First and
Second Leg
April 1975
Bolton Wanderers had to battle hard in the quarter finals to secure their place in the semis. They were drawn away at Birmingham City and won the ding-dong match 3-2. Johan Elmander gave them the lead after 20 minutes but Cameron Jerome equalised for Birmingham City shortly afterwards. Bolton again took the lead at 60 minutes through Kevin Davies from the penalty spot. But Birmingham still had fire and equalised again with just 10 minutes to go through Kevin Phillips. It was down to South Korean international Chung-Yong Lee to head the winner in the last minute. The Wanderers had a 2-0 home win over non-league York City to begin their campaign before being held at home to a goalless draw against local rivals Wigan Atheltic. It took a 66th minute winner by Ivan Klasnic in the replay to get them into the fifth round, where they had to travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham. An early goal by Ivan Klasnic secured the 1-0 win.
Stoke City had a tough 2-1 win over Premiership strugglers West Ham United in the quarter finals. Defender Robert Huth put them in the lead early in the game before Frederic Piquionne equalised shortly afterwards. It took a goal by another defender – Danny Higginbotham – on the hour mark to secure the victory. City started their Cup run nervously with a 1-1 home draw against Championship side Cardiff City before winning the replay 2-0 after extra time. This set up a local derby away at Wolverhampton Wanderers, which they won 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Huth. The fifth round saw them win comfortably 3-0 against Brighton & Hove Albion.
In the first 'El Clasico' of the season back in November, Barcelona put in the ultimate clinical performance. The game will be remembered as one of the most clinical and complete performances from Barcelona. The quality of the team performance made Madrid look distinctly average - a feeling Ronaldo isn't used to. Even if Ronaldo can maintain his impressive amount of shots per game, the Real Madrid goal-machine will be up against one of the most challenging keepers in football. Victor Valdés has saved 81% of shots he has faced this season in the Spanish top flight. The Spanish shot stopper has only conceded 14 goals this season in La LIga. Another stat that Ronaldo will be well aware of heading into El Clasico is that the Portuguese international has never scored or assisted a goal when playing against Lionel Messi at club level. Incredibly, Ronaldo has a poor record against the No.1 player in the world that stretches back to his early days at Manchester United.
Ron Greenwood's England team had gone to Oslo bouyed by an excellent 3-1 away win against Hungary, the eventual group winners in the previous game. The Norwegian side at that time were much like their Eurovision Song Contest participants. Not quite 'nil points' but nevertheless, this was expected to be easy pickings for the highly rated English. Greenwood had made three changes to his side, with a young Glenn Hoddle replacing the injured Trevor Brooking, Trevor Francis in for Steve Coppell and Russell Osman preferred at the back instead of Dave Watson. A packed & noisy home stadium witnessed the start that most expected, with England dominant and pressing for an early lead. On 14 minutes, their possession was rewarded with a goal by Bryan Robson, who bundled in from close range after a flick on by Kevin Keegan.
All was going to plan, the crowd was quietened, and England started to control the game, but never really threatening to overrun the Norwegians. England perhaps took it a little too easy, expectant of the cushion of a second goal. This allowed Norway to build in confidence, and when the equaliser came in the 34th minute, it was not against the run of play.
England started the second half much as they had done the first, and a leveller seemed to be on the cards. Peter Barnes replaced Hoddle, and started to cause problems and swing in a few crosses. The chances created though were not clear cut, and England were lucky not to go further behind when Clemence made an excellent 1 on 1 save from Pål Jacobsen. One clear chance fell to Trevor Francis, whose guided header from a Barnes dead ball went agonisingly close. In a desperate attempt to salvage something from the game, Greenwood introduced Withe for Mariner on 75 minutes, but the Norwegians were now defending like Trojans and the chances never came.Après un treizième titre, Ajax eut en 1968 une grande saison européenne. D'abord le champion d'Allemagne, le F.C. Nurenberg. Résultats : 1-1 en Allemagne et 4-0 à Amsterdam. Conclusions de l'entraîneur allemand Max Merkel : "je n'ai pas de joueur comme Cruyff et Keizer". Au troisième tour, Benfica et un fameux match d'appui à Paris remporté grâce à deux buts du Suédois Danielsson et un de Cruyff. En demi-finale, Ajax gagnait 3-0 à domicile devant le Spartak de Trnava. On pensait que la route de la finale était ouverte. Elle ne le fut que grâce au gardien Gert Bals qui n'encaissa que deux buts. C'était l'enfer» dira Michels.
Urged on by their fans in che 30,000 capacity crowd, Franz Beckenbauer scored with what looked to be a rather weak long-distance effort, the ball somehow fînding its way past a groping Bonetti, Left back Terry Cooper was struggling as Grabowski's pace began to cause probiems. Uwe Seeler, beating the offside trap, rose to back-head the equaliser past the England 'keeper and take the contest info extra-time. England were then denied what looked like a perfectly valid goal by Hurst before che Germans claîmed the winnner. The ball was switched from one side of the fïeld to the other and eventually it found the unmarked Gerd Muller who smashed his shot past Bonetti from close range. England were out...
In the three other quarter-final matches, Brazil beat Peru 4-2, Uruguay defeated the USSR 1-0 and Italy destroyed Mexico 4-1. Brazil went on to beat Uruguay 3-1 in their semi-final in Guadalajara while Italy and West Germany were involved in a seven-goal thriller in the Azteca Stadiurn. Italy, firing on all four cylinders, won 4-3, Rivera scoring the decider late on after a ding-dong contest. West Germany then defeated Uruguay 1-0 to claim third place.