Showing posts with label Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Show all posts

Thursday, May 26, 2011

27 May 2000 - A Century Of Silverware

On 27 May 2000, Rangers defeated Aberdeen in Scottish Cup Final, making them the first club in the world to secure 100 major trophies.

Founded in 1872, Rangers started the 1999-2000 season with 98 major trophies, including 48 league titles, 28 Scottish Cups, 21 Scottish League Cups, and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They had the chance to take four more trophies that season, but were eliminated from the Scottish League Cup and the UEFA Cup in December.

The focus on their two remaining competitions paid off--they clinched the league title on 22 April after Celtic's draw with Hibernian left the former 17 points adrift of Rangers with only five matches left to play. Rangers proceeded to finish 21 points clear of their Old Firm rivals in the final table.

That left the Scottish Cup Final, played before a crowd of over 50,000 at Hampden Park. Although Aberdeen had knocked Rangers out of the League Cup in the quarterfinals, 0-1 (aet), the Scottish Cup Final was not as close a contest. Rangers won 0-4 with goals from Giovanni van Bronckhorst (36'), Tony Vidmar (47'), Billy Dodds (50'), and Jörg Albertz (51').

Since then, Rangers have continued to add to their silverware collection with five more league titles, four more Scottish Cups, and one more League Cup.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

10 December 1997 - But I'm Sure They Were Happy Just To Be There

On 10 December 1997, MFK Košice lost 0-1 to Feyenoord, thus becoming the first-ever team to bow out of the Champions League with zero points.

Reigning champions of Slovakia's top flight, Košice reached the group stage by beating Icelandic club ÍA 4-0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, then defeating Spartak Moscow 2-1 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. In doing so, they were the first Slovakian club to make it to the group stage.

But their good fortune ended there. They failed to even score in the first legs opening the tournament with a 3-goal loss to Manchester United, followed by a 2-0 loss to Feyenoord, then a 1-goal loss to eventual finalists Juventus. They improved in the rematch with Juve, but still fell, 3-2, then lost again to man United, 3-0. They were already guaranteed to finish at the bottom of the group regardless of the results in their last match against Feyenoord, who were also mathematically eliminated from the competition.

Played at the Všešportový areál in Košice, the hosts kept it close for most of the match and nearly walked away with a point, but succumbed to an 81st-minute strike from Giovanni van Bronckhorst to end the tournament's worst campaign in history with 6 losses in 6 matches.