And his agent Alain Migliaccio conceded: “If Juve doesn’t want it Zidane won’t leave.”

On this day, just 12 days after Juve’s emphatic denial, Zinedine Zidane joined Real Madrid for £45.8m, making him the most expensive player in the history of football at that time.

“It is a great honour to come here to this great club,” Zidane said at Real’s presentation, before being handed the club’s famous all-white shirt by the club’s honorary president Di Stefano.

“I think that after five years at Juventus it was the right time to make a move and I hope that I will be able to do as well if not better than I did at Juventus.”

The Frenchman was club president Florentino Perez’s second ‘galactico’ signing after Luis Figo the year before, and the following summer the original Ronaldo also joined as Perez went on a spending spree that was unprecedented at the time.

Perez said: “Real Madrid was recently voted the best club in the world by Fifa and for that we must have the best players in the world.

“Zidane is one of those and we have no doubt that he will shine even more in Madrid than previously.”

He added: “Next year we want a great team for our centenary so that the fans can be both entertained and enjoy the football.

“We are building the Real Madrid of the 21st century. The arrival of Zidane is good for all Spanish fans who have the right to see the best players so that the Spanish league can be the best league in Europe.

“We are all happy, including the player, that Zidane is here and joining the great family that is Real Madrid.”

Perez and the Madrid fans were even happier at the 2002 European Cup Final when the investment in Zidane at least partially paid off when he struck the winner to give Real the trophy in their centenary season.

Zizou spent five seasons at the Bernabeu and also won La Liga in his time with the Spanish giants before he bowed, or butted, out from football altogether in 2006 – coincidentally, also on this day.

AND IT’S GOODBYE FROM US

Well folks, after two years and more than 700 articles on football’s glorious and sometimes not-so-glorious history, we are going to take a break for the moment. Our content will still be available to search through if you want to look up your club or favourite player and see what we have on them (Newcastle fans – we have loads!), and we have some other ideas about fresh football-based fun we might be bringing you soon.

In the meantime, thanks for visiting and reading our ramblings everyday, without that we may as well have been sitting in the pub telling each other these tales.

Enjoy the summer, and we hope that next season your club gets promoted, doesn’t get relegated, wins the FA Cup/European Cup/Johnstone’s Paint Trophy or just avoids going bust.

We’ll leave you with one of our favourite football quotes ever, and surprising, it’s not from OTFD favourite Kevin Keegan. Instead we turn to the wise words of former Partick Thistle manager John Lambie. George Shaw, one of Lambie’s strikers, collided with an opposition player and was knocked out cold. When he came round the trainer said to the manager: “Boss he’s got concussion, he doesn’t know who he is.” Lambie replied: “Tell him he’s Pele and send him back on.”

Rob and Joe
OTFD
July 2009.

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Just as four years previously at Mexico 86, Argentina faced West Germany, who had got past England on penalties in the semi-final to reach the show piece game.

While Italia 90 had plenty of great moments and enduring images, it had very few goals and with just a 2.21 goal-per-game average it is also the lowest scoring World Cup tournament in history.

Sadly, the final was in the same vein and never really got going, eventually being decided by just the one goal. Maradona, the hero of 1986 for Argentina, was no longer his win-a-match-single-handed old self and despite plenty of support from the Italian fans who worshipped him when playing for Napoli, he was not the same force he had been in Mexico.

After a pretty poor match it fell to Andreas Brehme to score the winner after 85 minutes from the penalty spot for the Germans to avenge their defeat four years earlier. And just when some excitement was threatening to break out with extra time or even a shoot-out. Spoil sport.

Still, for stat fans everywhere, the 1990 final did have a couple of ‘firsts’. When Pedro Monzón was sent off after 64 minutes he became the first player ever to see red in the World Cup Final.

He was followed shortly afterwards by his compatriot Gustavo Dezotti who was given a second yellow just three minutes from time.

ANother sorry stat for the Argentines was the fact that they became the first finalists not to score in the big game.

The Germans were managed by Der Kaiser himself Franz Beckenbauer. He became one of two men (with Mario Zagallo) to have won the Cup as player and as coach, and the only man to have won the title as team captain as well as coach.

Have a look at the key moments below, or check this out for one of the most shocking fouls and refereeing decisions in World Cup history.

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One of the reasons they were able to do it was the prolific strike partnership of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton, both signed for record fees from Southampton and Norwich respectively.

Sutton scored 15 Premiership goals that season as his ‘SAS’ striek duo ran defences ragged up and down the country.

But the following season was a complete contrast for Sutton as he failed to score even one league goal and had a succession of injuries.

In 1996 he lost his strike partner when Alan Shearer left for Newcastle in a £15m deal, and on this day in 1999 Sutton got his own big money move when he signed for Chelsea for £10m.

“It’s very important coming to Chelsea now,” said Sutton. “There was a feeling about the place when I first joined Blackburn five years ago and there’s a similar one here.

“I was keen to get signed as quickly as possible. Chelsea have got some very experienced players and hopefully I can blend in here.”

In a reference to revered Chelsea forwards like Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke, Sutton said: “There’s been many cult figures over the years and I just hope I can emulate those who have come here. This is a new start for me. I couldn’t have come to a better club.”

Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli said: “He can be a tough player on the pitch, which is something sometimes that we missed last season and he’s got a great personality.

“Sutton is not a cheap player – £10 million is a lot of money – but I think sometimes you have to spend money if you want to improve the team. When Casiraghi got injured we were playing great football, but sometimes we were not scoring enough goals and I think we were lacking some aerial ability.”

At Blackburn, the chief executive John Williams said Rovers had been “determined to secure the best possible financial deal for the club. We now feel we have achieved that goal, the £10 million doubling the then British record fee we paid to Norwich City for the player some five years ago.”

The move would turn out to be a shrewd one . . . for Blackburn. Sutton never looked at ease in the Chelsea team, or with his massive price tag and it soon became a millstone around his neck as he struggled in the team. In 28 appearances for the Blues that season he scored just one solitary league goal.

Chelsea decided to cut their losses on him and amazingly found a club willing to pay £6m for him in the summer of 2000 when Celtic took him to Glasgow.

He had a much happier time north of the border and the goals started to come back. In 2004 he was even voted SPFA Player of the Year. But he will always be remembered by the Stamford Bridge faithful as a £10m flop.

Given that his best moments in a Chelsea shirt were few and far between, we’ll leave you with some footage of his time with Celtic. Until next time folks….

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In the return leg, they won 7-1 just to prove it was no fluke.

They went into the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland as heavy favourites for the crown and they marched through the early group games with ease, and disposed of Brazil and Uruguay in the quarter and semi-finals respectively to reach the final, on this day.

Waiting for them was West Germany. The Hungarians had already beaten the Germans 8-3 in the group game, but not needing to win, the Germans had fielded a reserve side. The result lulled the Hungarians into a massive false sense of security over the true strength of the German team.

Even so, the Magyars were still expected to turn the Germans over with relative ease, and it looked like it would become embarrassing for the Germans when Ferenc Puskas, playing despite not being fully fit, and Zoltán Czibor put the Magyars 2-0 up in the opening eight minutes.

But then the Germans hit back and were level before 20 minutes had been played. The two sides went in for half time at 2-2.

After the break the Hungarians poured forward looking for the winner, but each time they were foiled by the German defence, especially goalkeeper Toni Turek who pulled off a series of excellent saves.

With six minutes left and the Hungarians still desperately trying to score, the Germans produced a sucker-punch when Helmut Rahn scored from 20 yards out.

