Euro 68 – classic matches

England 0-1 Yugoslavia
The world cup winners took on a young and enthusiastic Yugoslav side. The Yugoslav team started the livelier of the two and England soon new that they would have their work cut out to defeat the lively Yugoslavians. The match could have been described as both brutal and irritable; England suffered a major body blow when Alan Mullery made history by becoming the first English man ever to be sent off in an international match. England then really struggled against the lively Yugoslavian forward line and with few minutes remaining Dragan Dzajic scored the only goal of the game to reward his nation their first major final appearance.

Italy 1-1 Yugoslavia  Final
The final took place in Rome on 8th June 1968 and everybody expected the Italians to come out on top of this mouth-watering clash. Despite the support of a huge Italian crowd, Yugoslavia took the match by the scruff of the neck right from the start and totally outplayed the home side. Italy’s defence was vulnerable. Dzajic caused the Italians all sorts of problems and he was the player who opened the scoring with five minutes remaining of the first half. Yugoslavia created numerous chances in the second half, however with only nine minutes remaining, Italy were awarded a free kick which was smashed into the back of the net by Domenghini, whilst the referee was instructing the Yugoslav wall. Both the Yugoslav’s and Italians were surprised that the goal stood and the match went into extra time. No more goals were scored so the game was to go to a replay.

Italy 2-0 Yugoslavia  Final Replay

Italy unleashed five new players featuring Mazzola and Yugoslavia introduced virtually the same starting eleven. In the replay the Yugoslav’s determination and enthusiasm disintegrated as the tiredness factor kicked in and the only Yugoslav that had a good match was the goal keeper Pantelic. Italy were surprised to be given the ample space they were receiving and exploited the situation in placing high amounts of pressure on to the Yugoslav goal. Riva was outstanding in his upfront position through out the match, after only ten minutes gone he had a tremendous effort saved. Shortly after, Domenghini crossed from the right and Riva smashed Italy in front. On the half hour mark, Anastasi shot on the turn and increased the cushion to two goals. The result ended 2-0 and the Italians were the champions of Europe.