Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid flashpoint opened up Bolton Wanderers wound | OneFootball

The 2004 League Cup final was decided by a Boudewijn Zenden penalty that, in retrospect and in the modern day, should and would now be disallowed.

Last week, Real Madrid defeated city rivals Atletico Madrid in a controversial penalty shootout to reach the quarter-finals of this season’s UEFA Champions League.

The reason for it being controversial would be for the ‘double touch’ of Julian Alvarez for his spot-kick, which was picked up by VAR and eventually disallowed – with many questioning the rule as to why it shouldn’t just be a retake.

The disallowed penalty, though, opened up some wounds for Bolton Wanderers supporters and brought back memories of the 2004 League Cup final when the Trotters lost to Middlesbrough at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.

It was the glory days of Bolton in the modern era and all it really missed was a major trophy and Boudewijn Zenden’s now illegal penalty is what many will now fairly believe cost them that illusive trophy.

The Zenden penalty and Bolton’s heartache

After a stellar run to the final which included a 3-2 victory at Anfield against Liverpool, the team that defeated second-tier Bolton in the 1994 final of the same competition, as well as a 5-2 demolition of Aston Villa in the first-leg of the semi-final, Bolton were looking to add to their trophy cabinet that boasted four FA Cups and a Charity Shield.

Middlesbrough, under the management of Steve McClaren, though, denied Wanderers their Cardiff triumph, and it was instead the Teessiders who managed to win their first ever piece of silverware.

‘Boro raced into a 2-0 lead inside seven minutes with Joseph-Desire Job opening the scoring after two minutes before Zenden’s seventh-minute penalty. Kevin Davies pulled a goal back less than 15 minutes later, but Wanderers couldn’t break down the Middlesbrough defence to bring parity.

In a game that saw two teams of utmost so-called ‘Barclaysmen’, it was Middlesbrough who would take home a major honour, but Wanderers fans will forever feel aggrieved with Zenden’s aforementioned penalty being a clear ‘double touch’. A penalty that, without the double touch, was surely heading the way of Jussi Jaaskelainen, who still managed to get a foot to it.

If the game was played with the same rules today and VAR in place, then Middlesbrough wouldn’t have extended their lead and the fate of that final could have been so different.

Big Sam’s Boltonian ‘Galacticos’

Between 2004 and 2008, Bolton finished in the top eight of the top-flight for four successive seasons, had two qualifications for the UEFA Cup and plenty of memorable moments, but the lack of a trophy will sting a little bit.

Bolton had special teams and times in the 1920s and the 1950s but, in terms of the modern day, nothing comes close to the 2000s and marking it with major silverware would have meant so much.

Wanderers, now in the third-tier of English football having been through near liquidation as well as administration and a trip down to League Two, haven’t won major honours since the 1958 FA Cup win against Manchester United.

A couple of FA Cup semi-final appearances aside, their best chance came in the League Cup in both 1994 and 2004, but on both occasions they were beaten 2-1 in the final – the second of which they were the favourites for and, especially now upon reflection, they were so cruelly denied in.