1995/96 Final

Rome 1996: Juve finally celebrate

Eleven years after the Heysel tragedy had completely overshadowed their first European Champion Clubs’ Cup success, Juventus FC were finally able to celebrate winning club football’s biggest prize with a dramatic UEFA Champions League final win over the holders AFC Ajax. Despite the penalty lottery, Juve coach Marcello Lippi said his team’s triumph was merited. “We deserved to win the match after 90 minutes, and we did enough to win it after 120 minutes. Mercifully we won it on penalties, “ he said.

Penalty pain
Edgar Davids, currently with Juventus, and Sonny Silooy missed their penalties to give the Italian side a 4-2 shootout win after a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes. Vladimir Jugovic, who won the trophy in 1991 with FK Crvena Zvezda, leapt for joy after scoring the winning kick. and Gianluca Vialli, who missed a chance to seal the win four minutes before the end of regulation time in his last match for Juve before a switch to Chelsea FC, lifted the famous trophy.

Juve approach pays off
Whatever about the unsatisfactory denouement, the final itself was a minor classic. Veteran defender Pietro Viechowod, ably assisted by Ciro Ferrara, effectively stymied the Ajax attack, while the three-pronged Juve attack of Alessandro del Piero, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Vialli unsettled the Dutch defence. Nonetheless, Ajax played some pretty, pleasing football in the first half but lacked a cutting edge.

Ravanelli opener
Juve, perhaps motivated by revenge after the 1971 final defeat to Ajax, were much more purposeful and took the lead in the 13th minute through Fabrizio Ravanelli. He pounced on a Frank de Boer error bustled past the defender and squeezed the ball home form a tight angle.

Litmanen leveller
Ajax’s patient game finally paid off, however, as De Boer atoned for his mistake by setting up the Ajax equaliser. Angelo Peruzzi failed to claim his free kick and Jari Litmanen pounced for his ninth Champions League goal of the season. The second half was more muted, but Juve had chances to seal the win in normal time. The best fell to Vialli but he hit the side netting, while in extra time, he also looked the most likely to break the deadlock, only to be foiled by Van der Sar, who later went on to play for the Turin giants.

Dutch despair
Like most of his Ajax colleagues, the big keeper was to become used to shootout failure in the rest of the decade, with the Netherlands bowing out of EURO 96™. the 1998 FIFA World Cup and EURO 2000™ on penalties, but this was his first taste of the heartache. His opposite number Peruzzi emerged as the Juve hero, saving first from Silooy and then Davids. Ajax boss Louis van Gaal remarked: “I realised we had lost the match before the penalties were even taken. There were few players who wanted to take them because they had no confidence. When you see that, you know you have lost the game. You saw the way Juve took them -- with much more confidence.”