EURO on this day: 30 June
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Article summary
On this day: Berti Vogts' wife took some credit when Oliver Bierhoff struck twice as Germany laid ghosts to rest in 1996.
Article top media content
Article body
Czech Republic 1-2 Germany (aet)
(Berger 59pen; Bierhoff 73 95)
1996 final, London
A few wheels came full circle here. Twenty years earlier, Germany had lost to Czechoslovakia, underdogs then as now, in the UEFA European Championship final; they were beaten by dark horses Denmark in 1992; and in the 1966 FIFA World Cup final, also at Wembley, they lost to a contentious goal. Payback time.
A Patrik Berger penalty put the Czechs ahead and a shock was on the cards, albeit against favourites depleted by injury.
On came Oliver Bierhoff. The striker, whom Berti Vogts' wife insisted her husband took to England, demonstrated his power in the air almost immediately to equalise and, five minutes into extra time, he scored senior international football's first golden goal. Sudden death for the Czech Republic's unexpected run.
"I have never before or since taken off my shirt," Bierhoff recalled of his celebrations 24 years later. "It was an atypical story for me but it was almost as if it was all over, the whole process of the weeks and days prior. I knew there was nothing to lose [when I came on], I had to throw everything in, take my chance." And how he did.
Click here to read more
Other EURO fixtures on 30 June
2004 semi-finals: Portugal 2-1 Netherlands
2016 quarter-finals: Poland 1-1 Portugal, Portugal won 5-3 on pens