there is no evidence for summer precipitation changes in Central Europe. Tree rings do not show much evidence of precipitation changes.

## Social and historical consequences

The eruption led to global disaster in 1257–1258. Very large volcanic eruptions can cause significant human hardship, including famine, away from the volcano due to their effect on climate. The social effects are often reduced by the resilience of humans; thus there is often uncertainty about casual links between volcano-induced climate variations and societal changes at the same time.

### Lombok Kingdom and Bali (Indonesia)

Western and central Indonesia at the time were divided into competing kingdoms that often built temple complexes with inscriptions documenting historical events. However, little direct historical evidence of the consequences of the Samalas eruption exists. The Babad Lombok describe how villages on Lombok were destroyed during the mid-13th century by ash, gas and lava flows, and two additional documents known as the Babad Sembalun and Babad Suwung may also reference the eruption. They are also – together with other texts – the source of the name "Samalas" while the name "Suwung" – "quiet and without life" – may, in turn, be a reference to the aftermath of the eruption.

> Mount Rinjani avalanched and Mount Samalas collapsed, followed by large flows of debris accompanied by the noise coming from boulders. These flows destroyed Pamatan. All houses were destroyed and swept away, floating on the sea, and many people died. During seven days, big earthquakes shook the Earth, stranded in Leneng, dragged by the boulder flows, People escaped and some of them climbed the hills.

The city of Pamatan, capital of a kingdom on Lombok, was destroyed, and both disappeared from the historical record. The royal family survived the disaster according to the Javanese text, which also mentions reconstruction and recovery efforts after the eruption, and there is no clear-cut evidence that the kingdom itself was destroyed by the eruption, as the history there is poorly known in general. Thousands of people died during the eruption although it is possible that the population of Lombok fled before the eruption. In Bali the number of inscriptions dropped off after the eruption, and Bali and Lombok may have been depopulated by it, possibly for generations, allowing King Kertanegara of Singhasari on Java to conquer Bali in 1284 with little resistance. It might have taken about a century for Lombok to recover from the eruption. The western coast of Sumbawa was depopulated and remains so to this day; presumably the local populace viewed the area devastated by the eruption as "forbidden" and this memory persisted until recent times.

### Oceania and New Zealand

Historical events in Oceania are usually poorly dated, making it difficult to assess the timing and role of specific events, but there is evidence that between 1250 and 1300 there were crises in Oceania, for example at Easter Island, which may be linked with the beginning of the Little Ice Age and the Samalas eruption. Around 1300, settlements in many places of the Pacific relocated, perhaps because of a sea level drop that occurred after 1250, and the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo has been linked to small drops in sea level.

Climate change triggered by the Samalas eruption and the beginning of the Little Ice Age may have led to people in Polynesia migrating southwestward in the 13th century. The first settlement of New Zealand most likely occurred 1230–1280 AD and the arrival of people there and on other islands in the region may reflect such a climate-induced migration.

### Europe, Near East and Middle East

Contemporary chronicles in Europe mention unusual weather conditions in 1258. Reports from 1258 in France and England indicate a dry fog, giving the impression of a persistent cloud cover to contemporary observers. Medieval chronicles say that in 1258, the summer was cold and rainy, causing floods and bad harvests, with cold from February to June. Frost occurred in the summer 1259 according to Russian chronicles. In Europe and the Middle East, changes in atmospheric colours, storms, cold, and severe weather were reported in 1258–1259, with agricultural problems extending to North Africa. In Europe, excess rain, cold and high cloudiness damaged crops and caused famines followed by epidemics, although 1258–1259 did not lead to famines as bad as some other famines such as the Great Famine of 1315–17.

