When Doc Brown and Marty McFly punched 1955 into the dashboard of their DeLorean, they really missed a trick. The year was spot on, but the primo time-travel stuff was elsewhere, an ocean away from that high-school dance in Hill Valley, USA. Sure, we were all delighted by the shenanigans with Biff and Lorraine… but Great Scott! Lads, get back in the car because here’s a better idea – plug in the flux capacitor, crank the speed up to 88mph and get yourselves to Lisbon on 4 September 1955.
The Estádio Nacional was the place to be that day, the bowl-shaped ground buffeted by strong winds that feel now like a portent. Clubs from different countries had met before, but never like this. Not in the way that Sporting CP and Partizan were about to mark a turning point in sport, the two clubs uniting for the first game in the European Cup. Originally launched as the brainchild of French sports daily L’Équipe, this new-fangled competition had finally come to life – and here, in front of 30,000 curious onlookers, it was set to get started with a six-goal thriller.
The opening strike after 14 minutes brought another milestone worthy of a plaque. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi piled up their mindboggling totals, there was Sporting forward João Martins, a former cork stripper by trade, set free by team-mate Manuel Vasques to fire the hosts in front.
Not a name associated with football’s pioneering greats, Martins was hardly a leading light in his heyday either. Instead, the versatile No9 had to toil in the shadow of Sporting’s legendary ‘five violins’ – and nor did his fame soar after retirement. Martins worked in a French factory until his death in 1993, but he will always remain the first player to get his name on a European Cup scoresheet. And the first to hit a double too, since it was equaliser that allowed the Lions, reduced to ten men on 50 minutes, to grab a 3-3 draw.
The two teams toasted their trailblazing encounter by dining together that evening at a Lisbon restaurant. And they crossed paths again in Belgrade the following month as Partizan prevailed 5-2 and 8-5 on aggregate, thanks largely to four goals from Miloš Milutinović – the first ‘poker’ in the European Cup record books, with Péter Palotás having snagged the first hat-trick for MTK Budapest against Anderlecht on 7 September.
“Now and again, some smartarse will ask me about that Gladbach penalty”
No ties in that maiden season finished level after two legs, but eventually something would have to give – and so it did in September 1956 after Dortmund’s preliminary round tie against Spora Luxembourg produced a 5-5 aggregate draw. Remarkably, given how close their home and away fixtures had been, the first replay in European Cup history ended in a 7-0 stroll for Dortmund… no doubt helped by the fact they were hosting the game.
There were clear winners on that occasion, but what do when the replay also finished level? East German side Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and Poland’s Gwardia Warszawa were the first to find out in October 1957, when the floodlights failed in extra time of their preliminary round decider. With the scoreline locked at 1-1, a coin had to be tossed so that everyone could move on with their lives. In an outcome that might have amused Karl Marx himself, the whims of the coin favoured the team bearing his name.
Replays and coin flips soon began to lose their appeal in an increasingly professional game, and a new method was devised to sort the wheat from the chaff. So it was that colourful Icelandic forward Hermann Gunnarsson struck the competition’s first away-goal clincher in October 1967. Only the third player from his nation to turn professional – and a handball international to boot – his second effort for Valur away against Jeunesse Esch secured a 3-3 draw on the day and a 4-4 aggregate result, those three goals in Luxembourg sending the visitors through to the second round.
The away-goals rule was ultimately abolished in 2021, leaving only the newest tie-breaker still in place: the penalty shoot-out. The honour of hashing out the first in the European Cup fell to Everton and Borussia Mönchengladbach in November 1970, when the pair were deadlocked after extra time at Goodison Park. Step forward Joe Royle, the goalmouth a mud bath as he ran up to take the landmark opening kick… only to be denied by Gladbach keeper Wolfgang Kleff, sprawling to his right.