Puskas thought he had equalised just two minutes from time but the goal was ruled out for offisde.

The Germans held on to win and seal one of the biggest upsets in international football. So stunned were the Germans they still call the match ‘the miracle of berne’.

Much like Kenneth Wolstenholme 12 years later, commentator Herbert Zimmermann captured the moment perfectly and became something of a celebrity in his own right. “Call me crazy, call me nuts! Rahn has to shoot from the background, Rahn shoots – goal, goal, goal! Over! Over! Over! The game is over! Germany are World Champions, beat Hungary 3-2!”

More tomorrow folks, so keep it real, keep it OTFD.

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One team in the competition eschewed these virtues like no other and on this day, Cameroon played out perhaps the best match of the finals with England.

Their World Cup story was already a fairy tale, with 38-year-old veteran Roger Milla at it’s heart. Having stunned the World Champions Argentina by beating them in their opening match, the Indomitable Lions also picked off Romania and Columbia (both 2-1) to earn their place in the last eight.

Meanwhile England had scraped through, helped by a late, late show by David Platt against Belgium in the previous match.

After an early chance for Francois Omam, the African team began to dominate but then in the 25th minute, against the run of play England opened the scoring – a bullet header from David Platt from a Stuart Pearce cross.

The match got to half time with no further goals and all the fans wondering when they would see goal-hero Milla. They didn’t have to wait long. He came on after the break and with an hour played he won a penalty. Emmanuel Kunde dispatched it. 1-1.

Now they had the momentum and were soon in front, Milla setting up Eugene Ekeke for 2-1. And how they deserved it.

But England were not done yet and with seven minutes left Gary Lineker came to the rescue again and scored a penalty to take the match into extra time.

In the 105th minute, joy for England and heartbreak for Cameroon when they conceded another penalty and Lineker made no mistake from the spot.

By now the Africans were spent and simply did not have the legs to have another go at England. The Three Lions were through to the semis, the Indomitable Lions had just enough energy in them at the final whistle to do a lap of the stadium as the crowd voiced their appreciation for the most exciting team of the tournament.

England boss Bobby Robson, who had apparently been told by his scouts before the match that Cameroon would pose no threat and that he basically had a bye into the semis, said: “Everybody had a bit of sympathy for Cameroon today – I know I did. We got in front with a good goal, a wonderful goal, but at the time they were the better team. And when they went ahead they were the better team. But we pulled it out of the fire.”

Goal scorer David Platt added: “It was a difficult game – they were strong and athletic, although tactically naïve at times. We weren’t surprised by them because they had done very well but we did expect to win.”

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But it wasn’t over and whatever Germany fans might have thought about the trophy being theirs to lose after dispatching England in the semi-final, they still had to actually go and beat the impressive Czech Republic, who had got to the final in their first Euros since the breakup of Czechoslovakia.

The two teams lined up at Wembley on this day in a match that, as Beckenbauer said, felt like something of an anticlimax after the latest chapter of the England/Germany rivalry.

After a goalless first hlf, it was the underdog Czechs who drew first blood when Patrick Berger converted a penalty with an hour played.

They held on to the lead for less than a quarter of an hour and with just minutes remaining Bierhoff equalised for the Germans.

The teams could not be separated in 90 minutes and so the match went into extra time. On this occasion however, the Germans had no need for their legendary nerves of steel in penalty shoot-outs, as Oliver Bierhoff scored again to win the match, and the tournament, with a golden goal just five minutes in to the extra period. It was the first time a golden goal had been scored in any major tournament and it handed the Germans a third European Championship trophy.

If you’re English, there’s a good chance you couldn’t bring yourself to watch the match so have a look at the key moments below. If you’re German, you’ve almost certainly seen the goals before, but it never hurts to have another look does it?

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Guess what England fans? This was also the day of yet another heartbreaking defeat in a major tournament for the Three Lions! Read all about it right here you lucky old lot.

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There always has to be a man of the match and even after a 20-pass move with 10 players that ended in a simple tap in for the striker, it is the goal scorer who gets the plaudits.

Then there are the individual awards. Player of the season, for club, league, country etc, and then the really big hitters like the Ballon d’Or or the Golden Boot at the World Cup.

Today in 1999 former Chelsea favourite Gianfranco Zola was celebrating when he was the recipient of the one of the daftest-named awards in football, nay the world.

The pocket-sized Italian was the proud winner of the prestigious Golden Chair award. No, that is not the Wycombe Wanderers player of the year award, but rather the gong handed out to the best Italian footballer playing abroad and so-called because it is sponsored by firms in the northeast of Italy who produce most of Europe’s chairs. How brilliantly random. Italy’s top overseas stars better hope the award sponsorship deal is never taken on by a toilet manufacturer or a purveyor of manure.

A panel of judges declared the top 10 as: 1 Gianfranco Zola (Chelsea), 2 Benito Carbone (Sheffield Wednesday), 3 Lorenzo Amoruso (Rangers), 4 Fabrizio Ravanelli (Marseille), 5 Gianluca Vialli (Chelsea), 6 Amedeo Carboni (Valencia), 7 Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea), 8 Michele Serena (Atletico Madrid), 9 Gianluca Festa (Middlesbrough), 10 Marco Simone (Paris St Germain).

Zola arrived in England in 1996 from Parma and was an immediate hit with the Chelsea faithful, and even helped them win the FA Cup in his debut season, with a memorable goal against Liverpool as Chelsea came from 2-0 down to win 4-2.

In his seven years at Stamford Bridge Zola’s sublime skill and cartoon-sized smile won him the hearts of the supporters who, in 2003, voted him the best ever Chelsea player.

Sadly, we have not been able to find out whether Franco received an actual golden chair as part of his prize, or whether he has now installed said chair behind his desk in the managers office at Upton Park, but if he has (and we’d like to imagine that he has) perhaps he sits back in it and contemplates some of his best moments like these:

Of course now he his making a name for himself across the capital in East London as a bright managerial prospect, much as this man once was in Yorkshire. We’ll have more for you tomorrow sports fans, so check it out.

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For your international side the prospects are even worse, with only one chance every two years of winning anything. And even then the chances are tiny. No wonder we football fans are a melancholy lot.

And yet. We still love it. We still come back for more, time and again, knowing that the chances of failure far outweigh the chances of success. Why? Because just occasionally, very occasionally, something goes right, and precisely because of all the years of struggle and underachievement it feels amazing.

As a football fan you are supposed to suffer years and years of struggle and disappointment – it’s the only thing that makes winning every once in a while so good. That’s why you should never trust a Manchester United or Brazil fan. They don’t know what it’s like for the rest of us.

Today it is our pleasure here at OTFD to remind you of one of those days when it went right, for England fans at least. If you are Belgium you might want to look away now.

Today in 1990 England faced Belgium in Bologna, a place in the World Cup quarter-finals at stake. In the first half the Belgians seemed to have the edge as England looked a little off colour but as the break was looming the Three Lions got into gear and both Gary Lineker and John Barnes had goals disallowed, both marginal (wrong) calls.

The game hotted up in the second half as both sides pressed for a goal but it was Belgium who seemed to carry the greater threat as 90 minutes approached.

With no goals the game went to extra time and as so often happens, the pace slowed right down as the players on both sides tired and began to feel niggles and knocks all the more.

With the clock at 118 minutes and a penalty shoot-out just two minutes away, Paul Gascoigne went on one last run from midfield. Eric Gerets tracked him before bringing him down with the sort of tired challenge you see after such a long game.

