On this day 6 May 1970 (Exactly 40 years ago today) Feyenoord of the Netherlands defeated Celtic of Scotland 2-1 after extra time at the San Siro, Milan to win the 1970 European Champion Clubs’ Cup (now Champions League ). The match nearly never took place due to massive strikes throughout Italy during 1970 (The Italian FA backed down to ensure that their own clubs would be able to compete in further UEFA competitions).
A match programme was never issued for this final; it is unknown whether one was ever printed. Ove Kindvall’s goal in the 117th minute meant the trophy was going to a Dutch club for the first time. It remains Feyenoord’s only European Cup triumph.
Celtic went into the match as strong favourites, but despite Tommy Gemmell opening the scoring after 30 minutes, they were comprehensively outplayed by Feyenoord. The Dutch team’s manager, Ernst Happel, ensured Celtic winger Jimmy Johnstone was double marked at all times, whilst the midfield trio of Franz Hasil, Willem van Hanegem and Wim Jansen dominated their Celtic counterparts. Rinus Israël quickly equalised from a free kick, but Celtic managed to hold on at 1–1 to force extra time. With just a few minutes of extra-time remaining, a long free-kick from the Feyenoord half was sent towards the Celtic penalty area.
Celtic defender and captain Billy McNeil stumbled and misjudged the ball, and as he tried to recover he appeared to punch the ball away. Before the referee had a chance to award a penalty, Ove Kindvall reacted quickly, running on and chipping the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Evan Williams to seal a 2–1 win for Feyenoord.
Feyenoord Line-up : Eddy Pieters-Graafland; Piet Romeijn (Guus Haak 107),
Theo Laseroms, Rinus Isra?l (captain), Theo Van Duivenbode;Franz Hasil, Wim Jansen; Willem Van Hanegem, Henk Wery, Ove Kindvall, Coen Moulijn
Manager : Ernst Happel
Celtic Line-up : Evan Williams; Davie Hay, Jim Brogan, Billy McNeill (captain), Tommy Gemmell; Bobby Murdoch, Bertie Auld (George Connelly 77);Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Lennox, Willie Wallace, John Hughes
Manager : Jock Stein
Elsewhere;
On this day 6 May 1992 (Exactly 28 years ago today) Werder Bremen of Germany won the 32nd European Cup winner’s Cup against AS Monaco of France.
The final was held at Estádio da Luz in Lisbon. Bremen won the match 2–0 thanks to goals of Klaus Allofs and Wynton Rufer.
W. Bremen Line- up :Jurgen Rollman, Rune Bratseth, Thomas Wolter (Thomas Schaaf 80), Ulrich Borowka, Manfred Bockenfeld, Marco Bode, Dieter Eills, Miroslav Votava (C), Frank Neubarth(Stefan Kohn 75), Wynton Rufer, Klaus Allofs
Manager : Otto Rehhagel
Monaco Line- up : Jean-Luc Ettori, Roger Mendy, Luc Sonor, Emmanuel Petit (Youri Djorkaeff 63), Patrick Valery, Jerome Gnako, Marcel Diab, Rui Barros, Gerald Passi, Youssouf Fofana (Benjamin Clement 60), George Weah
Manager : Arsene Wenger
On this day 6 May 2000 (Exactly 20 years ago today ) Striker Kevin Philips scored his 30th league goal of the season for Sunderland against West Ham , a tally which won him the European Golden Shoe as they finished seventh in the Premier League. Philips is the first, and remains the only, English to win the European Golden Shoe award for the top scorer in Europe.
On this day 6 May 2007 (Exactly 13 years ago today) Chelsea’s draw with Arsenal handed Manchester United the Premiership title for the first time since 2003 with a game to spare.
Champions for the previous two years, Chelsea found themselves a man and a goal down after Khalid Boulahrouz was sent off for fouling Julio Baptista.