“Now and again, if you go to an Everton do, there’ll be some smartarse who wants to ask me about the Mönchengladbach penalty,” Royle later lamented. Indeed, it felt like a seismic moment, Kleff celebrating with colleagues as if he’d won the tie. Although opposite number Andy Rankin had the last laugh, denying Ludwig Müller to seal a 4-3 shoot-out success for the Toffees, Kleff is still rightly proud of his historic stop. “When books are written about the club, it’s in there,” he went on to note. “Because I saved a penalty, I was the only winner!”
Since then, the one major format change – until next season’s switch from the group stage to a league phase – has been the dawn of the Champions League era in 1992/93. That debut campaign featured just one knockout match: the final itself, Marseille defeating AC Milan 1-0… but that’s another story. Finals surely belong in a category of their own, at the end of the long knockout road. And a place without roads? Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have to get back in the DeLorean to go exploring there.
When Doc Brown and Marty McFly punched 1955 into the dashboard of their DeLorean, they really missed a trick. The year was spot on, but the primo time-travel stuff was elsewhere, an ocean away from that high-school dance in Hill Valley, USA. Sure, we were all delighted by the shenanigans with Biff and Lorraine… but Great Scott! Lads, get back in the car because here’s a better idea – plug in the flux capacitor, crank the speed up to 88mph and get yourselves to Lisbon on 4 September 1955.
The Estádio Nacional was the place to be that day, the bowl-shaped ground buffeted by strong winds that feel now like a portent. Clubs from different countries had met before, but never like this. Not in the way that Sporting CP and Partizan were about to mark a turning point in sport, the two clubs uniting for the first game in the European Cup. Originally launched as the brainchild of French sports daily L’Équipe, this new-fangled competition had finally come to life – and here, in front of 30,000 curious onlookers, it was set to get started with a six-goal thriller.
The opening strike after 14 minutes brought another milestone worthy of a plaque. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi piled up their mindboggling totals, there was Sporting forward João Martins, a former cork stripper by trade, set free by team-mate Manuel Vasques to fire the hosts in front.
Not a name associated with football’s pioneering greats, Martins was hardly a leading light in his heyday either. Instead, the versatile No9 had to toil in the shadow of Sporting’s legendary ‘five violins’ – and nor did his fame soar after retirement. Martins worked in a French factory until his death in 1993, but he will always remain the first player to get his name on a European Cup scoresheet. And the first to hit a double too, since it was equaliser that allowed the Lions, reduced to ten men on 50 minutes, to grab a 3-3 draw.
The two teams toasted their trailblazing encounter by dining together that evening at a Lisbon restaurant. And they crossed paths again in Belgrade the following month as Partizan prevailed 5-2 and 8-5 on aggregate, thanks largely to four goals from Miloš Milutinović – the first ‘poker’ in the European Cup record books, with Péter Palotás having snagged the first hat-trick for MTK Budapest against Anderlecht on 7 September.
“Now and again, some smartarse will ask me about that Gladbach penalty”
No ties in that maiden season finished level after two legs, but eventually something would have to give – and so it did in September 1956 after Dortmund’s preliminary round tie against Spora Luxembourg produced a 5-5 aggregate draw. Remarkably, given how close their home and away fixtures had been, the first replay in European Cup history ended in a 7-0 stroll for Dortmund… no doubt helped by the fact they were hosting the game.
There were clear winners on that occasion, but what do when the replay also finished level? East German side Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and Poland’s Gwardia Warszawa were the first to find out in October 1957, when the floodlights failed in extra time of their preliminary round decider. With the scoreline locked at 1-1, a coin had to be tossed so that everyone could move on with their lives. In an outcome that might have amused Karl Marx himself, the whims of the coin favoured the team bearing his name.
Replays and coin flips soon began to lose their appeal in an increasingly professional game, and a new method was devised to sort the wheat from the chaff. So it was that colourful Icelandic forward Hermann Gunnarsson struck the competition’s first away-goal clincher in October 1967. Only the third player from his nation to turn professional – and a handball international to boot – his second effort for Valur away against Jeunesse Esch secured a 3-3 draw on the day and a 4-4 aggregate result, those three goals in Luxembourg sending the visitors through to the second round.