Gazza chipped the ball into the area but it looked fairly harmless as it fell over David Platt’s shoulder but he somehow managed to turn with the ball to send a magnificent right footed volley back across goal and inside the far post.

Pandemonium. England had done it, as the commentator said, “in the last minute of extra time!” The players went mental, the fans went crazy, and even Bobby Robson did a little dance on the touchline.

It was sport at it’s dramatic best, especially if you were an England fan and more used to being on the wrong end of such results.

Of course, being England, there would be heartbreak before the tournament was out, but for a time, it was a glorious night to be an England fan, and those are all too rare.

Usually, being an England fan is more about this. More tomorrow folks, so until then, be cool and stay in school.

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Even football is not immune. Last year we had Ebbsfleet United taken over by the thousands of members of MyFootballClub.com who now vote online for important decisions like new signings. But Ebbsfleet were beaten to the public vote thang but Luton Town.

Today in 2003 the new owner of the Hatters, the shady John Gurney, conducted a bizarre telephone vote to decide on the new manager of the club.

Gurney had sacked the previous incumbent, the popular Joe Kinnear and his assistant Mick Harford upon taking the club over – a move that left most fans furious and bewildered.

When the votes were counted, the recently-sacked Hartlepool manager Mike Newell was announced as the winner, having beaten Kinnear by just four votes.

“The vote was much closer than we anticipated,” said Gurney. “I would now make an appeal for anyone connected the club to get behind the club.”

Newell said: “The supporters will have a big say in this club and I’ve got to win them over. The only way you do that is with results.

“But I not only have to win over the supporters, I have to win over the players as well. I can only do that by being honest with them and proving I’m capable of doing the job.”

It then emerged that the players had held a separate vote in which they backed Kinnear to return. Newell responded: added: “I think it’s a natural thing for the players to have stayed loyal to Joe and I understand that fully.

“I think if the same thing had happened to me at Hartlepool I would have been guaranteed the players’ vote as well.”

But, as we’ve learned to expect from public votes, there was something afoot. For a start, Newell was very much the outsider, with Kinnear expected to easily win the telephone vote after garnering a lot of support during his time as manager at the club, not least among fans who were unhappy at the way he was sacked.

Even allowing for malicious Watford fans backing Newell in the vote it seemed odd that the rank outsider had beaten the heavily fancies favourite. There were also suggestions that Newell had ben offered – and signed – a contract before the results were in.

But, such is football with its twists and turns, whether the vote was rigged or not, it turned out to be a pretty good appointment for the Kenilworth Road club.

Despite off-field and financial problems Newell steadied the ship in his first season, and then took the club up as champions the following term. He followed that up by finishing an excellent tenth place in his first season in the Championship before an increasingly loose-cannon mouth and a down turn in results got him the sack.

Still, it was a novel way to appoint a manager, but we wouldn’t want Simon Cowell or John Gurney near our club.

Also on this day, the Scots were taking a leaf out of England’s book with a heroic World Cup failure. More tomorrow folks, so keep it OTFD. And real. Obviously.

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Since they were adopted as a way of deciding a winner by both Fifa and Uefa in the 1970s, England have lost five games at major tournaments (and thus been knocked out) because of their inability to score from 12 yards.

The Three Lions have only ever won one penalty shoot-out in a major competition: against Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 96 at Wembley on this day.

England had gone into the game expected to sweep past the Spaniards, having destroyed Holland 4-1 in their previous match.

Spain were not the force they are now but England could not find a way past them in 120 minutes of football and with the score at 0-0 after extra time, the dreaded shoot-out followed.

Alan Shearer and David Platt both scored theirs, while Fernando Hierro missed his. Next up for England was Stuart Pearce. Psycho had been one of the players whose spot-kick was saved in the defeat to Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final in Italy, yet he didn’t hesitate for a moment before volunteering to do his duty.

The whole of England held their breath as he ran up to the ball and then buried it in the back of the net. His reaction was one of the most enduring images of the competition as he punched the air in angry celebration, sex years of hurt finally exorcised.

Miguel Nadal (uncle to Rafa Nadal) missed his kick while Gazza scored and for once, England had done it, and won a penalty shoot-out.

Sadly another one would follow in the next game, the semi-final to you-know-who when Pearce again scored but Gareth Southgate was not so lucky.

Also on this day, it seems some international players could still do with a refresher on the rules of football. More from us tomorrow, so see you then.

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Because he played his club football in Brazil and later the USA but never in Europe, most people associate Pele with the World Cup more than any other competition and for most people that was the only time they saw him play. Because of that, and the fact that he won it three times, no player is more closely associated with the biggest sporting event in the world than the brilliant Brazilian.

He was just 17 when he arrived in Sweden to play in the 1958 tournament and although his name was already known in football circles, it was the World Cup that really made him a household name.

It was on this day that he announced his arrival to the world when he scored his first ever World Cup goal. His strike was the only goal in a 1-0 win over Wales that gave Brazil a passage into the semi-finals.

At 17 years and 239 days he was the youngest goalscorer in World Cup history, but he wasn’t finished yet. In his next game against France Brazil were leading 2-1 when Pele made more history by netting a hat-trick.

In the final he bagged two more as hosts Sweden were swept aside 5-2. Brazil had won their first World Cup and the world had a new hero.

As for Wales, the team Pele’s first goal defeated, they were, along with Northern Ireland, participating in their first World Cup finals and both team did better than England by making it to the quarter-finals. Wales’s match against Brazil was their last game to date at a World Cup, having not qualified for one since.

Check out the story of another World Cup match from this day right here, and check us out again tomorrow for more football history.

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On this day in 2003, just six weeks after Perez’s emphatic denial, David Beckham signed for the Spanish giants in a £25m deal.

Becks was one of the golden generation of Manchester United players that came through the academy alongside the likes of Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers, and became the heartbeat of the team that dominated English football in the 1990s.

It was once unimaginable that Beckham would ever leave Old Trafford – he was a key figure for the club both on the field where many a striker benefited from his exceptional crosses from the right wing, and off it where United made a fortune in exploiting his marketability around the world.

But it was precisely this aspect of his life that began to rile Sir Alex Ferguson. While Becks was doing his utmost to cultivate his media presence alongside his celebrity Spice Girl wife and appearing in adverts for everything from aftershave to motor oil, Fergie expected his players to concentrate on the job in hand, namely playing football.

Rumours began to emerge that all was not well in the relationship between the manager and one of his star players and once the press got hold of the story, it was never going to die.

Much was made of the infamous incident when Fergie kicked a boot in a fit of pique after a bad game which hit Becks in the face, although is was probably just a freak accident.

Things began to get worse for Becks when his club took on Real Madrid in the Champions League. Fergie left Becks out of the starting line up for both legs of the tie, although he came on during the second leg at Old Trafford and was the best player on the pitch, even scoring despite Madrid turfing United out of the competition.

After that it seemed the writing was on the wall for Beck’s United career, despite repeated denials that Madrid were interested in him.

His potential transfer became the biggest issue in Spanish football as both Barcelona and Real Madrid battled for his signature.

Eventually Madrid won and Becks became the latest Galactico signing for Perez. The president who had to vehemently denied moving for Beckham said at the press conference: “Beckham is here because we believe in him as a footballer. David, welcome to the dream league. We love Beckham because he makes us the best team on and off the pitch.”

Meanwhile Beckham himself seemed to adopt the classic Brit-abroad approach to speaking to the Spanish people by sticking to the most basic of pronoucements. “I have always loved football,” he said.

