Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (March 18th) 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 2010, Fulham beat Juventus 4-1 (5-4 on agg.) to make the UEL QFs
Clint Dempsey wrote himself into Fulham folklore by firing the Cottagers into the last eight of the Europa League with a 4-1 win over nine-man Juventus at Craven Cottage.
Dempsey drifted a sublime chip past keeper Antonio Chimenti to seal a historic 5-4 aggregate win for the Cottagers.
Bobby Zamora cancelled out David Trezeguet's opener before Fulham surged into a 3-1 lead on the night thanks to two goals from Zoltan Gera.
Juventus had been reduced to 10 after Fabio Cannavaro was sent off in the first half and their fate was sealed in the 82nd minute thanks to Dempsey's winner.
Juve's misery was completed by the sending-off of Jonathan Zebina in injury time.
On this day in 1919, Six-time La Liga champions Valencia was founded
The club was officially approved on 18 March 1919 having been formed 13 days earlier with Octavio Augusto Milego Díaz elected as their first president, moving into their Mestalla home four years later.
The first of Los Che’s six La Liga titles arrived in 1942 with a further two arriving in the next five years while three more followed in 1971, 2002 and 2004.
2004 was the most successful year in the club’s history when they won the UEFA Cup (now named the Europa League) while also winning the UEFA Super Cup that campaign.
Valencia have also won the Copa del Rey on seven occasions, with the latest coming in 2008, while they have also won the Supercopa de Espana, UEFA Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Intertoto Cup.
On this day in 1977, Bayern legend Willy Sagnol was born
Sagnol spent much of his professional career playing for Bayern Munich in Bundesliga. He was also part of the French squad at 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008.
At Bayern, Sagnol consolidated his reputation as one of the best full backs of his generation. A solid defender but also equally comfortable operating in attacking positions (often as a wing back), Sagnol's superb crossing ability marked him out as a key player in Bayern's attacking play. With the Bavarian club, he won the Bundesliga in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008, as well as the UEFA Champions League in 2001 and the DFB-Pokal in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008. At international level, he had less success, often finding himself on the bench playing second fiddle to Lilian Thuram on the right side of the French defence. It was not until the retirement of Marcel Desailly and Thuram's consequent move into the centre of the French defence that Sagnol finally became first-choice right back in 2004, and remained there for the next four years.
On this day in 1939, Ex-Man Utd manager Ron Atkinson was born
Atkinson was seen as the man who could bring the spark to Manchester United that had been so sorely lacking under his predecessor. Dave Sexton had taken them to second place in the league in 1980 but did not win a major trophy in his four years at the club.
Despite media speculation that Atkinson would be sacked in favour of Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson or Barcelona manager Terry Venables, the 1986–87 season began with Atkinson still at the helm. His two FA Cup wins and five successive top four league finishes had made him more successful than any manager at Manchester United since Matt Busby, but the pressure to build on the earlier successes was becoming more intense than ever. The 1986–87 season opened disastrously with three successive defeats, and despite a minor upturn in September and October which included a 5–1 home win over Southampton in the league, the pressure on Atkinson remained intense and the board finally ran out of patience on 6 November 1986 when he was dismissed as manager two days after a 4–1 exit at the hands of Southampton in the League Cup. United were still in the bottom four of the First Division with a third of the season already gone.
On this day in 1999, Man Utd's Diogo Dalot was born
Dalot signed for Manchester United on 6 June 2018 on a five-year contract for a fee of £19 million. He made his debut on 19 September 2018 in an away Champions League group stage match against Swiss side Young Boys.
Dalot is a typical full-back and can play both on the left and right sides. He is not the modern-day wing-back; he is quite the safe full-back, that never (or seldom) makes a mistake in defensive positioning or transitions but can still offer a lot of quality and power in attacking manoeuvres. Dalot is an obviously intelligent player, as it is not usual for a 20-year-old player to position himself so correctly in all moments of the game, whether it is in situations of attacking build-up, midfield ball possession, high-pressure or sitting-deep defensive attitude or even quick attacking or defensive transitions.
