Wednesday, May 8, 2013

8 May 1996 - N'Gotty Got It

On 8 May 1996, Paris Saint-Germain won their first and only major European trophy, beating Rapid Vienna in the Cup Winners' Cup Final.

It was the first time in the tournament final for PSG, but the second for Rapid, who finished as runners-up to Everton in 1985. They met at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, where a crowd of  37,000 gathered for the occasion.

The people in the stands were anticipating a furious offensive clash, with both teams featuring some of the tournament's top scorers--Carsten Jancker (6 goals) and Christian Stumpf (4) for Rapid and Youri Djorkaeff (4) and Patrice Loko (4) for PSG. But what they got was a tight match decided by the day's single goal.

And that goal came from an unlikely source. PSG defender Bruno N'Gotty (pictured), who had not scored at all that year, found the back of the net in the 28th minute to deliver the trophy to the Parisians.

N'Gotty and PSG returned to the final the following year, but lost to Barcelona, 1-0.

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