I looked up what significant football event happened on May 16th 1973 and all I found is that AC Milan beat Leeds 1-0 in the Cup Winners Cup final, in Saloniki. The Cup Winners Cup? Kids, it was at a time that clubs saw winning their domestic cup competition as an achievement, and making into the European competition for all the cup winners was a big deal and winning the whole thing was a big honour. There wasn't much money but that team was a European champion.
AC Milan? Is it just me, or was it only when Paul Gascoigne brought Italian football to English TV that Milan became AC Milan and their city rivals were Inter Milan, not just Inter? Paul Gascoigne? Give me a few weeks of posts.
Saloniki? They played European finals everywhere, not just in fancy shiny stadiums with lots of fancy seats for the sponsors and their friends and families.
But that Cup Winners Cup wasn't big enough for me. So I looked back to my other birthday, when my football brain was born: May 26th 1982. Yes, not the 16th but it's my party and I can cheer when I want to. Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich to win the European Cup. European Cup? Champions League, only for champions and without the money.
Fast forward through the first minute and watch highlights of the Bayern onslaught, the incredible goalkeeping of the young substitute goalkeeper, Nigel Spink, and the one magical goal that sent me running through the house, "Aston Villa scored! They scored!"
Gary Shaw, Tony Morley......Peter Withe..."Oh it must be!"
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