“Of course I love my family. I have a wonderful life, but football is everything to me and joining Real Madrid is a dream come true.

“I would like to say thank you to everyone coming and joining me in my arrival. Gracias – hala Madrid!”

He must have though his move was a ticket to a hat-full of trophies as Real were the dominant force in Spain and in Europe at the time while Barcelona were in disarray and struggling in mid table.

If only. Madrid imploded while Barca rallied and Beckham won nothing with the club until the unlikely La Liga triumph in 2007 under Fabio Capello.

Have a look here to read about one of England’s best performances in the modern era, and come on back tomorrow for more footballing history hijinx.

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The Swede stepped in to take control after Kevin Keegan had overseen a dodgy start to the 2002 World Cup qualification campaign and while some top names in football including former England boss Glenn Hoddle were suggesting the 2002 tournament was perhaps already beyond England, Sven picked up the pieces and calmly masterminded the wins needed to get England to the finals – not least that night in Munich.

Once there, and buoyed by a jingoistic win over old foes Argentina, people began to believe this might be England’s year, particularly as many of the big names were knocked out early.

Could England go from being within a last-minute David Beckham free kick of not qualifying, to actually winning the tournament?

After coming through in second place in the group stage, England were drawn against Denmark for the second round match on this day, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.

Unusually for England, the match was a cake walk, with none of the trademark sloppy defending, heart-breaking near misses or penalty shoot-out misery.

In fact it took just five minutes for England to go ahead after a header from Rio Ferdinand was fumbled into the net by Danish keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Fifteen minutes later England doubled their lead when Nicky Butt, enjoying the form of his life in an England shirt, flicked on a Trevor Sinclair cross to Michael Owen who slotted home from close range for his first goal of the tournament.

It got even better just before half time when Emile Heskey latched on to a David Beckham ball and blasted the ball into the back of the net for 3-0. It was his last competitive goal for England until he netted against Kazakhstan just a few weeks ago.

England were cruising and, with it seemingly ‘job done’ the second half drifted to its conclusion with no more goals.

Eriksson was pleased with the result saying: Eriksson added: “Three nil is maybe too much but we won and we’re in the quarter-finals. In the second half we defended very well. Denmark had the ball a lot but didn’t create very much.”

Captain Beckham was keen to point out it had been a better performance than the 0-0 draw against Nigeria in the last group match. “We have done our job, played some great football, and in the second half we just made sure of it.

“I was pleased for Emile and Michael. It was nice for Michael to get his first goal of the competition. The whole team came in for a bit of stick after the last game. One person described it as awful but we have done a good job today.

“I’m not bothered if we get Brazil or Belgium. I want to play the best team and the best players. Both are good teams. Whoever we get we are in the quarter-finals and happy.”

The result did nothing to dampen the build up of expectation among England fans that this time they really could go all the way – stoked up by the media of course. The BBC’s Phil McNulty reported after the match: “The road to glory is open – and England’s journey is gathering an ominous momentum as the serious World Cup business begins.”

Of course, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Daivd Seaman would eventually rain on the parade when England again failed at the quarter-final hurdle.

England enjoyed another great victory on this day in 1996 when a bit of magic from Gazza sent Wembley wild.

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After a classic match with Brazil in the group stage, two wins in their other two matches ensured the Three Lions would be facing West Germany on this day in the quarter-final – the same team they had beaten four years earlier in the final.

Before the match Sir Alf’s team was dealt a major blow when Gordon Banks, first choice keeper and hero of the Brazil game for his incredible save from Pele, was ruled out with food poisoning.

Ramsey was heard to remark: “I still can’t believe it. Of all the players to lose, it had to be him.” He was right to be concerned – it would prove a decisive factor in the game.

In the match itself England were playing beautifully and seemed to have the game within their grasp after Alan Mullery and Martin Peters both scored to give them a 2-0 lead with just 25 minutes remaining.

But then disaster: Peter Bonetti, deputising for Banks in goal, let a speculative shot from Franz Beckenbauer to creep into the net, and suddenly the West Germans had a foothold back in the game.

They were hungry for revenge for the 1966 final and now their tails were up.

Ramsey reacted by bringing off Martin Peters and Bobby Charlton, thinking the game won, and wanting to save their legs for the semi-final. It proved a crucial mistake that handed the initiative back to Germany. Free from having to shadow Charlton, Beckenbauer was able to exert more influence on the game and with just eight minutes to go, his side forced an equaliser from Uwe Seeler.

Just like in ’66 England and West Germany would go into extra time, but this time it was the Germans who took control, and in the second period Gerd Muller volleyed home the winner from close range.

West Germany had pulled off a stunning comeback against the World Champions and England were out, their reign as holders of the Jules Rimet cup was over.

Bobby Charlton never played for England again, his final cap was his 106th – a record at the time, not that that provided any consolation.

Germany were knocked out in the semi-final by Italy, who themselves were beaten 4-1 in the final by Brazil.

Also on this day, Exeter City received a visit from their most famous fans. Read that here, and come back tomorrow for more from us to help fill the football shaped void that stretches before us all for the summer.

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Still, they do say a fool and his gold are soon parted, and what better club to start parting with it than Newcastle United? This once great club has become a byword for a joke, a shambles and generally a right old horlicks of a mess.

Every time you think they have sunk as low as they can, something else happens. This week, we had the most laughable attempt to sell a football club since, well, since the last time Ashley tried to sell it when he simply flew off to the Middle East and started hawking it around to anyone who would listen, which, as it turned out, wasn’t anyone.

Now Ashley has turned to the internet, and all you have to do is send your offer in to admin@nufc.co.uk and the club could be yours – provided you meet his ludicrously optimistic asking price. £100m? He’s dreaming.

It’s all a far cry from the glory days of the club, the very last of which came exactly 40 years ago today in 1969 when they won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – the forerunner to the Uefa Cup.

The final was a two-legged affair and the Magpies had given themselves every chance of winning it after a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Hungarian champions Ujpest Dozsa at St James’ Park two weeks earlier.

The second leg in Hungary was held today and by half time the Georgies were beginning to get worried as Ujpest had gone in 2-0 up.

Just when it seemed like defeat might be snatched from the jaws of victory, captain Bobby Moncur decided enough playing around, and scored just minute after the restart. Preben Arentoft added anouther four minutes later and then any hopes the Hungarians had of coming back were dashed when substitute Alan Foggon, who had only been on the pitch for two minutes, scored to give Newcastle a 3-2 victory on the night, 6-2 on aggregate.

Since then Newcastle have won precisely nothing. Just some of the English clubs to have won major silverware since then include Wimbledon, Swindon Town, Oxford United and Luton Town.

Bobby Moncur remains the last Newcastle captain to hold any trophy aloft. He recently told the Times: “I would never have imagined that the Fairs Cup would be the last thing we’d win for 40 years.”

“We didn’t realise what it meant. If you mention my name to people now, they associate it with the last Newcastle captain to win a trophy, which is pretty boring after a while. When he was playing, I wanted Alan (Shearer) to be the man to take that title from me. He got quite close.”

Close indeed, but no cigar.

That’s all for today folks, but Scotland fans be sure to click here to read about one of the most celebrated goals ever scored in a blue shirt.

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It was an unusual World Cup in two respects: first, the holders did not take part for the only time in World Cup history – Uruguay declined an invitation, still hurt after most European teams refused to play in the 1930 contest, although there was also concern that all their best players would sign for Italian clubs and never return home.

