On this day 20 May 1992 (Exactly 28 years ago today) Ronald Koeman’s goal in the second half of extra time gave Barcelona victory over Sampdoria and their first ever European Cup trophy at the Wembley in London.
For the first time in the Club’s history, FC Barcelona claimed the European Cup with a 1-0 victory after extra time over Italian side. .
It was the third time they had reached the final following the disappointments of Berne in 1961 and Seville in 1986. In 1992 the team, coached at the time by Johan Cruyff, ended that run of defeats in the final thanks to Ronald Koeman’s goal in the 111th minute of the game.
His fantastic right footed drive has rightly earned its place in the Club’s history books.
“Right away I realised that the ball flew from my boot with tremendous force and pace. Then I heard the explosion and saw it fly into the Italian net. It was spectacular, really, when I scored I had goosebumps,” confessed the Dutchman after the game.
The year that the city of Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games, Barça brought their first European Cup back to the Club’s museum.
It was the first to have a group stage involving the eight second-round winners split into two groups, and the winner of each one met in the final. In doing so, they became the second Spanish club to win the tournament and the 19th overall.
Barcelona: Andoni Zubizarreta; Albert Ferrer, Ronald Koeman, Nando; Eusebio, Josep Guardiola/Jose Ramon Alexanko, Juan Carlos; Mari Bakero, Michael Laudrup; Julio Salinas/Andoni Goikoetxea, Hristo Stoichkov.
Manager: Johan Cruyff (Netherlands)
Sampdoria: Gianluca Pagliuca; Moreno Mannini, Pietro Vierchowod, Marco Lanna, Srecko Katanec; Attilio Lombardo, Fausto Pari, Toninho Cerezo, Ivano Bonetti/Giovanni Ivernizzi; Gianluca Vialli/Renato Buso, Roberto Mancini.
Manager: Vujadin Boškov (Yugoslavia)
Attendance: 70,827
Referee: Aron Schmidhuber (Germany)
On this day 20 May 1998 (Exactly 22 years ago today) Real Madrid beat Juventus at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam to claim their seventh European Cup.
Juventus appeared in their third consecutive final, while Real Madrid were in their first of the Champions League era. Real Madrid won 1–0, the only goal scored by Predrag Mijatović, to clinch their seventh European title, their first for 32 years.
The two teams faced each other in the final again in 2017 in Cardiff; Real Madrid won 4–1.
On this day 20 May 2000 (Exactly 20 years ago today) A blunder by Aston Villa goalkeeper David James handed Chelsea victory in the last FA Cup final to be played under Wembley’s Twin Towers.
Gianfranco Zola’s free-kick from deep on the left was fumbled by James as he went up to meet it, gifting the Blues’ Roberto di Matteo after 72 minutes – in the 72nd Wembley FA Cup clash
This was the last final to be played at Wembley before it was torn down to make way for a new redeveloped national stadium.
Di Matteo’s strike put to rights a controversially disallowed goal for Dennis Wise 16 minutes earlier and rewarded Chelsea for a second half that they dominated from the 50th minute
Wembley Stadium closed five months later, and was subsequently rebuilt. The FA Cup Final was played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff for the next six years, before returning to Wembley in 2007.
Aston Villa: James, Barry, Southgate, Ehiogu, Wright, Boateng, Taylor, Merson, Delaney, Dublin, Carbone.
Subs: Joachim, Hendrie, Stone, Samuel, Enckelman.
Chelsea: de Goey, Babayaro, Leboeuf, Desailly, Melchiot, Deschamps, Di Matteo, Poyet, Wise, Zola, Weah.
Subs: Flo, Morris, Cudicini, Terry, Harley.
Referee: Graham Poll
On this day 20 May 1983 (Exactly 37 years ago today) American heavyweight boxer Larry Holmes beat countryman Tim Witherspoon by split decision to retain his WBC title at the Dunes Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas
On this day 20 May 1985 (Exactly 35 years ago today) Larry Holmes beat Carl Williams in 15 rounds by unanimous decision at the Lawlor Events Center, Reno, Nevada, U.S.A to retain his IBF, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight titles
On this day 20 May 2018 (Exactly 2 year ago today) Rafael Nadal survived a stunning fightback from Alexander Zverev to win a record eighth Italian Open.
Nadal cruised to the first set before defending champion Zverev won nine of the next 11 games to take the second set 6-1 and lead 3-1 in the decider.
But the Spaniard turned the match around following a lengthy rain delay and closed out a 6-1 1-6 6-3 victory.
By: George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah
