Friday, May 12, 2023
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Ligue des Champions 1996 1997 Borussia Dortmund Juventus Turin
FinaleOlympic Stadium
28 Mai 1997
Juventus, the finest club side in Europe, were clear favourites. The Final, held in Juventus' centenary year, was to be a showcase for the awesome talents of Del Piero, Boksic and Zidane, and Borussia were simply a sideshow. What actually happened was one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament. Sweeper and club inspiration Matthias Sammer was back for Borussia, and the German team contained no less than four ex-Juve players - Kohler, Moller, Paulo Sousa and Reuter. They needed to be at their best as the game began, as Juventus started in ominous form. With Di Livio and jugovic pressing from midfield, and Boksic and Vieri threatening and stretching Borussia, the Germans were forced back into defence for the first 25 minutes.
European Cup 1995 1996 Ajax Amsterdam Juventus Turin
Finale22 Mai 1996
Stadio Olimpico Rome
When Juventus won the Champions League they celebrated as if for the first time. Their previous victory, in 1985, had been in the shadow of the Heysel disaster. As chief executive and former striker Roberto Bettega said, 'This is for real. We could never celebrate winning in 1985. We have waited a long time for this.'But even the achievement of sgueezing past outgoing holders Ajax on penalties would prove to be tarnished glory. Four years later, outspoken comments about the muscle-bound nature of various Juve players by Zdenek Zeman, an Italian-based Czech coach, turned out to be their undoing. Zeman's comments prompted a criminal investigation by a Turin public prosecutor, Raffaele Guariniello, himself ironically a Juve fan.
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