Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain is a rare matchup in the competition.
The two sides have never faced off against each other, and they have differing pedigrees in the Champions League. Inter Milan has won the competition three times — most recently in 2010 — while PSG has never raised the trophy, last appearing in a final in 2020.
Besides the on-pitch unfamiliarity between the two sides, Saturday marks the first Champions League final since 2004 that won’t feature a side from England, Spain or Germany. That year, Portuguese club FC Porto defeated French club AS Monaco 3-0, giving manager José Mourinho his first Champions League crown.
Here’s a look back at what the world looked like surrounding that final — May 26, 2004.
Sports’ biggest names in different stages
Neither club’s respective top scorer in the 2025 competition — Ousmane Dembélé for PSG, Lautaro Martínez for Inter — was yet 10 years old when Porto won the Champions League. Going a step further, no current player on Inter or PSG had even started his senior career.
Some of the other big names across world soccer were in a similar position.
Lionel Messi hadn’t appeared in a senior game for Barcelona yet. Cristiano Ronaldo had just completed his first season with Manchester United, notching four goals and four assists over 29 matches. Barcelona star Lamine Yamal, who scored a goal against Inter in this season’s semifinals, wouldn’t be born for another three years.
Usher dominating the charts
Usher earned one of his nine career No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits a week before Porto won the Champions League. “Burn” leaped from No. 3 to the top, overtaking another of the Super Bowl LVIII’s halftime performer’s tracks for the spot: “Yeah!” featuring Ludacris and Lil Jon.
That track moved down to No. 3, behind Mario Winans’ “I Don’t Wanna Know.” “Burn” spent eight weeks at No. 1, making it one of Usher’s longest-grossing tracks to lead the charts. It was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 47th Grammy Awards.
‘Shrek 2’ in midst of strong run
The first sequel to the 2001 film, “Shrek 2” released on May 19, 2004, and became the hottest film of the year. It grossed a whopping $929,097,647 worldwide and received two nominations for the 77th Academy Awards: Animated Feature Film plus Music (Original Song).
“Shrek 2” also was nominated for two awards at the 47th Grammy Awards: Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, plus Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media.
NBA playoffs boast familiar sides
The final four of the 2004 NBA playoffs included two teams in similar stages this postseason — the Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Neither team went on to the NBA Finals. Minnesota didn’t reach that stage of the playoffs again until last season.
The day of the Champions League final, the Detroit Pistons defeated the Pacers to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Detroit would close the matchup out in six games. Minnesota had lost the day before, with the Los Angeles Lakers also taking a 2-1 series lead and then winning in six.
‘Friends’ finale airs
The finale of the iconic sitcom “Friends” ran on May 6, 2004, to the tune of 52.5 million viewers, the fourth-most watched finale in U.S. television history, according to IMDB. Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing, ad-libbed the final line of the series: “where?”
Titled “The Last One,” the two-part episode was one of two in the series that didn’t start with “The One…” The other was “The Pilot.”
