Madrid: As Real Madrid and Juventus prepare to lock horns once more in a Champions League final, memories of their first final meeting 19 years ago come flooding back for one of Madrid’s unlikely heroes Predrag Mijatovic.
Mijatovic scored “the most beautiful and important” goal of his career and one of the most vital in Madrid’s history as Real shrugged off the unusual tag of underdogs to beat a fearsome Juventus side 1-0 in Amsterdam in the 1998 final.
“It was a beautiful, unique thing personally for me to score the goal to win the European Cup,” former Yugoslavian national striker Mijatovic told AFP at a sun-drenched Santiago Bernabeu as big screens were mounted to beam back Saturday’s final in Cardiff to fans back in the Spanish capital.
“Imagine how happy I was then that I am still happy about it now.”
The Spanish giants weren’t always the kings of Europe they pride themselves as being.
Mijatovic’s strike ended a 32-year drought without winning the European Cup.
“It had been many years since Real Madrid had won the Champions League,” he added. “We had a lot of pressure on us.”
Indeed so unexpected was it for Madrid to defeat that a Juventus side appearing in their third straight final that the Italians had to hand over bottles of bubbly as Real hadn’t brought any of their own to celebrate.
“They had brought lots because they felt strong and, moreover, they had a lot of experience in finals.
“They were very generous and gave us a couple of bottles to celebrate.”
