The Did you know thread. Uselss, but fascinating trivia, facts and stories

No problem. When you have any questions in this regard, do not hesitate to ask; the Kings were very generous with me and left me the wonderful work of Vicente Martínez Calatrava, "History and Statistics of Spanish Soccer" in which, as a "Dinámico" includes all lineups and positions in the history of the league, something which also helps me in putting together this thread.

Sin problema. Cuando tengas alguna duda en este sentido, no tengas reparo en preguntar; los Reyes fueron muy generosos conmigo y me dejaron la maravillosa obra de Vicente Martínez Calatrava, "Historia y Estadíatica del Fútbol Español" en el que, a modo del "Dinámico" incluye la totalidad de alineaciones y posiciones en la historia de la liga, algo que también me ayuda en la elaboración de este hilo.

 

Tidbits on Euro 1980 qualifying schedules.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/obscure-euro-1980-qualifiers-schedule.2114270/#post-39396548

 

There is a very curious case regarding the uniform used by Real Madrid in matches that it has played against River Plate.

Throughout history, when Real Madrid has played at home, it has always played with its first uniform (at least as far as the shirt is concerned) with the exception of 4 occasions being the first two of these exceptions matches against River Plate .

The first took place in a friendly in 1951 and where Real Madrid played with a blue shirt and white pants since River only had his white shirt with a red stripe. The match was won by the Argentines 3-4.

NOTE: the articles I have found say that Real Madrid played in blue although at that time the color of the away uniform was purple.



The second time it happened in 1961 in tribute to Real Madrid's goalkeeper Juanito Alonso and River won again this time by 2-3. According to the chronicles, Real Madrid played with a purple shirt and pants.

NOTE: the press says that he played purple although in those years the second uniform was blue.



The other two times that Real Madrid did not wear their first uniform playing at home was in 1967 in the European Cup against Ajax Amsterdam (Real Madrid played in blue because in the first leg Ajax had allowed them to play in Amsterdam with their usual white jersey) and the second time was in 2019 that Real Madrid played in green, on the occasion of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in the capital of Spain, against Español in the Spanish Liga.

But the story with River Plate and the Real Madrid uniforms continues. Nowadays it is common for the second (and third) uniforms of the teams to change color every year due to marketing issues and income from sales of shirts, but before this was not the case. For example, from 1939 to 1999 Real Madrid always had a second purple or blue jersey. Despite this there were some exceptions.

The first time it happened in 1957 when, in the Paris Tournament, Real Madrid faced Vasco de Gama (3-4 victory for the Brazilians) and Real Madrid wore a red jersey and it seems to be (according to some chronicles) blue pants.

The second time was in a friendly played against River in 1965 and where Real Madrid played with a borrowed green uniform (1-1 was the result of that match).



Later in the 70s, Real Madrid played 3 times in red in European competitions against Cardiff City, PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Kiev.

To say that Real Madrid did not have good results in the matches that I have mentioned in this post:

- Lost 3-4 against River Plate in 1951
- Lost 3-4 against Vasco da Gama in 1957
- Lost 2-3 against River Plate in 1961
- Drew 1-1 against River Plate in 1965
- Won 2-1 againts Ajax Amsterdam in the 1967/68 European Cup. The victory was in overtime.
- Lost 1-0 against Cardiff City in the 1970/71 Cup Winners' Cup
- They drew 0-0 against PSV Eindhoven in the 1970/71 Cup Winners' Cup
- They drew 0-0 against Dinamo Kiev in the 1972/73 European Cup
- Won 2-0 against Espanyol in the 2019/20 League

In summary, 2 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses.

Even in 1967 Real Madrid played a match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with a white shirt but blue pants that ended up losing 0-1 to Celtic Glasgow. That game was a tribute to Alfredo di Stéfano.

 

Another curiosity.

The great dominators of European football at club level are Italy, England and Spain.

Well, if you asked us which country was the first to get two different teams from two different cities into the semifinals of the European Cup, almost all of us would say that the answer would be between these three countries almost certainly.

Well, we would be wrong, none of these three countries was the first, neither was Germany, France, Netherlands or Portugal, the first country that succeeded and that for more than 30 years was the only one was …… .. SCOTLAND.