The away-goals rule was ultimately abolished in 2021, leaving only the newest tie-breaker still in place: the penalty shoot-out. The honour of hashing out the first in the European Cup fell to Everton and Borussia Mönchengladbach in November 1970, when the pair were deadlocked after extra time at Goodison Park. Step forward Joe Royle, the goalmouth a mud bath as he ran up to take the landmark opening kick… only to be denied by Gladbach keeper Wolfgang Kleff, sprawling to his right.
“Now and again, if you go to an Everton do, there’ll be some smartarse who wants to ask me about the Mönchengladbach penalty,” Royle later lamented. Indeed, it felt like a seismic moment, Kleff celebrating with colleagues as if he’d won the tie. Although opposite number Andy Rankin had the last laugh, denying Ludwig Müller to seal a 4-3 shoot-out success for the Toffees, Kleff is still rightly proud of his historic stop. “When books are written about the club, it’s in there,” he went on to note. “Because I saved a penalty, I was the only winner!”
Since then, the one major format change – until next season’s switch from the group stage to a league phase – has been the dawn of the Champions League era in 1992/93. That debut campaign featured just one knockout match: the final itself, Marseille defeating AC Milan 1-0… but that’s another story. Finals surely belong in a category of their own, at the end of the long knockout road. And a place without roads? Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have to get back in the DeLorean to go exploring there.
When Doc Brown and Marty McFly punched 1955 into the dashboard of their DeLorean, they really missed a trick. The year was spot on, but the primo time-travel stuff was elsewhere, an ocean away from that high-school dance in Hill Valley, USA. Sure, we were all delighted by the shenanigans with Biff and Lorraine… but Great Scott! Lads, get back in the car because here’s a better idea – plug in the flux capacitor, crank the speed up to 88mph and get yourselves to Lisbon on 4 September 1955.
The Estádio Nacional was the place to be that day, the bowl-shaped ground buffeted by strong winds that feel now like a portent. Clubs from different countries had met before, but never like this. Not in the way that Sporting CP and Partizan were about to mark a turning point in sport, the two clubs uniting for the first game in the European Cup. Originally launched as the brainchild of French sports daily L’Équipe, this new-fangled competition had finally come to life – and here, in front of 30,000 curious onlookers, it was set to get started with a six-goal thriller.
The opening strike after 14 minutes brought another milestone worthy of a plaque. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi piled up their mindboggling totals, there was Sporting forward João Martins, a former cork stripper by trade, set free by team-mate Manuel Vasques to fire the hosts in front.
Not a name associated with football’s pioneering greats, Martins was hardly a leading light in his heyday either. Instead, the versatile No9 had to toil in the shadow of Sporting’s legendary ‘five violins’ – and nor did his fame soar after retirement. Martins worked in a French factory until his death in 1993, but he will always remain the first player to get his name on a European Cup scoresheet. And the first to hit a double too, since it was equaliser that allowed the Lions, reduced to ten men on 50 minutes, to grab a 3-3 draw.
The two teams toasted their trailblazing encounter by dining together that evening at a Lisbon restaurant. And they crossed paths again in Belgrade the following month as Partizan prevailed 5-2 and 8-5 on aggregate, thanks largely to four goals from Miloš Milutinović – the first ‘poker’ in the European Cup record books, with Péter Palotás having snagged the first hat-trick for MTK Budapest against Anderlecht on 7 September.
“Now and again, some smartarse will ask me about that Gladbach penalty”
No ties in that maiden season finished level after two legs, but eventually something would have to give – and so it did in September 1956 after Dortmund’s preliminary round tie against Spora Luxembourg produced a 5-5 aggregate draw. Remarkably, given how close their home and away fixtures had been, the first replay in European Cup history ended in a 7-0 stroll for Dortmund… no doubt helped by the fact they were hosting the game.
There were clear winners on that occasion, but what do when the replay also finished level? East German side Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and Poland’s Gwardia Warszawa were the first to find out in October 1957, when the floodlights failed in extra time of their preliminary round decider. With the scoreline locked at 1-1, a coin had to be tossed so that everyone could move on with their lives. In an outcome that might have amused Karl Marx himself, the whims of the coin favoured the team bearing his name.
