1992/93: French first for Marseille
Wednesday 26 May 1993
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Marseille celebrate after becoming the first team to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy (©Getty Images)
Olympique de Marseille 1-0 AC Milan
(Boli 43)
Olympiastadion, Munich
Rules and regulations dominated the start and finish of the 1992/93 European Champion Clubs' Cup. Sandwiched in between, however, was some fairly tasty football. No sooner had the legislators rebranded the competition as the UEFA Champions League - formalising the mini-league system of the previous year - than they were forced to reinstate first-round losers Leeds United AFC.
Rangers impress
VfB Stuttgart had fielded one foreign player too many in their away-goals victory, necessitating a play-off. Leeds won it 2-1 in Barcelona, but earned only a stay of execution as they fell to Rangers FC in the second round. The 'British' champions then vied for supremacy with Olympique de Marseille in the Group One round robin. That there was little between them was clear from exciting draws at Ibrox and the Vélodrome. Yet they were finally dragged apart on the last match day, when OM won at Club Brugge KV and Rangers were held by CSKA Moscow - one point the difference between first and second.
Boli joy
By contrast, Milan AC sailed through Group Two with a 100 per cent record against IFK Göteborg, FC Porto and PSV Eindhoven. The final, though, belonged to Marseille and their controversial owner Bernard Tapie, the president's men becoming the first French team to lift the trophy thanks to Basile Boli's 44th-minute goal.
Corruption scandal
That was the good news; the bad came weeks later. Marseille, it emerged, had fixed their title-clinching Division 1 game against ASOA Valence-Clime so they could concentrate on the Milan tie. Soon the ripples of corruption were a tsunami of shame, with Marseille stripped of Le Championnat, relegated, and barred from defending the cup.
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