Yes, Scotland was the first country to be able to say that two teams from one of its cities and two other teams from another of its cities had reached the semi-finals of the European Cup / Champions League. We go with them:

- Glasgow: in 1960, Rangers reached the semifinals of the European Cup where they lost by an aggregate result of 12-4 against Eintracht Frankfurt. In 1967 it was Celtic that reached the semifinals where they eliminated Dukla Prague by a 3-1 aggregate and later won the final 2-1 at Inter Milan.

- Dundee: in 1963 Dundee FC reached the semi-finals of the European Cup where they lost by a 5-2 aggregate result against Milan. Already in 1984 Dundee United also reached the semifinals and was eliminated by Roma by a 3-2 aggregate.

Therefore in 1984 Scotland became the first country to achieve such a feat.

I think the only country that has also achieved it is England in 2016 when Manchester City reached the semi-finals (previously Manchester United in 1957 had also reached the semi-finals and for the city of London they had been made by Tottenham Hotspur in 1962, Chelsea in 2004 and Arsenal in 2006).

 

ENDLESS DUELS

The Edinburgh Derby is one of the oldest since it began in the 1870s. This duel pits the Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian teams.

Well, in 1878 these teams in the Edinburgh Cup played a final (initially scheduled for a single match) that took five games to meet the champion. The results were the following:

https://www.londonhearts.com/scores/history/1878EFACUP.htm

- Heart of Midlothian 0-0 Hibernian (February 9, 1978)
- Heart of Midlothian 1-1 Hibernian (February 16, 1978)
- Heart of Midlothian 1-1 Hibernian (February 23, 1978)
- Heart of Midlothian 1-1 Hibernian (April 6, 1978). In other sources they indicate that the result was 0-0.
- Heart of Midlothian 3-2 Hibernian (April 20, 1978)

That is to say, a final that was going to be resolved in one day took ¡¡10 weeks !! to meet the tournament champion.

I do not know if this duel of 1878 in the Edinburgh Cup is that it has needed more games throughout history to decide the champion but if it is not the first it must be close to being so.

On the other hand in the first years of the 20th century in Spain there was another duel that took four games to decide which team passed the round of the Spanish Cup and which is the origin of the great rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

We are talking about the semifinals of the 1916 Spanish Cup. The results were as follows:

- FC Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid (March 26, 1916)
- Real Madrid 4-1 FC Barcelona (April 2, 1916). At that time they counted the victories and no goal difference so it was necessary to resort to a tiebreaker match to see which team would go to the final. Indicate that in this game the future president of Real Madrid (Santiago Bernabeu) scored a Hat-Trick.
- Real Madrid 6-6 FC Barcelona. The match ended in a tie at 4 goals and in overtime the final score was a tie at 6 (Bernabéu scored both Real Madrid goals in overtime). The sequence of the goals was 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6 and 6-6.
- Real Madrid 4-2 FC Barcelona. The 90 minutes ended with a draw at 2 goals and in extra time Real Madrid won 4-2 although it must be noted that the match did not end since FC Barcelona withdrew before ending it as they did not agree with the arbitration performance.

In the final, Real Madrid lost by a clear 0-4 against Athletic Club of Bilbao.

 

I put a list that shows the worst streak (in years) without winning the European Cup / Champions League. I only take into account the 22 teams that have been champions of the tournament. In bold are the teams that have won the competition more than once.

(data until the end of 2020 included)

Team Years Span
1 Benfica 58 1962-act
2 Chelsea 56 1956-2012
3 Celtic 53 1967-act
4 Feyenoord 50 1970-act
5 Inter Milan 45 1965-2010
6 Borussia Dortmund 41 1956-97
7 Nottingham Forest 40 1980-act
8 Aston Villa 38 1982-act
9 Hamburger 37 1983-act
9 Olimpique Marsella 37 1956-93
11 FC Barcelona 36 1956-92
12 Red Star Belgrade 35 1956-91
13 Steaua Bucharest 34 1986-act
14 Real Madrid 32 1966-98
14 PSV Eindhoven 32 1956-88 and 1988-act
16 Manchester United 31 1968-1999
16 Porto 31 1956-87
18 Juventus 29 1956-85
19 Bayern Munich 25 1976-2001
19 Ajax 25 1995-act
21 Liverpool 21 1956-77 and 1984-2005
22 Milan 20 1969-89

 

Carlos Fernández

In the 2019-20 Spanish Copa del Rey Fernández and his club, Granada, were knocked out of the semi-finals by Athletic Bilbao.

