TWB22: 04/08/23

Saturday, April 8, 2023

Giovanni Trapattoni Great managers Series

In 1989 Napoli Italian champions were playing Fiorentina at home. A young, thin, tiny looking player called Roberto Baggio with a shock of long curly black hair picked up the ball in his own half. He then seemed to move with it in a strange diagonal direction. As one defender came towards him, he shifted straight towards goal, and with a little skip over another defender's leg, breached the entire defence. Almu.i without needing to dribble, thanks to a remarkable sense of the space of the pitch, he was through on goal. There, as usual, he was cool enough to dribble past the goalie, get the ball caught up in his legs and still have time to slide it into an empty net. In his career, Baggio scored dozens of goals as good as this one, some of them just as good as Maradona's second goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. Baggio has also been the most prolific penalty taker in Italian football history, converting 86 per cent of his kicks. How odd, then, that he should be remembered above all for a penalty he missed, in the searing heat of the Pasadena stadium: the miss that decided the 1994 World Cup final.

It should not be surprising that the greatest defender in the world, comes from the land of the greatest defense, Italy. And thus, the greatest defender naturally would come from the dominant team, our beloved Vecchia Signora. Like many of Juventus Legends, Gaetano Scirea was plucked from his youth side, Atalanta at the young age of 21. He made an immediate impact on the side, and alongside one of the meanest stoppers of all time, Claudio Gentile, the duo would form one of the world’s greatest defenses in front of Dino Zoff. With the other defenders, Cabrini, Cuccureddu, and Brio, the group dominated Italy for much of the 1970s. It was in this time that the Bianconeri added the first star to the Juventus jersey, and accumulated Scudetto after Scudetto under the management of il Trap. The team would also form the backbone of the 1982 World Cup winning side.

Stadio San Siro Milan

14 Avril 1979

Lors de cette saison, la Juventus FC tente de conserver son titre de champion d'Italie...L'AC Milan, finira en tête du classement au terme de la saison et sera sacré champion d'Italie pour la dixième fois de son histoire.

16 octobre 2011
Stade Olimpico Roma

Après cinq défaites consécutives face à son ennemi juré, le club entraîné par Edoardo Reja bat la Roma pour la première fois depuis le 11 avril 2009 (2-1). Une éternité pour les supporters laziales qui ont laissé éclater leur joie sur le but libérateur signé Klose au bout des arrêts de jeu d’un match fou. Car ce 170e derby romain a tenu toutes ses promesses. Même privé de Totti, blessé, la Roma démarrait en trombe en ouvrant le score sur sa première opportunité. Et qui de mieux que l’homme en forme, Osvaldo, pour lancer les Giallorossi en profitant d’une merveille de passe de Pjanic pour tromper Marchetti (0-1, 5e) ?

26 April 1969

Hampden Park Glasgow

Saturday 26th April 1969 was the day Celtic thrashed Rangers 4:0 in the Scottish Cup final in front of a crowd of 133,000, a scoreline which even today brings a smile to my wrinkled and weather-beaten old face.Although Celtic were slight favourites at the bookies, the papers at the time thought it might take a replay to separate the teams given that we were without our two wingers Johnstone and Hughes

26 October 1974
Hampden Park Glasgow

Celtic ad infinitum. Under a low ceiling of grey cloud, Scotland’s champions at last served notice that they intend to keep their cleaners busy polishing the title trophy for yet another year. Jock Stein smiled and Parkhead sang. This morning there will be many who smile as they go to work or sit at home. Those who support this club now know that an unbroken decade of domination is a matter of attainable fact and not the stuff of impossible dreams. Hibernian, apprehensive, tentative, and very ordinary, arrived in Glasgow’s East End as credible candidates for the championship and departed a little sadder, a lot wiser, and with few complaints. Scottish football confronts approaching winter, it’s countenance unchanged. In a match of fine footwork and thrilling goals, the mists of uncertainty disappeared from Parkhead as again the team that Stein built made fine colours on a cheerless day. How appropriate seemed the terrace anthem, proudly claimed: “We shall not, we shall not be moved.” So yesterday the manager was talking, long and hard and happily. It was the match the players wanted and needed. They sensed they were being written off, quite wrongly. They wanted to prove something.

