Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (May 5th) 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 2012 - Messi scored 4 against Espanyol & Pep last game at Camp Nou
On 5 May 2012, Lionel Messi scored four against Espanyol to break Gerd Muller's record of goals scored in a single season (67) - he ended the season with a total of 73.
Lionel Messi scored four times to take his tally for the season to an unprecedented 72 goals, and give the Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, a 4-0 win against cross-town rivals Espanyol in his last home game at Camp Nou.
On this day in 2009 - CR7 scored a 40-yard free-kick vs Arsenal
On 5 May 2009, Ronaldo scored a stunning 40 yard free kick against Arsenal during the 2008-2009 UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals.
Taking a freekick following an Arsenal foul, Ronaldo beat former Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia with his knuckleball freekick, helping United seal the tie 3-0 on aggregate.
On this day in 1971 - Sir Matt Busby's last game as Man United manager
On 5 May 1971, Man Utd legend Matt Busby finish his last game as Man Utd manager.
Sir Alexander Matthew Busby, 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.
On this day in 2002 - Juventus surpassed Inter to win the Serie A title in last round
On 5 May 2002, Juventus completed a remarkable run to the Serie A title, thanks in part to a season-end collapse by Inter.
It was the last day of the season and Inter had been at the top of the table since 24 March. On 30 March, they had a six-point lead over Juventus, who were then in third, with Roma in between. But Juve went on an unbeaten run to climb into second, while an Inter loss to Atalanta and draw with Chievo saw their lead shrink to a single point. Roma had dropped to third, but were separated from the top by only two points.
All three teams were away for their final matches of the season, Inter at Lazio, Juventus at Udinese, and Roma at Torino.
Finally, both Juventus and Roma went on to win 0-2 and 0-1, respectively--but Inter fell hard to Lazio. Despite taking a 1-2 lead in the first half, they went into the break level at 2-2, then surrendered a pair of second-half goals to fall 4-2.
The results pushed Juventus into first, Roma into second, and Inter into third.
On this day in 2014 - Liverpool let their EPL title hopes slip away at Selhurst Park
On 5 May 2014, Liverpool squandered a three-goal lead in the final 11 minutes at Crystal Palace to see their Premier League title hopes suffer a severe blow - and leave Luis Suarez in tears at the final whistle.
Liverpool were 3-goal ahead at 78' until Palace pulled a goal back with a little over 10 minutes to go as Delaney let fly with a speculative long-range effort which beat Mignolet courtesy of a deflection off Johnson. That goal seemed to unnerve the visitors, who conceded again when Yannick Bolasie burst through and calmly picked a pass for Gayle turn the ball home to bring Palace right back into the game.
A memorable comeback was completed in the 88th minute as fellow substitute Glenn Murray chested the ball into the path of Gayle, who showed great composure to slide a shot under Mignolet to level proceedings.
On this day in 2013 - Miroslav Klose becomes first Lazio player to score five in Serie A
Germany international Miroslav Klose scored five goals in only 40 minutes as Lazio beat Bologna 6-0 in Serie A. The 34-year-old, who signed in 2011 from Bayern Munich, is the first Lazio player to score five goals in a match. He is also the first player to score five in the Italian top-flight since 1986, when Roberto Pruzzo achieved the same feat.
On this day in 1956 - Most famous footballing injury
On 5 May 1956, Manchester City defeated Birmingham City 3-1 in the FA Cup Final before a crowd of over 100,000 at London's Wembley Stadium. It was a remarkable win, considering that the Man City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, played the last seventeen minutes with a broken neck.
The two sides were evenly matched to the hour mark, when Man City took advantage of Birmingham's defensive lapses to score two quick goals from forwards Bobby Johnstone and Jack Dyson. Birmingham attacked the Man City goal with renewed fervor when, in the 73rd minute, forward Peter Murphy collided with Trautmann. Murphy's knee rammed into Trautmann's neck, knocking the keeper unconscious.
The rules at the time did not alow for substitutes, so after Trautmann recovered, he insisted on staying on the pitch as Manchester City complete the 3-1 win. Three days later, Trautmann's neck still hurt, so he went to a doctor who confirmed that he had dislodged five vertebrae, one of which was broken in two. Trautmann became a folk hero at Manchester City, for whom he played until 1964, making over 500 appearances.
On this day in 1928 - Dixie Dean's record 60 league goals
Everton forward Dixie Dean broke the record for the most goals in a season, beating George Camsell’s mark of 59. He needed three to better Camsell’s tally and did so by scoring a hat-trick in the 3-3 draw with Arsenal at Goodison Park on the last day of the season at the age of 21.
The record has never been broken and the goals just kept on coming.
On this day in 1998 - Boca's first step to forty
On 5 May 1998, Boca Juniors beat Huracán 2-4. It was the first of their Argentinian record forty-match unbeaten streak that included two league titles.
The run coincided with the arrival of manager Carlos Bianchi, who had won three league titles and the Copa Libertadores as the boss of Vélez Sársfield from 1993 to 1996 and had just spent a brief spell in charge of Roma.
Boca struggled in Bianchi's first season, the 1998 Clausura. The win over Huracán came in the fifteenth match of the season and Boca followed it with three more wins and a draw to finish in the table's sixth spot. But they continued their unbeaten run in the next season, the 1998 Apertura, to finish as undefeated champions with a record of thirteen wins and six draws.
The streak continued for another sixteen matches in the 1999 Clausura before Boca lost to Independiente 4-0 on 6 June 1999. The overall record of forty unbeaten matches beat the previous high mark of thirty-nine set by Racing in 1965-66 and also helped Boca claim the Clausura title to repeat as champions.
On this day in 1992 - The Furiani Disaster
On 5 May 1992, 18 people died when a terrace collapsed at the Stade Armand-Césari in Furiani, Corsica during a Coupe de France semifinal.
Local side Bastia had advanced through the tournament to face Ligue 1 leaders Marseille in the semifinals, with the winner advancing to play Monaco in the final. Bastia's directors decided to capitalize on the high-profile match by increasing the stadium's capacity, building a temporary terrace to hold an additional 10,000 fans. But before the match got underway, the new structure collapsed, killing eighteen people and injuring over 2,300 others.
The teams never played their semifinal, as the FFF decided to cancel the remainder of the tournament, leaving the Coupe de France without a winner for the first time.
On this day in 1980 - Yossi Benayoun was born
On 5 May 1980, Yossi Benayoun was born. Benayoun is a retired Israeli professional footballer who last played for Beitar Jerusalem and captained the Israel national team. He played as an attacking midfielder, often occupying the space just behind the striker.
Benayoun played for Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Racing de Santander in Spain. Three years later he moved to the Premier League with West Ham United, and later Liverpool. In 2010, he signed for Chelsea, where he was used rarely, being loaned to Arsenal and back to West Ham, but nonetheless won the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. After that, he was released by the club and spent a season in the Football League Championship with Queens Park Rangers before returning to Maccabi Haifa.
A full international for twenty years from 1998 to 2018, Benayoun is Israel's most capped player of all time with 102 caps, and their joint second top scorer with 24 international goals.