394 days later Fernández and his new club, Real Sociedad, defeat Athletic Bilbao in the 2020 Copa del Rey final.

 

As Moulin and Bajic were both injured, the 20 years old third keeper of AS Saint-Etienne made his Ligue 1 debuts yesterday and was decisive against Nîmes (2-0 win away with a pk save) receiving the grade of 8 in France Football and making their team of the 31st day match.

His name? Etienne Green.
Born in Colchester of an English father and a French mother, he was given his first name as a tribute to the French club.
The young goalkeeper is a Saint-Etienne player since he was 9 years old and yesterday, as Nîmes were playing in red shirt and that his team were playing in white, Etienne was playing in a full green kit.


The Etienne Green's debuts for AS Saint-Etienne (April the 4th, 2021, at Nîmes)

 

Scotland has the record with 4 contemporary international players with the same name:

1) John Mc Pherson I - forward - capped 1875
2) John Campbell McPherson II - b.1855 - half - capped 1879-85
3) John McPherson III - b.1867 - half - capped 1891
4) John McPherson IV - b.1868 - forward - capped 1888-97

They're ordered by aged. None of them related among themselves.

 

Continuing with the idea of @msioux75 referring to players with the same name, I am going to put a list of Spanish teams in the early years of the 20th century that also had the same name.

Before the inauguration of the League championship in Spain there were several regional championships and in the early years the regional champion earned the right to represent his region in the Spanish Cup. These regional championships generally disappeared around 1940.

Well, there were many teams that participated in these different regional championships and whose names were the same despite not having any relationship between them. I put a list of the teams called "ESPAÑOL" and that won a regional championship in their time:

- Catalan Championship: Español (from Barcelona): 8 times regional champion. The only one that exists today and in its record I could boast of having won 4 Spanish Cups and having reached 2 UEFA Cup finals. This is the championship in which FC Barcelona participated.

- Central Regional Championship: Español (from Madrid): 2 times regional champion. Disappeared around 1913. This is the championship in which Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid participated.

- South Regional Championship: Español (from Cádiz): 1 time regional champion. Disappeared in 1929. This is the championship in which Sevilla, Cádiz, Betis, Málaga, etc participated.

- Regional Championship Castellano-Leonés: Español (from Valladolid): 1 time regional champion. Disappeared in 1928. This is the championship in which Real Valladolid participated.

- Hispano-Moroccan Regional Championship (then the north of Morocco was still a Spanish colony): Español (from Tetouan): 1 time regional champion. The most important team in this championship was Atlético Tetuán, which came to play in the Spanish first division.

That is, 5 different champion teams with the same name and without having a relationship between them. Even in another regional championship, another team called Español was runner-up in the tournament:

- Galician Championship: Español (from Vigo): 1 time regional runner-up. This is the championship in which Deportivo Coruña and Celta Vigo participated.

But there were also other names "shared" by different teams within regional tournaments, such as the teams called "ESPAÑA":

- Catalan Championship: España (from Barcelona): 3 times regional champion. Disappeared in 1932.

- Regional Championship of Levante: España (from Valencia): 1 time regional champion. This is the championship where Valencia CF played.

- Valencia Regional Championship: España (from Valencia): We are talking about the same team from the previous paragraph. 1 time regional champion.

- Regional Hispano-Moroccan Championship: España (from Tangier): 1 time regional champion.

These are teams that were called España or Español and that reached the finals of the regional tournaments that they disputed but almost certainly there would be more teams with these same names that could not reach the final of their championship.

 

By winning the 2021 Europa League (on penalties), Villarreal are the second European club in history to capture a UEFA trophy before winning a major domestic trophy.
In 1988 Bayer Leverkusen also had no major domestic trophies in their trophy cabinet when they won the UEFA Cup (also on penalties).

 

A record that Villarreal has achieved with its victory against Manchester United has been that it is the city with the smallest population capable of winning a title in Europe.

Villarreal has a population of 45,000 people and surpasses the city of Mechelen in Belgium that saw his team win the final of the Cup Winner's Cup in 1988 against Ajax Amsterdam when the city had a population of 75,000 people.

 

LEAGUE CHAMPION OR RUNNER UP OF "LA LIGA"

At the end of the 20/21 league in third position, FC Barcelona has seen its streak of finishing between the top two of the championship come to an end, a streak that already lasted 12 seasons (from 08/09 to 19/20, winning 8 titles and being 4 times runner-up).

