1987/88: PSV prosper from Oranje boom
Wednesday 25 May 1988
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PSV Eindhoven (©Getty Images)
PSV Eindhoven 0-0 SL Benfica (aet, PSV win 6-5 on penalties)
Neckarstadion, Stuttgart
The Oranje boom of 1988 peaked with victory for the Netherlands at the UEFA European Championship in West Germany. Yet there was another significant high for Dutch football that summer, when PSV Eindhoven became the third Eredivisie side to lift the European Champion Clubs' Cup. Thus Guus Hiddink's domestic double winners joined Celtic FC and AFC Ajax as the only clubs to have achieved the so-called treble.
Takent to spare
They had talent to spare in goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen, defender Ronald Koeman, midfielders Sören Lerby and Gerald Vanenburg, and forward Wim Kieft - but not the popular vote. PSV won just three of nine games, against Galatasaray SK and SK Rapid Vienna, and none after the second round. They beat FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Real Madrid CF, in the quarter and semi-finals, on away goals after 1-1 draws in France and Spain; then outlasted SL Benfica on penalties in an unremarkable, goalless final.
Van Breukelen heroics
In fact, the real purveyors of drama that season were Madrid, conquerors of SSC Napoli, FC Porto and FC Bayern München, whom they knocked out for the first time, 4-3 on aggregate. If the Merengues were chasing an elusive seventh victory in the competition, Benfica were hoping for a third. The Lisbon team outran KS Partizani, AGF Århus, RSC Anderlecht and FC Steaua Bucuresti, 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals. But when Van Breukelen saved from full back Veloso in the Stuttgart shoot-out, Benfica were facing up to their fourth consecutive defeat in a European final.
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