25 October 2007 - They Didn't Give Him Much Incentive To Win It, Did They?

On 25 October 2007, manager Martin Jol guided Tottenham Hotspur in their UEFA Cup tilt against Getafe despite being sacked earlier that day.

Jol, who had taken charge of Spurs in November 2004, led them to 9th-place in the final table that season, followed by consecutive 5th-place finishes in 2006 and 2007. But they had a rocky start to the 2007-08 season, with only one win in their first 10 matches. After only two matches, photographers caught Spurs officials meeting in a Spanish hotel with Sevilla manager Juande Ramos, fueling rampant speculation that Jol's departure was imminent.

Prior to the match against Getafe, Daily Mirror reporter John Cross announced that the Spurs board had in fact sacked Jol, but that he would nonetheless take charge of the side one last time. The word circulated throughout the stadium, leading the Spurs supporters to chant "Stand up for Martin Jol." But it was an unhappy curtain call for the Dutchman, as Getafe won 1-2.

Ramos indeed succeeded Jol, but lasted just under one year before getting sacked himself. Jol, meanwhile, moved to Hamburg. After guiding them to a 5th-place finish in 2008, he moved to his current club, Ajax.

25 August 2007 - Puerta Collapses

On 25 August 2007, 22-year old Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta collapsed on the pitch in the 36th minute of Sevilla's league opener against Getafe. He briefly lost consciousness, but soon recovered and was substituted out the game. He walked back to the dressing room, where he again collapsed and lost consciousness before being rushed to Seville's Virgen de Rocio hospital.

Puerta had recently established himself as a rising star for Sevilla, having scored the extra-time match-winner in the club's 1-0 win over Schalke 04 in the UEFA Cup semi-finals. Sevilla supporters refer to that goal as "el gol quenos cambió la vida" (the goal that changed our lives) because it propelled them into a world-record-setting streak of five trophies in 15 months, starting with the 2006 UEFA Cup Final against Middlesbrough, which Sevilla won 4-0, and including the 2006 UEFA Super Cup, the 2007 Copa del Rey, the 2007 Supercopa de Espana, and the 2007 UEFA Cup Final against Espanyol, in which Puerta scored the winning penalty.

Puerta died on 28 August, his third day in the hospital. Doctors confirmed the cause as multiple cardiac arrests brought on by arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, a hereditary heart disease.

On 31 August, Sevilla played in the European Super Cup against AC Milan. As a tribute, the players from both sides all wore shirts with Puerta's name on the back.