Secondly, despite being the hosts, italy had to qualify for the right to take part. Luckily they did, or the whole thing could have been something of an embarrassing non-event.

As it was the Italian team, no doubt spurred on by the dubious motivational powers of Mussolini, destroyed the USA in the first round 7-1, before overcoming Spain in the quarter-final 1-0 in a replayed match after the first game ended 1-1.

They then dispatched Austria in a tense and nervy semi-final that was eventually settled by a single goal from Italy’s Argentine-born winger Guaita in the 19th minute.

So far so good for the Italian team, as their winning run ensured Mussolini’s propoganda was based in reality for once.

It was on this day that the second World Cup Final took place. Mussolini had given virtually the whole country the day off in anticipation for the great victory that would surely follow against opponents Czechoslovakia.

Inevitably things did not initially run to the Italian dictator’s script. After a goalless first half it was the Czechs who opened the scoring with just 20 minutes remaining to sour the party inside the del Partiti stadium.

The scorer, Puc, had only just returned to the field after treatment for cramp when his long shot beat Italian keeper Combi after a corner.

Perhaps imagining the frightening consequences that awaited them if they failed, the Italian players stirred into life and Raimondo Orsi equalised with just eight minutes left.

In extra time Angelo Schiavio netted the winner and the whole of Italy rejoiced: they were World Champions.

All of which was a far cry from the fate of future World Champions Brazil and Argentina: both teams had took an 8,000 mile boat trip to reach Italy, promptly lost their opening matches and were out on the spot with just the return journey home as a consolation.

By 1962 the World Cup was back in South America and England had finally decided to enter. Read about the Three Lions striker doing his Rolf Harris bit here, and come back tomorrow for another story from football’s history.

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At the 1998 World Cup, despite Michael Owen’s best efforts the Argentines again put paid to England’s World Cup hopes. They were aided by David Beckham’s impetuousness in that match and the young winger was vilified by the entire nation.

Four years later, in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Beckham was now captain and rehabilitated in he eyes of the nation after his heroics in the crucial qualification game against Greece.

Waiting for Becks and England were Argentina. One of the pre-tournament favourites, the South American team was drawn alongside England in Group F, dubbed the Group of Death by the press because it also contained Sweden and Nigeria.

In the match itself, played on this day, it was England that began to look like world beaters rather than their much-hyped opposition and it paid off just before half time when Owen was brought down in the box. Penalty. There was only one man who was going to take it, the Hollywood script had Beckham stepping up for spot kick.

The Argentines did their best to put him off, Pablo Cavallero, the goalkeeper, marched over to Beckham and told him where to place the shot. Beckham ignored him. Then Beckham’s nemesis Diego Simeone, whose play-acting had earned Beckham his red card four years earlier tried to shake Becks’ concentration. Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes suggested he leave their captain alone.

The theatrics over with, the referee blew his whistle and Beckham leathered the ball into the back of the net. Beckham’s redemption was complete and he ran over to the England fans pulling at his England shirt and kissing the badge.

England held on to win, and should have even extended their lead during the game but no matter, the team, and Beckham in particular had avenged the defeat in France.

“It is a fantastic feeling. This is probably the sweetest moment of my whole career,” said Beckham after the game.

“It is a victory for the whole nation. When you play one of the best teams in the world, to score the goal that wins the game is very special.

“It puts the ghosts of France 98 to rest once and for all. I have always said I have never been nervous, but I was definitely nervous getting ready to take that. I just ran up and hit it as hard as I can and hoped for the best.

“There were a few antics going on before I took it. The goalkeeper was telling me where I was going to put the ball and Simeone tried to shake my hand. I didn’t shake his hand then, but made sure I did at the end.”

Beckham added: “When we got the penalty, Michael said ‘are you going to take it or me?’ but I wanted it badly. I may have scored the goal, but everyone in the team was fantastic.”

Meanwhile the Argentina players were not gracious in defeat. As Paul Scholes walked past some of them on his way to the coach after the match they yelled out “bastardo” at him. Needless to say, he, and England, had already had the last laugh.

England had another tasty encounter with South American opposition on this day in 1970 which you can read about here. Or if you’ve got something better to do, just pop back tomorrow to see what was happening in the world of football way back when.

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Yes it goes on all the time, in varying degrees, in every single match all over the world, from sunday league to the Champions League, but a line has to be drawn somewhere, but today in 2002 Fifa showed that ‘the line’ was merely a paltry fine.

In a 2002 World Cup match between Brazil and Turkey, the South Americans were fortunate to be winning 2-1 as the game wound down, after a foul by Alpay on Luizao in the 85th minute was clearly outside the box. Alpay was correctly sent off, but then referee Kim Young-Joo pointed to the spot as well.

Brazil had been trailing to a goal from Hasan Sas just before half time but a Ronaldo equaliser and then the converted penalty by Rivaldo gave them the lead.

With the clock on 92 minutes Brazil were awarded a corner and Rivaldo went over to take it. Turkey’s Hakan Unsal kicked the ball towards him and it hit him on the legs. Immediately the Skelator lookaliek clutched his face and flung himself to the ground in apparent agony.

The ref then sent Unsal off for the offence but replays of Rivaldo’s reaction were soon playing around the stadium. It was the worst piece of acting since Crossroads and soon the crowd were booing him and the referee.

With the media baying for blood Rivaldo’s manager defended his actions with an explanation weaker than some of those MPs have been trotting out over the past few weeks.

“The ball hit him on the knee and then bounced upwards. He put his hand on his face to stop being hit in the face,” Luiz Felipe Scolari said.

“Nobody’s talking about this apart from the Brazilian media who are more interested in getting Rivaldo punished than in giving value to his performance.”

Fifa, for one, wasn’t buying it, and on this day they found the Brazil forward guilty of “simulation” but decided against banning him, instead landing him with a £5,180 fine.

Rivaldo himself was unmoved. “I’m calm about the punishment,” he said. “I am not sorry about anything. I was both the victim and the person who got fined.

“Obviously the ball didn’t hit me in the face, but I was still the victim. I did not hit anyone in the face. Nobody remembers what the Turk did. I’m not a player who fakes fouls.”

He also claimed Fifa had made an example of him, saying: “I don’t know if everyone would be punished as I was.”

Meanwhile Fifa mouthpiece Keith Cooper said Rivaldo’s card had been marked. “It has been brought to the attention of the Brazilian Football Federation that if he continues to behave in this manner he may be sanctioned strongly by the Fifa disciplinary committee,” he said.

“It’s regrettable that a world-class player such as Rivaldo has resorted to this type of subterfuge,” added Fifa’s disciplinary chief Marcel Mathier.

“We want to demonstrate that this type of simulation cannot be accepted and cannot go unpunished. Such behaviour means that everybody is cheated, not only the opponents but also the referee and particularly the fans.”

Also on this day, Tottenham’s never-ending search for a new managerial messiah continued. Check that out and pop back tomorrow for more nostalgic ramblings from us.

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The quiet man who has invented his very own new football position (that of non-scoring striker) took the England armband on this day in 2003, when England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson came under fire for yet another game in which he substituted almost the whole team, and was accused of not treating the England captaincy with the respect it deserves.

England opponents were Serbia & Montenegro and the match was a friendly in preparation for some Euro 2004 qualifiers.

It was held at Leicester City’s Walkers Stadium – the first international to be played at the new ground, and old softie Sven decided to give Heskey the nod in the starting line-up for the game in his home city – leaving the great young hope Wayne Rooney on the bench.

