UEFA Euro 1988 Final
The UEFA Euro 1988 Final was a football match played on 25 June 1988 to determine the winner of UEFA Euro 1988. The match was contested by the Soviet Union, playing in what would turn out to be the nation's last European Championship, and the Netherlands at the Olympiastadion in Munich. The Dutch won the match 2–0, with goals coming from captain Ruud Gullit, a header in the first half and tournament top scorer Marco van Basten. At 2-0, Hans van Breukelen saved a penalty from Igor Belanov, a penalty that he had given away for bringing down Sergey Gotsmanov.
Van Basten's goal, in which he volleyed right-footed over Rinat Dasayev from the tightest of angles on the right of the penalty area from Arnold Muhren's looping ball from the left, would later be described as one of the greatest goals in the history of the European Championships.
Match details
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UEFA Euro 1988
The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany between 10 and 25 June 1988. It was the eighth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA.
The tournament crowned the Netherlands as European champions for the first, and so far only time. Euro 88 was a rare instance of a major football tournament ending without a single sending-off or goalless draw, nor any knockout matches going to extra time or penalties.
Overview
Group stage
The first group pitted two pre-tournament favourites West Germany and Italy together, along with Spain and Denmark. The Italians had not played in the competition finals since the 1980 edition, which they hosted and West Germany won. Spain and Denmark contested the second semi-final of the 1984 edition. Spain prevailed on penalty-kicks, but lost the final to hosts, France who failed to qualify in 1988.
The Germans and Italians played out the opening game. This game was tightly contested. Roberto Mancini capitalised on a defensive error on the left-hand side of the German goal and the striker squeezed in a shot from a tight angle. Just three minutes later, Italy's goalkeeper, Walter Zenga was penalized for taking more than four steps with the ball and Andreas Brehme scored the resulting free-kick. Both teams settled for a 1–1 draw.
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