The record will be kept by Real Madrid, who from the 56/57 to the 68/69 season finished 13 times in the top two of the competition, winning 10 titles and being runner-up 3 times.

STREAK ON THE "LA LIGA" PODIUM

On the other hand by finishing third FC Barcelona equals the best streak in the history of the league climbing the podium of the championship since from the season 03/04 to 20/21 it has always been among the top 3 of the classification which is equivalent already to 18 consecutive seasons (10 wins, 6 runners-up and 2 third places).

The other team that reached 18 was Real Madrid from season 51/52 to 68/69 (12 wins, 3 runners-up and 3 third places).

Note that the current Real Madrid has a streak of 17 consecutive seasons among the top three in the league (from 04/05 to 20/21).

 

Three different coaches from the same country winning the European Cup/Champions League in three consecutive seasons.

1980 Brian Clough
1981 Bob Paisley
1982 Tony Barton

2019 Jürgen Klopp
2020 Hans-Dieter Flick
2021 Thomas Tuchel

 

Turkey 0-3 Italy

Own goal by Merih Demiral is the first time an own goal is the first goal scored in a Euro tournament.

It's the first own goal ever scored against Italy in a Euro match.

It's also the tenth own goal scored in Euro history:
Anton Ondrus (1976 Czechoslovakia v Netherlands)
Lyuboslav Penev (1996 Bulgaria v France)
Dejan Govedarica (2000 Yugoslavia v Netherlands)
Igor Tudor (2004 Croatia v France)
Jorge Andrade (2004 Portugal v Netherlands)
Glen Johnson (2012 England v Sweden)
Ciaran Clark (2016 Republic of Ireland v Sweden)
Birkir Már Sævarsson (2016 Iceland v Hungary)
Gareth McAuley (2016 Northern Ireland v Wales)

Ciro Immobile is the fifth Lazio player to score in a Euro match:
Karl-Heinz Riedle (1992)
Pierluigi Casiraghi (1996)
Sergio Conceiçao (2000)
Miroslav Klose (2012).

Lorenzo Insigne is only the second Napoli player to score in a Euro match:
Marek Hamsik (2016)

3-0 is the largest margin of victory ever recorded in the opening match of a Euro.
(Previous record: 1976 Czechoslovakia 3-1 a.e.t. Netherlands)

Most clean sheets in Euro history:
20 ITALY
19 Germany
16 Portugal
15 Netherlands
14 Spain

Italy have now won 9 consecutive internationals without conceding a single goal.
4-0 (H) Estonia
2-0 (H) Poland
2-0 (A) Bosnia
2-0 (H) Northern Ireland
2-0 (A) Bulgaria
2-0 (A) Lithuania
7-0 (H) San Marino
4-0 (H) Czech Republic
3-0 (H) Turkey

 

Wales 1-1 Switzerland

Only three Borussia Mönchengladbach players have scored a goal in Euro history:
Herbert Wimmer (1972)
Marco Reus (2012)
BREEL EMBOLO (2020)

Wales had two Second Division players combine together to score a Euro goal: Joe Morrell (Luton Town) assists to goal scorer Kieffer Moore (Cardiff City).

Switzerland equal the record for consecutive draws in Euro competitions. (They drew their last three matches in 2016).
(Portugal: Last match of 2012 + first three matches of 2016)

First ever Euro draw for Wales (4 wins, 2 defeats)

 

Denmark 0-1 Finland

Joel Pohjanpalo scores Finland's first ever goal at a major tournament (Euro + World Cup)..

21 of 73 penalties have been missed (15 of those 21 saved) in Euro history.

Most penalties missed in Euro history:
5 Spain
2 Netherlands, DENMARK

Finland are the first team in Euro history to win a match with only one shot at goal.
(Czech Republic 1-0 Switzerland, 2008 : 4 shots at goal, 1 on target)

Teams that won their Euro debut match:
Yugoslavia (1960, 5-4 v France)
USSR (1960, 3-0 v Czechoslovakia)
Spain (1964, 2-1 a.e.t. v Hungary)
West Germany (1972, 2-1 v Belgium)
Republic of Ireland (1988, 1-0 v England)
Croatia (1996, 1-0 v Turkey)
Norway (2000, 1-0 v Spain)
Ukraine (2012, 2-1 v Sweden)
Wales (2016, 2-1 v Slovakia)
FINLAND (2020, 1-0 v Denmark)

 

Belgium 3-0 Russia

Thomas Meunier (subbed on in the 27th minute) is the first substitute to score a goal in the first half of a Euro match in tournament history.