In David Beckham’s absence, Michael Owen started the game as captain but it was Steven Gerrard that gave England the lead after 35 minutes.

Just before half time Nenad Jestrovic scored from a corner to level the score before the break.

Sven then made five substitutions, including taking Owen off for Rooney. With his captain having gone off, Sven further indulged Leicester boy Heskey by allowing him to take the armband. “And no, that wasn’t a typo – Emile Heskey is captaining England,” read the Guardian’s live internet feed of the game, summing up the incredulity of everyone watching.

After 62 minutes of play Sven suddenly woke up and realised he hadn’t subbed anyone for far too long so hauled off Heskey, Lampard and Danny Mills, with Vassell, Joe Cole and Jamie Carragher coming on.

Third captain of the night? Phil. Neville. We s**t you not. Phil Neville. *shakes head disbelievingly*.

But the shuffle proved to be inspired management from Sven when, just as it looked like another boring and pointless England friendly destined to lurch to an unsatisfying draw, Joe Cole stepped up and scored from a free kick with just eight minutes left.
Sven decided to celebrate the only way he knows how during an England friendly, and made some more subs, bringing the total number of players on the pitch who started the game to just one. James Beattie came on for Phil Neville, his brief reign as England captain mercifully over. Gareth Barry replaced Matthew Upson in the other change.

By now England were on to their fourth captain of the night, easily a record for one match, with Jamie Carragher now taking the armband as England saw out the match to win 2-1.

It was a win of England but Sven found himself targeted by the press for the nonchalant treatment of the honour of wearing the captain’s armband.

The Guardian’s Richard Williams, in his summing up of the match said: “Perhaps because he wears rimless spectacles, Eriksson is sometimes suspected of lacking a sense of humour. Nevertheless there are those who will see his decision, after half-time, to bestow the captaincy of England first on Heskey and then on Philip Neville as a joke, rather than the sign of a desire to salute the contribution of England’s two most widely criticised players.”

More tomorrow folks, but in the meantime, check this out for the story of another of England’s more maligned players of recent years.

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The tragedy had gone beyond the football world and even Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher weighed in with her opinion. “We have to get the game cleaned up from this hooliganism at home and then perhaps we shall be able to go overseas again,” she said.

Immediately after the disaster Liverpool announced they would not be taking part in European competition next season.

Then, on May 31, the FA banned English clubs from European competition.

“It is now up to English football to put its house in order,” said FA secretary Ted Croker outside Number 10 Downing Street after discussions with the PM.

“It was very important that the FA took positive action and immediately,” he said, adding it was the most difficult decision he had ever had to take.

Next in line was Uefa, who, on this day in 1985 announced they were imposing their own ban on English clubs for an indefinite period.

Reacting to the decision, football league president Jack Dunnett said: “It is unfair to punish clubs which had nothing to do with the Brussels tragedy”. Everton, Manchester United, Liverpool, Norwich City, Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton were all denied entry to European football in the first year of the ban.

But the move was welcomed by Ted Croker who said: “There are many of us who don’t want to see us back in Europe until we have got our own house in order.”

A British representative on Uefa’s 11-strong executive committee said he had unsuccessfully tried to push for the ban to be limited to a set period. But David Will, president of the Scottish FA, said: “The feeling in Uefa is very, very strong”.

In the end the ban lasted for five years for all English clubs bar Liverpool, who were banned for six.

Also on this football day, some pretty bad scenes at a game, but this time (thankfully) on the pitch rather than in the stands.

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That honour surely belongs to United’s rivals Manchester City who, today in 1999, just days after That Magical Night in Barcelona (TM Clive Tyldesley), staged their own improbable comeback win against Gillingham in the Division Two play-off final at Wembley.

The match was goalless until the 81st minute when Carl Asaba scored for Gillingham, and then Robert Taylor added another five minutes later.

All of a sudden, City were 2-0 down and surely out. But then, in the 89th minute Kevin Horlock popped up to pull one back, but surely it was too late? Paul Dickov didn’t think so, the diminutive striker scored in the dying seconds of injury time to force the game into extra time.

There were no more dramatic goals and so to penalties. Gillingham missed their first two efforts, while Dickov also failed to hit the target. Nicky Weaver then saved from Paul Smith and Guy Butters to win it for City. Gillingham, having looked a cert at 2-0 up with one minute left, had somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Not that City fans cared. As someone once said: “Football, bloody hell!”

City boss Joe Royle said: “We never gave up,” adding, with brilliant understatement: “It looked unlikely.”

This unlikely win also happened on this football day, so check that out, and come back tomorrow for more from the football time machine.

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Italian giants Juventus met Liverpool in the final of the European Cup. At the time Liverpool were kings of Europe, holders of the cup and four-time winners in a seven year period.

Juve had never won it, but had been losing finalists twice before.

That the disaster is named after the stadium it occurred in is tragically apt; for the stadium itself was in large part to blame for the events that unfolded that night. Dilapidated and crumbling, Belgium’s national ground was nowhere near adequate to host such a big game, but Uefa had selected it anyway.

They blundered again when they ordered that a section of the ground be give designated for neutral fans, which simply meant Italian and English supporters ended up mixing in the supposedly neutral zone.

About an hour before kick-off trouble began to flare between the two sets of supporters as missiles were thrown, and a charge from the Liverpool fans forced their Juve counterparts to retreat. As they did so many fans were crushed against a retaining wall which soon collapsed. It was at this point that thirty-nine Italian supporters were killed, and a further 600 injured.

Then many more Juve fans began rioting in retaliation. The Belgian police were hopelessly inexperienced at dealing with such trouble and a fierce and long-running battle ensued between them and the Juve fans.

Amidst all this, the players were in the dressing rooms, waiting to play out what was supposed to be the most important match in the club football season.

Captains of both teams, Gaetano Scirea and Phil Neal appeared to ask the fans to calm down so the game could begin. Despite the reservations of many, the authorities then ordered that the game be played, fearful there would be more violent recriminations if it were not.

Accounts differ as to how much the players knew when they stepped over the white line, but it is likely none of them knew the enormity of what had happened. Jim Beglin told the Independent in 2005: “We started to hear that there was serious violence as we were putting the finishing touches to our preparations in the changing-room. I was eventually told there might be three deaths, but not until just before we finally went out. I knew something bad was going on but had no idea of the scale. We were being told to stay focused. It’s possible the management and my more experienced colleagues shielded me from things.

“On a recent TV documentary we’ve all said we thought the final shouldn’t have gone ahead, but I can understand why Uefa and the police said we should play. Worse trouble could have ensued.”

The game itself, not that it mattered, saw Michel Platini score a debatable penalty to win it 1-0. Never has a result mattered so little. Beglin said: “The enormity of Heysel hit me like a train after the game. Dejection over losing the European Cup final to Juventus quickly gave way to disbelief when I learned that 39 people had died. I walked with my Liverpool team-mates to where the wall had crumbled and the Italian fans were crushed. The remnants of people’s lives – handbags and shoes, scarves and spectacles – were strewn among the rubble.

“Win, lose or draw, we usually had a party after a big game. But the atmosphere at our base in Brussels was very sombre. We swapped stories and several of the wives and girlfriends were distressed because they had actually seen the bodies being piled up under the stand. Paul Walsh’s partner, Melissa Berry, had been manhandled by an agitated Italian. The players all felt numb. We just wanted to get home.”

In the aftermath of the tragedy, the fingers of blame were pointed squarely at the Liverpool fans. Within days English clubs had been banned from European competition – all clubs for five years, Liverpool for six. “We have to get the game cleaned up from this hooliganism at home and then perhaps we shall be able to go overseas again” Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said.