Replays and coin flips soon began to lose their appeal in an increasingly professional game, and a new method was devised to sort the wheat from the chaff. So it was that colourful Icelandic forward Hermann Gunnarsson struck the competition’s first away-goal clincher in October 1967. Only the third player from his nation to turn professional – and a handball international to boot – his second effort for Valur away against Jeunesse Esch secured a 3-3 draw on the day and a 4-4 aggregate result, those three goals in Luxembourg sending the visitors through to the second round.
The away-goals rule was ultimately abolished in 2021, leaving only the newest tie-breaker still in place: the penalty shoot-out. The honour of hashing out the first in the European Cup fell to Everton and Borussia Mönchengladbach in November 1970, when the pair were deadlocked after extra time at Goodison Park. Step forward Joe Royle, the goalmouth a mud bath as he ran up to take the landmark opening kick… only to be denied by Gladbach keeper Wolfgang Kleff, sprawling to his right.
“Now and again, if you go to an Everton do, there’ll be some smartarse who wants to ask me about the Mönchengladbach penalty,” Royle later lamented. Indeed, it felt like a seismic moment, Kleff celebrating with colleagues as if he’d won the tie. Although opposite number Andy Rankin had the last laugh, denying Ludwig Müller to seal a 4-3 shoot-out success for the Toffees, Kleff is still rightly proud of his historic stop. “When books are written about the club, it’s in there,” he went on to note. “Because I saved a penalty, I was the only winner!”
Since then, the one major format change – until next season’s switch from the group stage to a league phase – has been the dawn of the Champions League era in 1992/93. That debut campaign featured just one knockout match: the final itself, Marseille defeating AC Milan 1-0… but that’s another story. Finals surely belong in a category of their own, at the end of the long knockout road. And a place without roads? Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have to get back in the DeLorean to go exploring there.
When Doc Brown and Marty McFly punched 1955 into the dashboard of their DeLorean, they really missed a trick. The year was spot on, but the primo time-travel stuff was elsewhere, an ocean away from that high-school dance in Hill Valley, USA. Sure, we were all delighted by the shenanigans with Biff and Lorraine… but Great Scott! Lads, get back in the car because here’s a better idea – plug in the flux capacitor, crank the speed up to 88mph and get yourselves to Lisbon on 4 September 1955.
The Estádio Nacional was the place to be that day, the bowl-shaped ground buffeted by strong winds that feel now like a portent. Clubs from different countries had met before, but never like this. Not in the way that Sporting CP and Partizan were about to mark a turning point in sport, the two clubs uniting for the first game in the European Cup. Originally launched as the brainchild of French sports daily L’Équipe, this new-fangled competition had finally come to life – and here, in front of 30,000 curious onlookers, it was set to get started with a six-goal thriller.
The opening strike after 14 minutes brought another milestone worthy of a plaque. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi piled up their mindboggling totals, there was Sporting forward João Martins, a former cork stripper by trade, set free by team-mate Manuel Vasques to fire the hosts in front.
Not a name associated with football’s pioneering greats, Martins was hardly a leading light in his heyday either. Instead, the versatile No9 had to toil in the shadow of Sporting’s legendary ‘five violins’ – and nor did his fame soar after retirement. Martins worked in a French factory until his death in 1993, but he will always remain the first player to get his name on a European Cup scoresheet. And the first to hit a double too, since it was equaliser that allowed the Lions, reduced to ten men on 50 minutes, to grab a 3-3 draw.
The two teams toasted their trailblazing encounter by dining together that evening at a Lisbon restaurant. And they crossed paths again in Belgrade the following month as Partizan prevailed 5-2 and 8-5 on aggregate, thanks largely to four goals from Miloš Milutinović – the first ‘poker’ in the European Cup record books, with Péter Palotás having snagged the first hat-trick for MTK Budapest against Anderlecht on 7 September.