`In Northwestern Europe, the effects included crop failure, famine, and weather changes. A famine in London has been linked to this event; this food crisis  was not extraordinary and there were issues with harvests already before the eruption. The famine occurred at a time of political crisis between King Henry III of England and the English magnates. Witnesses reported a death toll of 15,000 to 20,000 in London. A mass burial of famine victims was found in the 1990s in the centre of London. Matthew Paris of St Albans described how until mid-August 1258, the weather alternated between cold and strong rain, causing high mortality.`

The resulting famine was severe enough that grain was imported from Germany and Holland. The price for cereal increased in Britain, France, and Italy. Outbreaks of disease occurred during this time in the Middle East and England. During and after the winter of 1258–59, exceptional weather was reported less commonly, but the winter of 1260–61 was very severe in Iceland, Italy, and elsewhere. The disruption caused by the eruption may have influenced the onset of the Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266 in Iberia. The cities of Bologna and Siena in Italy attempted to manage the food crisis by buying and subsidizing grain, banning its export and limiting its price. The city of Como in northern Italy repaired river banks that had been damaged by flooding, and acquired grain for its consumption. The Flagellant movement, which is first recorded in Italy in 1260, may have originated in the social distress caused by the effects of the eruption, though warfare and other causes probably played a more important role than natural events.

#### Long-term consequences in Europe and the Near East

Over the long term, the cooling of the North Atlantic and sea ice expansion therein may have impacted the societies of Greenland and Iceland by restraining navigation and agriculture, perhaps allowing further climate shocks around 1425 to end the existence of the Norse settlement in Greenland. Another possible longer-term consequence of the eruption was the Byzantine Empire's loss of control over western Anatolia, because of a shift in political power from Byzantine farmers to mostly Turkoman pastoralists in the area. Colder winters caused by the eruption would have impacted agriculture more severely than pastoralism.

### Four Corners region, North America

The 1257 Samalas eruption took place during the Pueblo III Period in southwestern North America, during which the Mesa Verde region on the San Juan River was the site of the so-called cliff dwellings. Several sites were abandoned after the eruption. The eruption took place during a time of decreased precipitation and lower temperatures and when population was declining. The Samalas eruption was one among several eruptions during this period which may have triggered climate stresses such as a colder climate, which in turn caused strife within the society of the Ancestral Puebloans; possibly they left the northern Colorado Plateau as a consequence.

### Altiplano, South America

In the Altiplano of South America, a cold and dry interval between 1200 and 1450 has been associated with the Samalas eruption and the 1280 eruption of Quilotoa volcano in Ecuador. The use of rain-fed agriculture increased in the area between the Salar de Uyuni and the Salar de Coipasa despite the climatic change, implying that the local population effectively coped with the effects of the eruption.

### East Asia

Problems were also recorded in China, Japan, and Korea. In Japan, the Azuma Kagami chronicle mentions that rice paddies and gardens were destroyed by the cold and wet weather, and the so-called Shôga famine – which among other things stimulated the Japanese religious reformer Nichiren – may have been aggravated by bad weather in 1258 and 1259. Monsoon anomalies triggered by the Samalas eruption may have also impacted Angkor Wat in present-day Cambodia, which suffered a population decline at that time. Other effects of the eruption included a total darkening of the Moon in May 1258 during a lunar eclipse, a phenomenon also recorded from Europe; volcanic aerosols reduced the amount of sunlight scattered into Earth's shadow and thus the brightness of the eclipsed Moon.

#### Mongol Empire

Increased precipitation triggered by the eruption may have facilitated the Mongol invasions of the Levant but later the return of the pre-Samalas climate would have reduced the livestock capacity of the region, thus reducing their military effectiveness and paving the way to their military defeat in the Battle of Ain Jalut. The effects of the eruption, such as famines, droughts and epidemics may also have hastened the decline of the Mongol Empire, although the volcanic event is unlikely to have been the sole cause. It may have altered the outcome of the Toluid Civil War and shifted its centre of power towards the Chinese part dominated by Kublai Khan which was more adapted to cold winter conditions.

## See also

- Massive explosive eruptions

Volcanic eruption in Indonesia