Quarterfinal 2nd Leg
March 17 1999
Kyiv NSC Olympiysky

Dynamo Kyiv:Oleksandr Shovkovsky,Oleksandr Golovko,Kakhaber Kaladze,Oleg Luzhnyi,Vladislav Vashchuk, Andriy Gusin,Vasyl Kardash (46`Valentin Bialkevich),Aleksandr Khatskevich, Vitali Kosovsky (85`Artem Yashkin),Sergiy Rebrov, Andriy Shevchenko. Coach: Valery Lobanovsky.

Real Madrid: Bodo Illgner,Roberto Carlos,Fernando Hierro,Robert Jarni (82` Christian Karembeu),Christian Panucci,Manolo Sanchis (71`Jose Maria Guti),Ivan Campo,Fernando Redondo,Clarence Seedorf (67`Davor Suker),Raul Gonzalez,Fernando Morientes. Coach: John Toshack.

L'héritier d'OIeg Blokhine, le mythique attaquant du Dynamo Kiev des années soixante-dix, a eu une enfance qui aurait pu être tragique. Né dans le petit village de Dvirkivchtchyna, il doit quitter précipitamment la maison de son enfance à l'âge de 10 ans. À quelques kilomètres de là, un des réacteurs de la centrale nucléaire de Tchernobyl vient d'exploser et tous les habitants de la zone doivent être évacués. Il ne sera pas contaminé, mais son enfance sera brisée par cet événement. Heureusement, il y a le football. Repéré dès l'âge de 9 ans, il intègre le centre de formation du Dynamo Kiev quelques semaines après la catastrophe qui aurait pu lui coûter la vie. Protégé par les dirigeants qui ont décelé tout son talent, il fait son apprentissage dans les équipes déjeunes. Le 20 octobre 1984, à 18 ans, il fait sa première apparition en équipe première.

Milan reached the Champions League final for three consecutive years: in 1993 they were defeated by Olympique de Marseille; this match was disputed by a match-fixing scandal in the French league involving Marseille's then club president. In 1994 it was F.C. Barcelona who experienced the taste of defeat, after a famous 4-0 win at the hands of the Rossoneri; and in the 1995 finals, Milan were again defeated, this time by Ajax. Then, in 1995-96, led by famous world-class players such as Roberto Baggio, Marco Simone and George Weah, Milan gained their fifteenth Italian Championship. Milan's primary line-up under Capello (1996): Sebastiano Rossi; Christian Panucci, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini; Roberto Donadoni, Demetrio Albertini, Marcel Desailly; Zvonimir Boban; George Weah, Roberto Baggio.

Juillet 1974 : Ruud Gullit et Frank Rijkaard, 11 ans, sont retournés jouer au ballon dans les rues du Jordaan avec les autres mômes de ce quartier du cœur d'Amsterdam. Marco Van Basten, 9 ans, est rentré d'Italie où il passait ses vacances avec papa et maman. Trois gamins tristes et déçus, comme tous les Hollandais en ces lendemains de finale de Coupe du Monde perdue injustement. Mais la vie continue : l'école, un peu, et le football, beaucoup, toujours. La passion. « J'ai longtemps vécu de pain et de ballon » dit Rijkaard. Les premiers pas et, bientôt, les premières émotions. Avec Feyenoord puis le PSV Eindhoven pour Gullit : avec l'Ajax pour Rijkaard et Van Basten. Et puis, l'exil. Ruud et Marco partent pour l'Italie, parce qu'ils sont forts, très forts et parce que c'est en Italie que s'en vont jouer les meilleurs, Silvio Berlusconi, le président du Milan AC a du flair et de l'argent. Il se paye Gullit et Van Basten et prend une option sur Rijkaard, qui les rejoindra un an plus tard. Joli calcul. Juin 1988 : le triomphe des Pays-Bas au Championnat d'Europe chasse les vieux fantômes orange, « C'est le fruit d'un long travail et d'une grande patience. Mais il faut arrêter de comparer deux générations différentes. »