“Now and again, some smartarse will ask me about that Gladbach penalty”
No ties in that maiden season finished level after two legs, but eventually something would have to give – and so it did in September 1956 after Dortmund’s preliminary round tie against Spora Luxembourg produced a 5-5 aggregate draw. Remarkably, given how close their home and away fixtures had been, the first replay in European Cup history ended in a 7-0 stroll for Dortmund… no doubt helped by the fact they were hosting the game.
There were clear winners on that occasion, but what do when the replay also finished level? East German side Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and Poland’s Gwardia Warszawa were the first to find out in October 1957, when the floodlights failed in extra time of their preliminary round decider. With the scoreline locked at 1-1, a coin had to be tossed so that everyone could move on with their lives. In an outcome that might have amused Karl Marx himself, the whims of the coin favoured the team bearing his name.
Replays and coin flips soon began to lose their appeal in an increasingly professional game, and a new method was devised to sort the wheat from the chaff. So it was that colourful Icelandic forward Hermann Gunnarsson struck the competition’s first away-goal clincher in October 1967. Only the third player from his nation to turn professional – and a handball international to boot – his second effort for Valur away against Jeunesse Esch secured a 3-3 draw on the day and a 4-4 aggregate result, those three goals in Luxembourg sending the visitors through to the second round.
The away-goals rule was ultimately abolished in 2021, leaving only the newest tie-breaker still in place: the penalty shoot-out. The honour of hashing out the first in the European Cup fell to Everton and Borussia Mönchengladbach in November 1970, when the pair were deadlocked after extra time at Goodison Park. Step forward Joe Royle, the goalmouth a mud bath as he ran up to take the landmark opening kick… only to be denied by Gladbach keeper Wolfgang Kleff, sprawling to his right.
“Now and again, if you go to an Everton do, there’ll be some smartarse who wants to ask me about the Mönchengladbach penalty,” Royle later lamented. Indeed, it felt like a seismic moment, Kleff celebrating with colleagues as if he’d won the tie. Although opposite number Andy Rankin had the last laugh, denying Ludwig Müller to seal a 4-3 shoot-out success for the Toffees, Kleff is still rightly proud of his historic stop. “When books are written about the club, it’s in there,” he went on to note. “Because I saved a penalty, I was the only winner!”
Since then, the one major format change – until next season’s switch from the group stage to a league phase – has been the dawn of the Champions League era in 1992/93. That debut campaign featured just one knockout match: the final itself, Marseille defeating AC Milan 1-0… but that’s another story. Finals surely belong in a category of their own, at the end of the long knockout road. And a place without roads? Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have to get back in the DeLorean to go exploring there.
When Doc Brown and Marty McFly punched 1955 into the dashboard of their DeLorean, they really missed a trick. The year was spot on, but the primo time-travel stuff was elsewhere, an ocean away from that high-school dance in Hill Valley, USA. Sure, we were all delighted by the shenanigans with Biff and Lorraine… but Great Scott! Lads, get back in the car because here’s a better idea – plug in the flux capacitor, crank the speed up to 88mph and get yourselves to Lisbon on 4 September 1955.
The Estádio Nacional was the place to be that day, the bowl-shaped ground buffeted by strong winds that feel now like a portent. Clubs from different countries had met before, but never like this. Not in the way that Sporting CP and Partizan were about to mark a turning point in sport, the two clubs uniting for the first game in the European Cup. Originally launched as the brainchild of French sports daily L’Équipe, this new-fangled competition had finally come to life – and here, in front of 30,000 curious onlookers, it was set to get started with a six-goal thriller.
The opening strike after 14 minutes brought another milestone worthy of a plaque. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi piled up their mindboggling totals, there was Sporting forward João Martins, a former cork stripper by trade, set free by team-mate Manuel Vasques to fire the hosts in front.
