1995: Bordeaux lay down Intertoto gauntlet
Tuesday 1 August 1995
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Zinédine Zidane (FC Girondins de Bordeaux) (©Getty Images)
Any scepticism surrounding the value of European football's new summer tournament vanished when one of the UEFA Intertoto Cup's two inaugural winners, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, went on to reach the UEFA Cup final the following May. Introduced as a feeder competition to the UEFA Cup, Bordeaux and RC Strasbourg, advanced from a field of 60 entrants.
Emerging trio
The teams were divided into 12 groups of five, with the pool winners and four best runners-up advancing to the last 16. Strasbourg, who had cruised through their group undefeated, conceded only once to Gençlerbirliği SK in their four matches and kept another clean sheet as they eased past SK Vorwärts Steyr 4-0. Bordeaux, boasting Zinédine Zidane, Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry in their ranks, defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 at the same stage, taking their goal tally to 16 in five games.
Strasbourg style
Their last-eight encounter with Eredivisie side SC Heerenveen was also comfortable, while Strasbourg won an all-French affair against FC Metz by the same scoreline to set up their two-legged decider against FC Tirol Innsbruck, with the finals forming part of the preliminary round of the UEFA Cup. The Austrian side breached Strasbourg's defence for the first time in six matches as the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw, but on home turf the French side turned on the style, winning 6-1 to seal a 7-2 aggregate triumph.
Brilliant Bordeaux
Bordeaux did the hard work in Germany, recording a 2-0 win in the first leg of their tie against previously undefeated Karlsruhe SC. A 2-2 draw at the Chaban-Delmas a fortnight later secured Bordeaux's place in the UEFA Cup - where they went on to defeat Real Betis Balompié and AC Milan en route to the final, their 20th European match of the season.
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