The European Cup final: 28 May 1969. Milan were playing the soon-to-be-great Ajax team of Cruyff and Neeskens - at the Bernabeu in Madrid. With fifteen minutes to go, and Milan already 3-1 up, Gianni Rivera played a one-two on the halfway line and broke clear towards the Ajax goal. He pushed the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper but out wide to the by-line. Then, in the black and white film, the game appeared to stop. Rivera, like all great players - Maradona, Platini, Zidane - seemed to be playing in a kind of time capsule. He looked up, waited, changed his mind, moved the ball to his right foot and floated it across to the far post where, seconds earlier, there was just space. Out of nowhere, an attacker rushed forward to meet the ball perfectly with his head. Pierino Prati, the Milan number nine, had begun his run seconds earlier, from 40 yards out. It is difficult to define genius, but Rivera's pass - and his ability to wait - came close. It was a pass to compare with Pele's to Carlos Alberto in the 1970 World Cup final. Born to an unprivileged family during World War Two, Rivera's first games were in the courtyards and streets of the small Piedmontese town of Alessandria, and then in the playground of his neighbourhood church.

Stadio San Siro Milano

21a giornata

3 mars 1985

L'estate del 1984 fu tutta nel segno di Diego Armando Maradona, il Napoli infatti fece follie per acquistare il talentuoso fuoriclasse argentino: una trattativa tribolata, andata avanti per oltre un mese e conclusasi con il trasferimento del giocatore in Italia in cambio di oltre tredici miliardi di lire. Il 5 luglio furono in settantamila al San Paolo ad assistere alla sua presentazione. Un po' tutte le squadre puntarono su calciatori stranieri: Rummenigge passò all'Inter, Sócrates alla Fiorentina, Júnior al Torino, Souness alla Sampdoria, Strömberg all'Atalanta, Wilkins e Hateley al Milan.

San Siro Milano
2 Fevrier 1997

Milan: Pagotto, Coco, Costacurta, Baresi, Maldini (35' Blomqvist), Savicevic, Albertini, Desailly, Boban (54' Davids), Weah (73' Reiziger), Baggio.

(In panchina: Rossi, Vierchowod, Dugarry, Simone)

Allenatore: Arrigo Sacchi

Sampdoria: Ferron, Balleri, Dieng, Mihajlovic, Pesaresi, Karembeu, Veron (60' Carparelli), Franceschetti (86' Invernizzi), Laigle, Montella (23' Sereni), Mancini.

(In panchina: Sacchetti, Evani, Salsano, Iacopino)

Allenatore: Sven Goran Eriksson.

Stadio Olimpico di Torino
5 Mars 2011

Gigi Delneri needs to get his team back into winning form as soon as possible. Juve is losing ground in European football with passing games and missing out on Europe as the new stadium opening next season can have negative impacts. Juve’s defence has been playing quite poorly in 2011. Fielding Chiellini as left-back and having Barzagli partner Bonucci in central defence was successful initially but has failed in last 2 matches. Barzagli’s poor performances has made the defence extremely fragile and Chiellini is unable to cover for him from the flanks. There is a chance that Armand Traore or Zdenek Grygera will slot in as a left back against Milan while Chiellini moves back into central defence. Milan had suffered a slump in form in 2011, dropping points in numerous matches and losing the Champions league home leg.

The competition was won by Milan, who beat Juventus on penalties in the European Cup's first ever all-Italian final, to win their sixth European title, and its first in nine years. Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy was again the top scorer, scoring 12 goals over the two group stages and knockout stage, in addition to two goals he had scored in the qualifying phase. Real Madrid were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Juventus.

Milan won Group G of the first group round, group which also included Bayern, Lens and Deportivo, advancing to the second group round where they won group C. They defeated Real Madrid, Dortmund and Lokomotiv Moscova. They lost only two matches (Dortmund 0-1, and Real Madrid 1-3) but they advanced to the Quarter-finals where they met Ajax Amsterdam . The first leg was a draw (0-0) so the decisive match was the one on San Siro which Milan won (3-2). In the semi-finals they met local rivals Internazionale. Both matches finished equal (0-0; 1-1), but Milan advanced on away goals.