On This Day: Ronaldo played last match for Madrid; Solskjaer brought United UCL

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (May 26th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, feel free to post them in the comment area and share them with AFers.

On this day in 2018 - Cristiano Ronaldo played his final game for Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo played his last game for Real Madrid after winning a fourth Champions League crown with the Spanish side in a 3-1 victory over Liverpool on May 26th 2018. He cast doubt over his future after the match and the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has completed his sensational transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus in a club record deal for the Italian giants on July 10th.

On this day in 1999 - Manchester United defeated Bayern Munich to claim the 1999 UEFA Champions League title in final 3 minutes

On 26 May 1999, Manchester United defeated Bayern Munich to claim the 1999 UEFA Champions League title before a crowd of over 90,000 people at Barcelona's Camp Nou Stadium.

Bayern scored first after Manchester United's Danish back Ronny Johnsen fouled Bayern striker Carsten Jancker just outside United's penalty area. Right forward Mario Basler took the ensuing free kick, which swerved around the United wall and into the left corner of the net, giving Bayern a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute.

Despite an advantage in possession, Manchester United were unable to penetrate the German side's defense. In the 67th minute, manager Alex Ferguson attempted to strengthen his team's offense, substituting forward Teddy Sheringham on for Swedish midfielder Jesper Blomqvist. Still down 1-0 in the 81st minute, he then brought on Norwegian forward Ole Gunnar Solskjær for forward Andy Cole. 

At the end of regulation, the fourth official indicated that there would be three minutes of injury time. It was then that the substitutes rewarded Ferguson's decisions, as Sheringham scored the equalizer in the 91st minute. Less than 30 seconds later, United earned a corner, which was taken by midfielder David Beckham. He arced the ball in to Sheringham, who headed it down to the feet of Solskjær. The Norwegian then prodded the ball into the top of the net, giving United their first lead in the 92nd minute. The German side were stunned and United held on for the 2-1 win.

The victory completed a treble for Manchester United, who had already won the Premier League title and the FA Cup.

On this day in 1989 - Arsenal won the League by beating Liverpool 0-2 at Anfield in the last match of the season.

On 26 May 1989, Arsenal won the League in dramatic fashion, beating runners-up Liverpool 0-2 at Anfield in the last match of the season.

Despite leading the race for the title earlier that spring, a recent loss to Derby County and a draw with Wimbledon left Arsenal in second place, three points behind Liverpool. Liverpool also had a better goal differential which meant that Arsenal needed not only to win, but to win by two goals. It seemed an impossible task, as Liverpool had not lost by two more or goals at Anfield all season (and had, in fact, lost there only twice all year).

On this day in 1982 - Aston Villa won the European Cup over Bayern Munich.

Playing before a crowd of 45,000 at the Feyenoord Stadion in Rotterdam, Villa started the match as decided underdogs to three-time champion Bayern. And their hopes took another hit when their starting goalkeeper, Jimmy Rimmer, had to leave the match after only 10 minutes. He had injured his neck previously and was relying on painkillers to see him through the day, but he could not make it and had to withdraw. Villa sent on his replacement, 23-year old Nigel Spink. Despite joining the club in 1977, Spink had made only one other appearance with the first team.

Playing before a crowd of 45,000 at the Feyenoord Stadion in Rotterdam, Villa started the match as decided underdogs to three-time champion Bayern. And their hopes took another hit when their starting goalkeeper, Jimmy Rimmer, had to leave the match after only 10 minutes. He had injured his neck previously and was relying on painkillers to see him through the day, but he could not make it and had to withdraw. Villa sent on his replacement, 23-year old Nigel Spink. Despite joining the club in 1977, Spink had made only one other appearance with the first team.

On this day in 2017 - Man City completed the signing of Bernardo Silva, their player of 18/19 season

The calibre of his performances against Manchester City for Monaco in the UEFA Champions League knockout legs in the 2016-17 season was noted by head coach Pep Guardiola and his backroom staff. On 26 May 2017, Manchester City confirmed the signing of Silva on a five-year contract after passing his medical tests. Although the transfer fee remains undisclosed, it has been reported to amount to €50 million (£43.5 million).

Silva officially joined the club on 1 July 2017, ahead of the 2017–18 season.

On 13 February 2018, he scored his first Champions League goal for the City in a 4–0 away victory against Basel in the first leg of the round of 16 stage.

The Portuguese play-maker has been outstanding throughout the 2018/19 campaign and has played a major role in the Blues' four trophies this season.

The voting of City's player of the 18/19 season was in two stages, with the long list reduced to a shortlist of three - Bernardo, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero. More than 62,000 people voted, with Bernardo polling 48% of the total vote. The award was unveiled at the trophy parade in front of thousands of City fans in the centre of Manchester.

On this day in 1909 - Manchester United legend Sir Matt Busby was born

Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an English team to win the European Cup and is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.

Before going into management, Busby was a player for two of Manchester United's greatest rivals, Manchester City and Liverpool. During his time at City, Busby played in two FA Cup Finals, winning one of them. After his playing career was interrupted by the Second World War, Busby was offered the job of assistant coach at Liverpool, but they were unwilling to give him the control over the first team that he wanted. As a result, he took the vacant manager's job at Manchester United instead, where he built the famous Busby Babes team. Eight of these players died in the Munich air disaster, but Busby rebuilt the side and United won the European Cup a decade later. In a total of 25 years with the club, he won 13 trophies.

On this day in 1988 - Juventus winger Juan Cuadrado was born

Juan Guillermo Cuadrado Bello is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Italian club Juventus and the Colombia national team. He is known for his direct style of play, including his pace (both on and off the ball) as well as his dribbling skills. He started off in a central midfield role, acting as a defensive midfielder early in his career, also being used as a forward on occasion, before being moved into wider positions in which he now usually plays, often operating as a right-sided winger, attacking midfielder, full-back or wing-back.

Having begun his career at Independiente Medellín, Cuadrado moved to Italy in 2009 to join Udinese. Used sparingly at the club, he was loaned to Lecce for the 2011–12 season, where despite relegation from Serie A, his performances earned a transfer to Fiorentina. In February 2015, he was signed by Chelsea, but after playing sparingly, was loaned to Juventus for consecutive seasons, where he won successive Serie A and Coppa Italia titles. He joined the club permanently in 2017, and added a third consecutive domestic double the following season, followed by a fourth consecutive league title in 2019.

On this day in 1977 - Former Italia & Bayern legend striker Luca Toni was born

Luca Toni played for twelve different Italian teams throughout his career. A late bloomer, he spent several seasons in the lower divisions of Italian football, as well as promising spells with minor Serie A clubs Vicenza and Brescia, before finally making his breakthrough with Palermo. After two prolific seasons with Fiorentina, Toni also spent three seasons with German side Bayern Munich, where he helped the club to a domestic treble during the 2007–08 season, also reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals. He later returned to Italy on loan with Roma in 2010, and subsequently had spells with Genoa and Juventus. In 2012, he played for Al-Nasr Dubai SC, in the UAE Arabian Gulf League, but returned to Fiorentina for a season later that year. He retired in 2016, after three seasons with Verona, the last as team captain.

At international level, he represented the Italian national team on 47 occasions, scoring 16 goals. He made his international debut in 2004 and took part at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup with Italy; he most notably contributed to Italy's 2006 World Cup victory, as he scored twice and was elected to the tournament's All-star team.

A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competitions; with 322 career goals, he is currently the fourth-highest scoring Italian player of all time.