Youngest (years-days) Russia players to ever appear in a Euro match:
19-256 Anatoly Baidachny (1972)
19-220 MAKSIM MUKHIN (2020)

Belgium's all-time leaders goal scorers in Euro:
6 ROMELU LUKAKU
6 Jan Ceulemans

Worst defeat by a team playing on home soil in Euro history.

 

England 1-0 Croatia

Youngest (years-days) players to appear in a Euro match.
17-349 JUDE BELLINGHAM (England, 2020)
18-071 Jetro Willems (Netherlands, 2012)
18-115 Enzo Scifo (Belgium, 1984)
18-128 Valeri Bojinov (Bulgaria, 2004)
18-137 Johan Vonlanthen (Switzerland, 2004)

Youngest (years-days) Croatian players to appear in a Euro match:
19-141 JOSKO GVARDIOL (2020)
20-094 Ivan Rakitic (2008)

England's results in their opening match at each qualified Euro tournament:
1968 0-1 v Yugoslavia
1980 1-1 v Belgium
1988 0-1 v Republic of Ireland
1992 0-0 v Denmark
1996 1-1 v Switzerland
2000 2-3 v Portugal
2004 1-2 V France
2012 1-1 v France
2016 1-1 v Russia
2020 1-0 v Croatia <--- first time they've won!

Croatia's results in their opening match at each qualified Euro tournament:
1996 1-0 v Turkey
2004 0-0 v Switzerland
2008 1-0 v Austria
2012 3-1 v Republic of Ireland
2016 1-0 v Turkey
2020 0-1 v England <--- first time they've lost!

The last time the losing World Cup finalist progressed past the group phase of the next Euro two years later was 1986 West Germany (semi-finalist at Euro '88).
Since then...
1994 Italy : knocked out in group phase Euro '96
2002 Germany : knocked out in group phase Euro '04
2006 France : knocked out in group phase Euro '08
2010 Netherlands : knocked out in group phase Euro '12
2018 CROATIA : ? Euro '20

 

Austria 3-1 North Macedonia

Oldest goalscorers in Euro history:
38-257 Ivica Vastic (2008 Austria v Poland)
37-322 GOREN PANDEV (2020 North Macedonia v Austria)

Historic centenary goals in Euro history:
100 Alain Giresse (1984 France v Belgium)
200 Kim Vilfort (1992 Denmark v Germany)
300 Zlatko Zahovic (2000 Slovenia v Spain)
400 Thierry Henry (2004 France v Switzerland, second goal)
500 Xavi Hernández (2008 Spain v Russia)
600 Nani (2016 Portugal v Iceland)
700 MICHAEL GREGORITSCH (2020 Austria v North Macedonia)

Non-European club based players who scored in a Euro match:
Vladimír Weiss (El Gharafa), 2016 Slovakia v Russia
Burak Yilmaz (Beijing Guoan), 2016 Turkey v Czech Republic
MARKO ARNAUTOVIC (Shanghái Port), 2020 Austria v North Macedonia

First ever victory for Austria at a Euro tournament.
Austria scored more goals today (3) than they had in all six of their previous Euro matches combined (2).

 

Netherlands 3-2 Ukraine

Netherlands starting lineup included 10 players that made their Euro debut.
(Only goalkeeper Stekelenburg had previously played in a Euro match)

Down by two goals, equalized, but still lost a Euro match:.
(Sequence for each was 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2, 2-3)
1976 Yugoslavia v Netherlands
2012 Denmark v Portugal
2020 Ukraine v Netherlands

Did Netherlands win their opening match at each Euro they qualified for?
1976: No (1-3 a.e.t. v Czechoslovakia)
1980: Yes (1-0 v Greece)
1988: No (0-1 v USSR)
1992: Yes (1-0 v Scotland)
1996: No (0-0 v Scotland)
2000: Yes (1-0 v Czech Republic)
2004: No (1-1 v Germany)
2008: Yes (3-0 v Italy)
2012: No (0-1 v Denmark)
2020: Yes (3-2 v Ukraine)