May 24, 1995: Patrick Kluivert Saves Ajax

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. 

May 21, 2008: John Terry's Slip

May 21, 2008: The UEFA Champions League Final is held. For the 1st time, 2 English teams play each other in it. So, of course, the venue is… the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. As with the Super Bowl, the site is chosen years in advance, in the hopes that it will be a neutral site.

Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United and Frank Lampard of Chelsea traded goals in the 1st half. There were no more goals in the 2nd half or in extra time. The game went to penalties, with United's Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar facing Chelsea's Czech keeper Petr Čech.

United won the coin toss, and chose to kick first. Carlos Tevez made his kick, while Michael Ballack made his. Each goalie went in the correct direction, but neither could stop the shot. In the 2nd round, both Michael Carrick and Juliano Belletti -- brought on by Chelsea manager Avram Grant in the last minute of extra time, specifically to make him available for penalties -- successfully converted. This time, each goalie went in the wrong direction.

Cristiano tried to play a mind game with Čech, stopping short, and starting again, kicking to his own left. He outsmarted himself: Čech dove in the right direction, and knocked it away. Lampard converted, past van der Sar, going in the right direction, putting Chelsea up, 3-2. Owen Hargreaves and Ashley Cole each converted, despite each goalie getting a fingertip on it. It was 4-3 Chelsea.

In the 5th and last round of regular penalties, needing to convert to keep United alive, Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha, a.k.a. Nani, converted, despite Čech going the right way. It was up to Chelsea's Captain, John Terry, already infamous for his racism and for the drunken abuse that he and Lampard had given stranded American tourists at an airport hotel after the 9/11 attacks -- but not yet having had an affair with the girlfriend of teammate Wayne Bridge -- to make Chelsea the Champions of Europe.

Ordinarily, the Luzhniki had artificial turf. In order to qualify as a host for a European tournament final, real grass had to be laid down. It was too newly laid down, and it was wet from the rain that fell throughout the game. Terry slipped as he made contact, and the ball glanced off the right goalpost. It was 4-4.

The penalties went to sudden death. Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira, like many Brazilian players known by just his first name, another end-of-game, in-case-it-goes-to-penalties sub, kicked it down the middle, with Čech going to his left. Salomon Kalou sent van der Sar the wrong way, and it was 5-5.

Ryan Giggs kicked to his left, and Čech went the other way. It was 6-5, and it was up to Nicolas Anelka for Chelsea. He kicked to his left, and van der Sar saved it. United had won.

The already-knighted Sir Alex Ferguson

with the European Cup, a.k.a. "Ol' Big Ears"

Chelsea regard Terry as "Captain, Leader, Legend." But even after Chelsea finally won the Champions League in 2012, after spending so many of Roman Abramovich's petrodollars -- a Final that Terry missed due to injury -- the defining moment of his career isn't his bad behavior, on and off the pitch, but that slip in Moscow.

The Luzhniki, formerly the Lenin Stadium, joined the Olympic Stadiums of Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Munich and Athens, and London's original Wembley Stadium, as stadiums hosting an Olympic Games and a European Cup/Champions League Final. However, it did not join old Wembley and the Olympic Stadiums of Berlin, Rome and Munich as stadiums hosting an Olympics, a European Cup Final and a World Cup Final. The old stadium has been demolished and replaced, and it was the new Luzhniki Stadium that hosted the 2018 World Cup Final.

*

May 21, 2008 was a Wednesday. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in progress, but no games were scheduled for this day. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs: The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 89-85 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-0 at Yankee Stadium. Darrell Rasner pitched 7 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Joba Chamberlain allowed 1 hit over the last 2 innings. Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Derek Jeter went 0-for-3 with a walk, and had an RBI on a groundout.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 11-4 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Jair Jurrjens outpitched Mike Pelfrey. Chipper Jones bedeviled the Mets again, hitting a home run. So did Jeff Francoeur.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-3 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals, 12-2 at Nationals Park in Washington. The Phils scored 6 runs in the 6th inning. Ryan Howard went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Both Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino also had 3 hits including a home run. Jamie Moyer was the winning pitcher.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 10-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at Coors Field in Denver. Omar Vizquel, the longtime superb shortstop for Cleveland, drives Ray Durham home with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 11-3 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 9-1 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).