For May 20th I'm going back 29 years to 1992 and the European Cup Final (now seemingly known as the Champions League Final kids!).
When it comes to choosing programmes to commemorate in my blog, on most days it's pretty easy to pick the one that has the most special memories. However, occasionally there are two games that I went to on a particular day that will live with me forever (or until the Alzheimers kicks in at least). Today is one of those days. Also on 20th May but in 2012, York City beat Luton Town at Wembley to return to the Football League. So there's something to look forward to on it's 10th anniversary in my blog next year right?
My chosen match today is interesting from a programme collector's point of view in that there were three different versions of the programme on sale at Wembley that night. An English version, an Italian version and a Spanish version (well it could be a Catalan version but my Spanish isn't up to being able to know the difference). I bought one of each on the night on the hunch that one of the versions would prove to become rarer than the others in due course. However, each one today would set you back around £25 from a dealer so that's that theory out of the window. But I like owning the set and it remains the only match that I've ever been to where there were three versions of the match programme.
The 1992 edition of the tournament was its 37th incarnation and, as a forerunner to the newly rebranded Champions League competition which began the following season, this was the first time that it had had a Group Stage. There were 32 entrants into the competition that year and all were champions of their domestic league unlike today's version. Arsenal (tsk) represented England and made it all the way to the second round before bowing out to Portugal's Benfica at Highbury. Interestingly, the reunified Germany had two entrants as the East and West German domestic leagues continued to function independently and they were therefore represented by both 1FC Kaiserslautern and Hansa Rostock. It was the last time that this would happen.
It was Barcelona that disposed of Hansa Rostock in the 1st Round and of course they then drew Kaiserslautern in the 2nd where they made it through by the skin of their teeth on the away goals rule thanks to an 87th minute goal by Jose Bakero in the second leg in Germany. The eight remaining sides went into the Group Stage with the respective winners of the two groups going straight to the Final. Sampdoria won a group containing defending champions Red Star Belgrade (who were not allowed to play at home due to UN embargo), Anderlecht and Panathinaikos by two points. Barcelona's group included Sparta Prague, Benfica and Dynamo Kiev and they won it by three points.
The 1992 European Cup Final will forever remain a significant milestone in Barcelona's history because it was the first time that they won the European Cup. They have since captured a further four. Barcelona had long been on a mission to get their hands on the trophy with the big ears: it had been virtually monopolised throughout its history by their fierce rivals Real Madrid who, up until this point, were able to taunt Barca supporters with "Ah but you've never won the European Cup". Interestingly, this Final was the last one in which neither finalist had won the trophy before and it remains the only European Cup Final that I've managed to attend. Given the rebranding I could even claim that I was at the last ever European Cup Final!
The Final was played at Wembley in front of 70,827 fans who generated an atmosphere quite unlike any that I had encountered before. It felt truly European to the point where you could forget that you were actually in a North London suburb and imagine instead that you were in some cosmopolitan European capital. Barcelona's legendary player and manager Johan Cruyff selected the likes of Hristo Stoichkov, Michael Laudrup and one Josep Guardiola, later to become an iconic manager himself and known as "Pep". The Sampdoria side that night included Attilio Lombardo, a strangely curly haired Gianluca Vialli (who missed two glorious chances) and Roberto Mancini. The game started in the early evening sunshine with Barcelona playing in an unfamiliar orange kit and, in keeping with all the major World Finals that I have attended, finished 0-0 in normal time. Still I wasn't complaining about having to watch a further thirty minutes of this! Barca won it in extra time with the only goal coming from a Ronald Koeman free kick that should never have been awarded. At full time, in an action that I thoroughly approved of, Barcelona changed out of their orange second strip and into their classic blue and red striped shirts before climbing the 39 steps to collect the trophy Well there is only one first time.
CRB Match No. 783
Comments
Post a Comment