Alaves are best remembered for losing a nine-goal thriller with Liverpool in the 2001 UEFA Cup final but after years in the wilderness the Basques have another showpiece game in their sights.
Alaves are best remembered for losing a nine-goal thriller with Liverpool in the 2001 UEFA Cup final but after years in the wilderness the Basques have another showpiece game in their sights.
After knocking out Gimnastic de Tarragona, Deportivo La Coruna and Alcorcon, only Celta Vigo stand in the way of a first ever domestic final for the club from Vitoria, the administrative capital of Spain's Basque country.
Celta are favourites to go through after knocking out Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, although Alaves have the advantage of playing the second leg at their Mendizorroza stadium.
They have also developed a knack for causing surprises this season, their first back in the top flight for a decade.
Mauricio Pellegrino's side grabbed a draw at Atletico Madrid on the opening day with a stoppage-time equaliser and three weeks later stunned the Nou Camp by winning 2-1 at champions Barcelona.
Last weekend they outplayed Atletico and were desperately unlucky not to beat them, visiting boss Diego Simeone admitting the Basques were superior in every aspect.
"We're very excited about the semi-final because of how we have done so far this season," said captain Manu Garcia, a locally born player who has been with the team since 2012 when they were in Spain's regionalised third tier.
"The city and the fans are thrilled and as we've got this far we want to do everything we can to go through, as getting to the final would be historic for the city and huge for the club's growth."
Alaves have one of the smallest budgets in the league, their squad costing a mere 6.5 million euros ($6.9 million) to assemble, with many players on loan contracts, such as exciting left back Theo Hernandez of Atletico, holding midfielder Marcos Llorente of Real Madrid and Levante pair Deyverson and Victor Camarasa.
The borrowed talent has been supplemented by experienced hands such as Garcia and former Athletic Bilbao forwards Gaizka Toquero and Ibai Gomez, the latter scoring both goals that saw off Alcorcon 2-0 on aggregate in the quarter-final.
The club have developed a marketing campaign to build excitement for the semi-final, plastering the slogan "This is our moment" all over their website and social media channels, trying to recreate the feeling around their thrilling run to the only final in their 96-year history.
UNIQUE MOMENT
Coached by Basque Jose Manuel Esnal, better known as Mane, Alaves lit up the 2000-01 UEFA Cup with a swashbuckling style of play, reaching the final by scoring 31 goals and conceding 15 in 12 games, knocking out Inter Milan in the last 16 5-2 on aggregate and blitzing Germany's Kaiserslautern 9-2 in the semis.
The showpiece with Liverpool in Dortmund bucked a tradition of cagey European finals, the Basques clawing back from 3-1 and 4-3 down before Jordi Cruyff forced extra-time with an 88th- minute equaliser.
A penalty shootout was four minutes away until defender Delfi Geli headed a Gary McAllister free kick into his own goal, ending their European adventure.
The team's path to the last four of the Cup may have been less dramatic and owed a lot to defensive discipline, their progress down to defending well and avoiding the top sides in the draw, but the epic 2001 final was still fresh in the memory of Pellegrino in Wednesday's news conference.
"Having the possibility of playing the second final in the club's entire history is a huge responsibility, it's a unique moment," he said.
"We feel enormous hope and huge motivation and will prepare for it as best as we can."
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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