From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1989 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Nou Camp, Barcelona, on May 24, 1989, that saw AC Milan of Italy defeat Steaua Bucureşti of Romania 4 - 0.
[edit] Match Summary
The final saw possibly the greatest movement of people for a sporting event ever seen as an estimated 80,000 Milanese supporters made the journey to Barcelona in anticipation of their team being crowned European champions. As they had been three years earlier, Steaua Bucureşti were massive underdogs against highly fancied glamour opponents and in front of an overwhelmingly hostile crowd. Managed by Anghel Iordanescu, who had come on as substitute in their previous final appearance, Steaua were without the suspended Dumitrescu, but still possessed plenty of goalscoring potential with their dangerous counter attacking midfielders Hagi, Petrescu and Stoica and accomplished forward Lacatus. AC Milan were hoping that Ruud Gullit would prove to be fully recovered from the cartilage operation that he had undergone after the semi-final with Real.
In the event, the final could hardly have proved more different from the last time Steaua Bucureşti had appeared in Europe’s showcase game. Instead of a plucky underdog stifling the nervous favourites and holding on to win on penalties, on this occasion the favourites justified their position with an exhibition of brilliant, thrilling football. Arrigo Sacchi the AC Milan coach had set out to attack Steaua with Frank Rijkaard moving up into midfield and full backs Mauro Tassotti and Paolo Maldini pushing forward and playing almost as wingers.
It did not take long for Milan to break through. Gullit almost opened the scoring after quarter of an hour when Baresi put him clear, only for his shot to rebound away off the post. A few minutes later and Milan were ahead when Van Basten’s cross shot was only parried by Lung in the Steaua goal and Ruud Gullit prodded home the rebound. On 26 minutes a Milan corner was cleared only as far as Tassotti and his cross was headed home by Marco Van Basten. With 38 minutes on the clock, Ruud Gullit scored the best goal of the night as he crashed a volley into the roof of the net to make it 3-0. The interval brought a brief respite for the Romanians, but within moments of the restart Marco Van Basten strolled onto Rijkaard's pass and steered the ball home. The game was now won, and with AC Milan wasting further opportunities to score, the highlight of the remainder of the game was the standing ovation afforded to Ruud Gullit when he was substituted on the hour. There were no more goals and the match finished 4-0.
Franco Baresi lifted the European Cup as the thousands of Milan supporters celebrated the most comprehensive win in a European Cup final since the 1974 replay and pundits drew comparisons with Real Madrid’s performance in 1960. Whether or not Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and the rest of the team were as good as the likes of Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas was a matter of opinion, but the fact was that AC Milan were now undoubtedly the top team in Europe and, with the financial might of Silvio Berlusconi behind them, they looked set to rule over European football for many years to come.
[edit] Match details
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
AC Milan
Steaua Bucureşti
