May 24, 1995: The UEFA Champions League Final is held at Ernst-Happel-Stadion in a rainy Vienna, Austria. A.C. Milan, the defending Champions, had done well the last few years with Dutch players, such as Marco van Basten, formerly of Amsterdam team AFC Ajax; Frank Rijkaard, and Ruud Gullit.
But this time, they were almost entirely Italian, including Captain Franco Baresi and Alessandro Costacurta at centreback, Paolo Maldini at left back, and Roberto Donadoni in midfield. The only non-paesans were black Frenchman Marcel Desailly and Croatian Zvonimir Boban in midfield.
Perhaps their drift away from Dutch total football made it poetic justice that they would play Ajax in the Final. Aside from a pair of Nigerian forwards, starter Finidi George and backup Nwankwo Kanu, and Finnish midfielder Jari Litmanen, they were all Dutch, including a returned Rijkaard, goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, centreback and Captain Danny Blind, twin brothers Frank de Boer at left back and Ronald de Boer at forward, Clarence Seedorf and Edgar Davids in midfield, and Marc Overmars at forward.
The game turned out to be less modern Dutch total football and more old Italian catenaccio: It was 0-0 until the 85th minute. It was a substitute, Patrick Kluivert of Ajax, who scored the game's only goal. Ajax were 1-0 winners, and claimed their 4th European Cup, after the 3 straight with Johan Cruijff in 1971, '72 and '73.
But as has so often happened, Ajax were able to build a great team, but not keep it together: van der Sar would later star for Manchester United; Kluivert, Rijkaard, the de Boer twins and Winston Bogarde for Barcelona; Davids for Juventus, Overmars and Kanu for Arsenal, George for Real Betis; and Seedorf, with some irony, for Milan. Ajax returned to the Champions League Final the next season, and the Semifinal the year after that, but lost to Juventus both times. They've only gotten as far as the Semifinals once since, in 2019.
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May 24, 1995 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the California Angels, 3-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Jack McDowell blew a 1-0 lead as the Halos scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. Don Mattingly went 0-for-4.
* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0 at Shea Stadium. Pedro Astacio pitched a 6-hit shutout.
* The Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Tony Gwynn was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-5 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-5 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 14-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
* A doubleheader was split at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 10-8. The Texas Rangers won the nightcap, 13-6.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-5 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-3 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. It looked like Mike Mussina would outpitch Dave Stewart, but the A's scored 2 runs in the 7th and 2 in the 8th to win it, making a winning pitcher out of Jim Corsi. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox, 15-6 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. Alex Rodriguez went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
Football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 106-95 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
And there were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, both Eastern Conference Semifinals, within 7 miles of each other.. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the New York Rangers, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden. And the New Jersey Devils beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-1 at the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands.
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