Gilberto Silva put away the penalty as keeper Petr Cech went the wrong way
Chelsea mounted a spirited rearguard action after the break and with 20 minutes left Michael Essien pulled them level with a courageous diving header.
Chelsea did not relinquish their title easily – their second-half performance was nothing short of remarkable – but they badly missed Didier Drogba, who was ruled out of the game with an ankle injury.
Salomon Kalou stood in for Drogba, but the former Feyenoord striker struggled to hold the ball and allow Chelsea’s midfielders to come into the game.
This was the first time these two sides had met since Chelsea’s Carling Cup final win, a match that had ended with a mass brawl.
The outcome of the match meant that Sir Alex Ferguson marks 20 years in charge with Man Utd’s ninth Premier League title and overall sixteenth top flight title
After two Premier League titles in as many seasons, Chelsea were searching for a hat-trick of top-flight crowns for the first time in their history. Jose Mourinho enhanced his squad with the captures of AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko and Germany international Michael Ballack for the season ahead
Ashley Cole also moved to Stamford Bridge in a deal that involved William Gallas going in the opposite direction to Arsenal, whose manager Arsene Wenger was celebrating his 10th year in charge. The milestone was greeted in new surroundings, as the Gunners moved to the state-of-the-art Emirates Stadium
*Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho:
“This was a game to remember and showed how big Chelsea are as a club.
“I’m very proud of my players. Normally when a team has a lot of success and loses a championship it’s lack of motivation, not the same spirit or ambition, but it was exactly the opposite.
“My team was brilliant.”
Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Gallas, Toure, Clichy, Diaby (Hoyte 79), Fabregas, Silva, Denilson (Hleb 59), Adebayor, Julio Baptista.
Subs Not Used: Almunia, Senderos, Djourou.
Booked: Adebayor.
Goals: Silva 43 pen.
Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Boulahrouz, Terry, Bridge, Mikel (Diarra 74), Essien, Lampard, Wright-Phillips (Sinclair 80), Joe Cole, Kalou.
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Makelele, Sahar.
Sent Off: Boulahrouz (43).
Booked: Mikel, Essien.
Goals: Essien 70.
Attendance: 60,102.
Ref: A Wiley (Staffordshire)
On this day 6 May 1997 (Exactly 23 years ago today) Dean Holdsworth scored the winner on a day in which Michael Owen found the net on his Premier League debut against Wimbledon,
one of 158 he scored for the club he joined as a schoolboy.
Wimbledon 2 – 1 Liverpool
On this day 6 May 1994 (Exactly 26 years ago today) Lennox Lewis knocked out Phil Jackson in round 8 for WBC heavyweight boxing title at the Convention Hall Atlantic City, New Jersey
Lewis would dominate the match from the opening round. Within the fight’s first 30 seconds, Lewis was able to land a right hand that knocked Jackson to the canvas. Lewis would continue his dominance over Jackson winning the first four rounds on all three of the judge’s scorecards.
Late in round 5, Lewis would gain a second knockdown over Jackson after landing a straight right hand to Jackson’s face. Jackson remained on the mat until the referee got to the count of nine and continued with the fight. With less than 10 seconds remaining in the round, Lewis tried to quickly land a combination on Jackson in hopes of gaining the knockout victory, but the bell rang just as he was able to knock Jackson down for the third time.
Because the bell had rung, Lewis had a point deducted on the judge’s scorecards. Lewis would further dominate Jackson in rounds six and seven before finally ending the fight 1:35 into round eight after dropping Jackson for the third time in the fight with a four-punch combination. Immediately after the knockdown, referee Arthur Mercante, Sr. stopped the fight and Lewis was named the winner by technical knockout.
On this day 6 May 1733 (Exactly 287 years ago today) The first international Boxing match took place at the Figgs Amphitheater in Tottenham Court Road when Bob Whitaker of beat gigantic Italian Tito Di Carni
By George “Alan Green” Mahamah