Yet the veteran football journalist Brian Glanville felt blaming the English club was all too easy, and disagreed with the ban. He wrote in 2005: “This never seemed fair to me. Not fair to English football, not even fair to Liverpool as a tarnished city. A week earlier, in Rotterdam, on the occasion of the European Cup Winners’ Cup final, I saw Everton’s supporters behave themselves almost impeccably. The one misdemeanour I noticed was when an Everton fan walked out of a cafe without paying the bill.”

Glanville contends Uefa had just as much culpability in the disaster as the rioting fans: “That Heysel was ever chosen for the game was a shocking commentary on the folly of Uefa and the idleness of its team that was meant to inspect the stadium. The word was that the day they came, it was very cold, and that they scarcely bothered to emerge from the warmth to see what should have been obvious to them — that this stadium was not fit to stage a game of such magnitude.”

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Jules Rimet announced on this day in 1928 that the first World Cup would take place in 1930. In 1989 the most dramatic ending to a First Division title race took place at Anfield when Arsenal snatched the championship from under the noses of Liverpool in their own back yard.

Today in 1982, Aston Villa defeated the might of German giants Bayern Munich in the De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam in the European Cup final.

It was a harsh lesson for Ron Saunders in the importance of timing – he had been the Villa boss for half of that season but resigned before the quarter-final stage because of a contract dispute with the board. His assistant Tony Barton took over and led his team to the final.

Then disaster struck just ten minutes into the game when first choice goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer went off injured. In his place came untried youngster Nigel Spink, making only his second appearance of the season. “I didn’t have time to get nervous and that was the big factor on the night,” he said later. He played a blinder and kept a clean sheet that was key to Villa’s victory. “We defended resolutely and I probably had half a dozen saves to make,” he explained. “In a game, which was supposed to be so one-sided it wasn’t a great deal.”

At the other end, Tony Morley’s excellent work down the left teed up Peter Withe to score the only goal of the game, although he did not get a clean hit on the ball. “It just hit a bobble and sat up a bit. I half hit it with my foot and half hit it with my shin,” he explained later.

Brian Moore’s commentary of the goal is displayed on a giant banner across the North Stand of Villa Park: “Shaw, Williams, prepared to adventure down the left. There’s a good ball in for Tony Morley. Oh, it must be! It is! Peter Withe!”

Bayern Munich were again the opponents when Villa’s fellow English team Manchester United made it to the European Cup final in 1999.

United had already wrapped up the Premier League title and the FA Cup and entered the final hopeful of completing a historic treble, and winning the Cup for the first time since the days of Matt Busby.

Bayern went a goal up after just six minutes through a deflected Mario Basler free kick. As the clock ticked past 90 minutes United’s dream looked to be in tatters. Thereafter began perhaps the greatest comeback in modern football history.

First Teddy Sheringham scored from a corner to get United back in it. And while Bayern were contemplating just how they had come within a couple of minutes of winning the trophy only to be pegged back at the last, United went and did it again, super-sub Ole Gunnar Solskjær grabbing the most dramatic goal in European Cup history to win the trophy for Sir Alex’s team. “Football, bloody hell!” was all Fergie could say as the celebrations got underway. Bloody hell indeed Fergie.

Well folks, if we can reach 88 miles per hour and get our flux capacitor working, we will be back tomorrow bringing you more tales from football’s past. Until then dear readers.

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The heavy pre-match favourites for the game at the Portuguese National Stadium in Lisbon were Internazionale who had been champions of Europe three times in the past four years.

But manager Jock Stein simply told his players to “go out and enjoy themselves” at the start of the match but within minutes of kick-off defender Jim Craig felled Renato Cappellini and Alessandro Mazolla netted the resulting penalty.

Stein didn’t panic and neither did his players. Shortly after half time Celtic full-back Tommy Gemmel scored the equaliser and they were back in the game. They continued to attack the Italian goal until Gemmel again stormed up the left wing, passed back to Bobby Murdoch whose shot towards the goal was deflected into the net by Stevie Chalmers. Celtic had done it and on the final whistle the impeccably behaved Celtic fans poured onto the pitch as the celebrations began.

With the pitch full of thousands of ecstatic and exuberant Scotsmen the team were unable to be presented with the trophy so captain Billy McNeill had to go outside the stadium and be escorted around to the other side of the ground to receive it.

Jock Stein said: “There is not a prouder man on God’s Earth than me at this moment. Winning was important, but it was the way that we won that has filled me with satisfaction.

“We did it by playing football; pure, beautiful, inventive football. There was not a negative thought in our heads.”

As always we’ll be back tomorrow with more, but until then, have a read about an England captain getting into a bit of a scrape in Colombia…

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It was today in 1963 that Milan got their European trophy cabinet collection started when they won the competition for the first time.

In the early days Real Madrid enjoyed something of a monopoly on the cup, winning it for each of the first five years it was held.

It was Benfica who finally wrestled it away from Real in 1961, and then retained it the following year, Eusebio helping the Portuguese club to a 5-3 win over Real in the 1962 final.

Benfica made it three finals on the trot in 1963 but this time Milan were waiting for them, and their defence was not nearly as charitable as Real’s had been in 1962.

But it was the Italian side that conceded first in the showpiece game that was being held at Wembley Stadium for the first time. Eusebio scored after 18 minutes but that would prove to be all the joy he and Benfica got all night.

In the second half Milan hit back thanks to Brazilian striker José Altafini who scored twice in eight minutes to give them a 2-1. For the rest of the match the Italians’ defence, led by Giovanni Trapattoni, held firm and Milan took the victory and prevented Benfica from sealing a hat-trick of European Cup wins.

The Cup was brought back to Milan in each of the following two years but not by AC Milan; cross-city rivals Internazionale were instead victorious.

Milan’s seven wins in the competition make dismal reading for fellow Italian giants Juventus who have just two European Cup wins to their name. The second came today in 1996 – as chirpy newspaper boys in the 1930s used to say “read all about it here”.

More tomorrow readers so until then, don’t have nightmares…

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But it was today in 2003, just six years ago, that the Portuguezzer pricked the collective consciousness of British football fans for the first time when his Porto team took on Martin O’Neill’s Celtic in the Uefa Cup Final in Seville.

The Bhoys were hoping for a triumph to add to the famous 1967 European Cup win and 80,000 of their fans descended on Seville for the game.

But standing in their way was Mourinho and his team who took the lead just before half time thanks to Derlei. Henrick Larsson equalised soon after, and had to do so again on 56 minutes after Dmitri Alenitchev had put Porto ahead again just two minutes earlier.

The match went to extra time and with just five minutes before penalties, Derlei scored the winner to break Celtic hearts.

Martin O’Neill was unhappy at some of Porto’s tactics. “I will probably get into trouble for this, but it was poor sportsmanship,” he said. “The rolling over, the time wasting. But they have beaten us, well done to them and it’s up to us to learn from this.

“It is a steep learning curve, but this was a wonderful, wonderful experience. The players put everything into it and the fans have been fantastic.”

Predictably, Mourinho begged to differ with O’Neill. “I’d prefer to ask whether the behaviour of the Celtic players was normal in your country,” he said. “What Balde did to Deco in front of me could have ended his career. The referee didn’t affect the result, in that there were no doubtful decisions, but I think Balde could have had a direct red for his foul and Thompson could also have seen a second yellow card on two occasions.