Not a name associated with football’s pioneering greats, Martins was hardly a leading light in his heyday either. Instead, the versatile No9 had to toil in the shadow of Sporting’s legendary ‘five violins’ – and nor did his fame soar after retirement. Martins worked in a French factory until his death in 1993, but he will always remain the first player to get his name on a European Cup scoresheet. And the first to hit a double too, since it was equaliser that allowed the Lions, reduced to ten men on 50 minutes, to grab a 3-3 draw.
The two teams toasted their trailblazing encounter by dining together that evening at a Lisbon restaurant. And they crossed paths again in Belgrade the following month as Partizan prevailed 5-2 and 8-5 on aggregate, thanks largely to four goals from Miloš Milutinović – the first ‘poker’ in the European Cup record books, with Péter Palotás having snagged the first hat-trick for MTK Budapest against Anderlecht on 7 September.
“Now and again, some smartarse will ask me about that Gladbach penalty”
No ties in that maiden season finished level after two legs, but eventually something would have to give – and so it did in September 1956 after Dortmund’s preliminary round tie against Spora Luxembourg produced a 5-5 aggregate draw. Remarkably, given how close their home and away fixtures had been, the first replay in European Cup history ended in a 7-0 stroll for Dortmund… no doubt helped by the fact they were hosting the game.
There were clear winners on that occasion, but what do when the replay also finished level? East German side Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and Poland’s Gwardia Warszawa were the first to find out in October 1957, when the floodlights failed in extra time of their preliminary round decider. With the scoreline locked at 1-1, a coin had to be tossed so that everyone could move on with their lives. In an outcome that might have amused Karl Marx himself, the whims of the coin favoured the team bearing his name.
Replays and coin flips soon began to lose their appeal in an increasingly professional game, and a new method was devised to sort the wheat from the chaff. So it was that colourful Icelandic forward Hermann Gunnarsson struck the competition’s first away-goal clincher in October 1967. Only the third player from his nation to turn professional – and a handball international to boot – his second effort for Valur away against Jeunesse Esch secured a 3-3 draw on the day and a 4-4 aggregate result, those three goals in Luxembourg sending the visitors through to the second round.
The away-goals rule was ultimately abolished in 2021, leaving only the newest tie-breaker still in place: the penalty shoot-out. The honour of hashing out the first in the European Cup fell to Everton and Borussia Mönchengladbach in November 1970, when the pair were deadlocked after extra time at Goodison Park. Step forward Joe Royle, the goalmouth a mud bath as he ran up to take the landmark opening kick… only to be denied by Gladbach keeper Wolfgang Kleff, sprawling to his right.
“Now and again, if you go to an Everton do, there’ll be some smartarse who wants to ask me about the Mönchengladbach penalty,” Royle later lamented. Indeed, it felt like a seismic moment, Kleff celebrating with colleagues as if he’d won the tie. Although opposite number Andy Rankin had the last laugh, denying Ludwig Müller to seal a 4-3 shoot-out success for the Toffees, Kleff is still rightly proud of his historic stop. “When books are written about the club, it’s in there,” he went on to note. “Because I saved a penalty, I was the only winner!”
Since then, the one major format change – until next season’s switch from the group stage to a league phase – has been the dawn of the Champions League era in 1992/93. That debut campaign featured just one knockout match: the final itself, Marseille defeating AC Milan 1-0… but that’s another story. Finals surely belong in a category of their own, at the end of the long knockout road. And a place without roads? Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have to get back in the DeLorean to go exploring there.
When Doc Brown and Marty McFly punched 1955 into the dashboard of their DeLorean, they really missed a trick. The year was spot on, but the primo time-travel stuff was elsewhere, an ocean away from that high-school dance in Hill Valley, USA. Sure, we were all delighted by the shenanigans with Biff and Lorraine… but Great Scott! Lads, get back in the car because here’s a better idea – plug in the flux capacitor, crank the speed up to 88mph and get yourselves to Lisbon on 4 September 1955.
