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The 1969 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, on May 26, 1969, that saw AC Milan of Italy defeat Ajax Amsterdam of the Netherlands 4 - 1.
[edit] Match Summary
AC Milan were hot favourites to win the final in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu. Ajax were the new exciting team on the European scene, but they were given little chance against the experience and organisation of the Italians. In knocking out the last two winners of the competition, AC Milan had conceded only one goal and, despite the presence in the Ajax team of the brilliant young Johan Cruyff, they were expected to be too strong for the Dutch forwards. Going forward Milan had the skills of Rivera and Prati, but the man that manager Nereo Rocco looked to the most was Kurt Hamrin. Nicknamed ‘l’uccellino’ or the little bird, Hamrin had first played for Nereo Rocco in the early sixties at Padova, but they had been reunited at Milan where the fast, skilful, courageous winger had, despite his advancing years, still managed to put in match winning performances. Nereo Rocco could not hide his admiration: ‘Yes, we have Rivera and Prati, but this would not be enough without Hamrin. Any team with brains in their heads could plug the centre just by bringing an extra forward back into the penalty area, but with Hamrin we have two options, wing play and centre play. All right, so Hamrin is past his best, but then his best was fantastic. Show me a better winger in Italy, if not in Europe.’ Asked to compare the present AC Milan team with the one that won the European Cup in 1963, Rocco said: ‘Hamrin, I think, tilts the balance between this team and that one.’
And yet, despite the array of talent in the AC Milan side, Ajax could look back at their performances in this and previous seasons and go into the final with confidence. Coach Rinus Michels said before the game: ‘Our team is in magnificent form and we are coming with hopes of winning.’ Unfortunately for him, Michels’ optimism was to be proved misplaced.
Having reached the final on the back of an outstanding defence, AC Milan had been expected to play a typical game of massed defence and counter attack, but they surprised Ajax and those watching by going onto the attack right from the first whistle. Within a minute of the start, Prati had hit the post with a left footed shot, and on eight minutes Sormani’s brilliant wing play and cross found the head of Prati and he headed past Bals in the Ajax goal to put Milan ahead. The Italians were always dangerous when they got the ball forward, and on 40 minutes they increased their lead as Prati crashed home a shot from outside the penalty area. The game now seemed to be drifting towards a comfortable Milan victory, but on the hour, Keizer was fouled by Lodetti just inside the penalty area and Vasovic, who had scored for FK Partizan in the 1966 European Cup Final, scored from the penalty spot to become the first man to score in the final for different clubs, and to give Ajax some hope. That hope was to last only seven minutes, however, for that was all the time it took before AC Milan were two goals ahead once more, this time from a long range Sormani shot. Now there really was only one team in it and Milan’s victory was sealed with fifteen minutes remaining. Rivera, finding himself through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat, went around Bals, only to find that the defence had retreated in time to stop an open goal, so the AC Milan captain chipped the ball in front of the defenders to Prati who headed home to complete his hat trick. And so ended one of the most one sided finals in the competitions history.
AC Milan were European champions for the second time, and with their solid defence and their exciting forwards there was no doubt that they were worthy of that title. The final had shown that they were, at that moment, the best side in Europe by some distance. But unbeknown to most observers at the time, the 1969 final was the beginning of a new era in European football. Ajax may have been comprehensively outplayed on the day, but their appearance in the final had shown that Dutch football was no longer to be underestimated. Their road to the final had seized the imagination of the Dutch nation and given them and the other top Dutch sides the confidence that they could compete at this level. For now, the Italians had re-established themselves as the pre-eminent footballing nation, but things were about to change.
[edit] Match details
- Referee:
José Ortiz de Mendíbil
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
AC Milan 
Ajax Amsterdam 