“There was a lot of commitment in Celtic’s game, commitment, toughness and aggression. I’m tempted to use another word – but I won’t.”

“We have given a great example to the world and those who love football and we have also made history by taking the Uefa Cup to Portugal for the first time ever,” he added.

The following season Mourinho led Porto to the European Cup, making more history in the process and paving the way for his move to Chelsea.

As usual, we’ll have more historical football high jinx tomorrow, but until then, click here to read about the best world cup song ever made.

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The final played today in 1994 is perhaps the only one to rival the great Madrid performance, and is certainly the best final played in modern times when, with so much at stake, the final can often be terribly boring as neither side wants to make the crucial mistake.

None of that today when Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona ‘dream team’ were favourites against Fabio Capello’s AC Milan. Barca had marched to the final with an aplomb and were confident of a winning the cup for the second time in three years.

By contrast, Milan were not in great shape coming into the game. In the 3-0 win over Monaco in the semi-final at the San Siro, key defenders Franco Baresi and Alessandro Costacurta both received yellow cards that ruled them out of the final. Worse still, Capello was forced to leave out Florin Raducioiu, Jean-Pierre Papin and Brian Laudrup as well because of the Uefa rules about fielding a maximum of three non-nationals.

One of the non-nationals Capello did pick was Marcel Desailly, the Frenchman who, the previous season, had been in the Marseille team that had beaten Milan in the final.

Despite all the changes Capello had been forced into, his side quickly began to take a hold on the game, denying highly-fancied Barca the chance to impose themselves on it.

After 22 minutes Milan made their pressure pay when Dejan Savicevic ran down the right flank and passed to Daniele Massaro who tapped the ball into an empty net. 1-0. It was 2-0 just before half time when Massaro bagged his second of the night after being set up by Roberto Donadoni from the left wing.

Barca went in 2-0 down at the break and hoping to re-group. But any hopes of a famous come-back were surely snuffed out just two minutes after the re-start when Dejan Savicevic capitalised on a defensive error by Miguel Angel Nadal to lob goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta for the third goal.

Eight minutes later and Desailly, who Capello, in a tactical masterstroke, had played in front of the back-four, made it 4-0 when he beat the offside trap to score.

It was a crushing victory and Capello’s finest hour as coach and Desailly became the first man to win the European Cup in successive seasons with two different clubs.

Watch the whole darn shooting match above, and come back tomorrow when we’ll have more tales of the unexpected (by which we mean ‘about football’). TTFN.

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Today in 1997 the Cup was won by a foreign manager for the first time ever (which we found a tad surprising given the oft-peddled assertion that all players, managers and owners have been from abroad ever since Rupert Murdoch began running the game in 1992).

The victorious man in question was Rudd Gullit who was then the gaffer at Chelsea. In those heady pre-Abramovich days the Stamford Bridge regulars were not quite as spoilt as they are now and Chelsea were looking for their first FA Cup win since 1970.

Their opponents were those heroic failures Middlesbrough who, under the able stewardship of Bryan Robson had not only managed to get relegated, but had also already lost the League Cup final.

The portents were not good for Robson’s band of merry men and they didn’t get any better when the match started.

It was took just 42 seconds for the ‘Boro defence to be breached when Juninho gave away the ball and Dennis Wise passed to Italian midfield maestro Roberto Di Matteo who carried the ball unopposed into the ‘Boro half and let rip from fully 35 yards. Ben Roberts in the ‘Boro goal was beaten and the Smoggies season just got that little bit worse.

Even worse was to come when Fabrizio Ravanelli limped off injured after just 20 minutes, but they were spared when a goal by Gianluca (Uncle) Festa was chalked off for offside.

But late in the second half Gianfranco Zola superbly back-heeled the ball in midair to Eddie Newton who blasted home the winner.

Newton said later the team had been raring to go before kick-off. “In the final itself, we were very confident going into the game. We honestly believed we would win if we stuck to our gameplan, and we did,” he said.

“I played in 1994 when we lost to United. We had a lot of young players who hadn’t experienced the big-time games yet. This was a totally different scenario. We had such a good blend of youth and experience, and of English and foreign players. It just seemed the perfect mix. We got the best possible start through Roberto Di Matteo’s goal and the rest is history as they say.”

See both goals below and come back tomorrow for another bite-sized dose of football history. Until then ratfans, check out this story which, had it played out differently, could have altered the course of British football history FOREVER! WHoooaaaa!

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Some claimed it would be a disaster, that they would never keep up with the pace of the English game, and even that they would not be able to adapt to the colder climate.

But the two proved all their doubters wrong and became two of the most celebrated players in Spurs’ history.

Today in 1981 Ricky Villa cemented his place in Tottenham legend when he scored the best goal ever seen in an FA Cup Final.

The first time Tottenham lined up to face final opponents Manchester City, Tommy Hutchison was both hero and villain for City when he scored for them, before also scoring an own goal, meaning the tie was level at 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.

In those days the Cup Final went to a replay and it was in that second match that Villa got his shooting boots on. He scored his first in the eighth minute before Steve MacKenzie got one back just three minutes later. A Kevin Reeves penalty followed by a Garth Crooks goal meant the teams were again level, this time at 2-2.

The Villa stepped up to the plate. He picked up a pass from Tony Galvin on the edge of the area and then weaved his way past Tony Caton, Ray Ranson then, almost humiliatingly, Caton again before sliding a shot beyond the advancing Joe Corrigan.

Tottenham had won the Cup and Villa was an instant hero, and his goal was later chosen as the best goal ever scored at Wembley. He said: “That goal immortalized me, I even received a prize for it. It was a goal in the Argentine way: cunning and imaginative.”

And he knows the place his goal has in English football, adding: “I recognise that I am a little part of the history of English football.”

His pal Ossie Ardiles says Ricky has a script when asked about the goal. “People ask the question and it’s like he’s turned a tape recorder on,” he said. “I know exactly what he’s going to say. Seriously, he only talks about it when he’s been asked and it deserves the attention. It was a wonderful, wonderful goal and I am so pleased that it has been chosen as one of the best FA Cup goals ever.”

Have a look at the goal here, and come on back tomorrow for more football history from us. Also, you may remember this happening a few years back. Apparently it was something of a shock…

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When property developer Marten Eibrink took over Zwolle in 1982 he had the club’s stadium renovated and decided to commemorate the moment by renaming the stadium’s main stand after the Total Footballer.

Cruyff’s final season as a player was not at his beloved Ajax, but instead with Feyenoord. After leading Ajax to a league and cup double in 1982-83, Cruyff was incensed when the club decided not to offer him a new contract, presumably because they thought he was past it.

Cruyff responded to the snub by signing for arch rivals Feyenoord but initially he might have feared the worst: in the first meeting between the two clubs since Cruyff’s switch Feyenoord were absolutely hammered 8-2 – their heaviest ever defeat.

But Cruyff and Feyenoord responded brilliantly, dishing out a 4-1 defeat in the return fixture several months later. And just to prove the Ajax directors spectacularly wrong, Cruyff played 33 of 34 league games and led Feyenoord to the double – so much for being past it.

Ajax ended the season trophyless and with more egg on their faces than Edwina Currie (on this website even our jokes are historical).

So the Total Footballer played his last ever match at PEC Zwolle and the story of the most gifted and remarkable player to ever emerge from Europe was over. Oh, and he went out a high – Feyenoord won 2-1.

Take a couple of minutes out of your day to watch the video above of Cruyff at his best, and come back tomorrow for more from us. Or if you want more now, have a look at this story, also from this day in football history.

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