The Estádio Nacional was the place to be that day, the bowl-shaped ground buffeted by strong winds that feel now like a portent. Clubs from different countries had met before, but never like this. Not in the way that Sporting CP and Partizan were about to mark a turning point in sport, the two clubs uniting for the first game in the European Cup. Originally launched as the brainchild of French sports daily L’Équipe, this new-fangled competition had finally come to life – and here, in front of 30,000 curious onlookers, it was set to get started with a six-goal thriller.
The opening strike after 14 minutes brought another milestone worthy of a plaque. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi piled up their mindboggling totals, there was Sporting forward João Martins, a former cork stripper by trade, set free by team-mate Manuel Vasques to fire the hosts in front.
Not a name associated with football’s pioneering greats, Martins was hardly a leading light in his heyday either. Instead, the versatile No9 had to toil in the shadow of Sporting’s legendary ‘five violins’ – and nor did his fame soar after retirement. Martins worked in a French factory until his death in 1993, but he will always remain the first player to get his name on a European Cup scoresheet. And the first to hit a double too, since it was equaliser that allowed the Lions, reduced to ten men on 50 minutes, to grab a 3-3 draw.
The two teams toasted their trailblazing encounter by dining together that evening at a Lisbon restaurant. And they crossed paths again in Belgrade the following month as Partizan prevailed 5-2 and 8-5 on aggregate, thanks largely to four goals from Miloš Milutinović – the first ‘poker’ in the European Cup record books, with Péter Palotás having snagged the first hat-trick for MTK Budapest against Anderlecht on 7 September.
“Now and again, some smartarse will ask me about that Gladbach penalty”
No ties in that maiden season finished level after two legs, but eventually something would have to give – and so it did in September 1956 after Dortmund’s preliminary round tie against Spora Luxembourg produced a 5-5 aggregate draw. Remarkably, given how close their home and away fixtures had been, the first replay in European Cup history ended in a 7-0 stroll for Dortmund… no doubt helped by the fact they were hosting the game.
There were clear winners on that occasion, but what do when the replay also finished level? East German side Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and Poland’s Gwardia Warszawa were the first to find out in October 1957, when the floodlights failed in extra time of their preliminary round decider. With the scoreline locked at 1-1, a coin had to be tossed so that everyone could move on with their lives. In an outcome that might have amused Karl Marx himself, the whims of the coin favoured the team bearing his name.
Replays and coin flips soon began to lose their appeal in an increasingly professional game, and a new method was devised to sort the wheat from the chaff. So it was that colourful Icelandic forward Hermann Gunnarsson struck the competition’s first away-goal clincher in October 1967. Only the third player from his nation to turn professional – and a handball international to boot – his second effort for Valur away against Jeunesse Esch secured a 3-3 draw on the day and a 4-4 aggregate result, those three goals in Luxembourg sending the visitors through to the second round.
The away-goals rule was ultimately abolished in 2021, leaving only the newest tie-breaker still in place: the penalty shoot-out. The honour of hashing out the first in the European Cup fell to Everton and Borussia Mönchengladbach in November 1970, when the pair were deadlocked after extra time at Goodison Park. Step forward Joe Royle, the goalmouth a mud bath as he ran up to take the landmark opening kick… only to be denied by Gladbach keeper Wolfgang Kleff, sprawling to his right.
“Now and again, if you go to an Everton do, there’ll be some smartarse who wants to ask me about the Mönchengladbach penalty,” Royle later lamented. Indeed, it felt like a seismic moment, Kleff celebrating with colleagues as if he’d won the tie. Although opposite number Andy Rankin had the last laugh, denying Ludwig Müller to seal a 4-3 shoot-out success for the Toffees, Kleff is still rightly proud of his historic stop. “When books are written about the club, it’s in there,” he went on to note. “Because I saved a penalty, I was the only winner!”
Since then, the one major format change – until next season’s switch from the group stage to a league phase – has been the dawn of the Champions League era in 1992/93. That debut campaign featured just one knockout match: the final itself, Marseille defeating AC Milan 1-0… but that’s another story. Finals surely belong in a category of their own, at the end of the long knockout road. And a place without roads? Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have to get back in the DeLorean to go exploring there.
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