Milan’s domination of European Club football stuttered as they were defeated 1-0 to the Dutch champions, Ajax. It was Milan’s fifth European Cup final in seven years, winning three of them already. Fabio Capello’s ageing squad were now seeking to emulate Real Madrid’s record of winning the competition six times.
This was previewed to be one of the greatest showdowns and the match proved to be more of a chess game with both outfits happy to maintain possession and probe for the counter attack. After 85 minutes the deadlock was broken when Frank Rijkaard, an ex Milan player, discovered Kluivert with just enough space in the penalty box to lose his two markers and the Ajax player coolly slotted the ball past Rossi.
Danny Blind lifted up the trophy as Ajax won their fourth European Cup.
In the earlier stages of the champion’s league, Manchester united the pre tournament favorites were swept away as they lost 4-0 to Barcelona and then 3-1 to Swedish club, Gothenburg as they crashed out in the group stages finishing bottom of their respective group.