Chapter VII: That invincible Milan

The Centennial Pichichi Trophy brought many of the great ‘red and blacks’ footballers as guests to San Mamés, back then a dominating team in Europe.

In the dawn of the Nineties, on the occasion of the Tribute match to Members, the first luxury guests that visited La Catedral were Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund; both clubs were finalists of the last Champions League. The team from Munich was going through a rough patch the previous season, 1991/92, in which they only achieved five points more than teams that descended in the Bundesliga and, in addition, the following season the Bavarians fell eliminated in the second round of the UEFA before Norwich City, the only English club that defeated to them in the old Olympiastadion in official competitions. Despite it all, on 18 August 1992 footballers of the category of right winger Jorginho appeared in Bilbao, a world champion with Brazil in 1994, as well as a series of illustrious players like defender Thomas Helmer and midfielders Mehmet Scholl and Olaf Thon, although the latter ended up converting to the sweeper position in the final stretch of his career. A goal by Carlos Garcia was enough to crush that team immersed in full transition.

The following summer, Borussia Dortmund showed up with a professional staff that was the embryo of the European Cup champions team in1997. Under the leadership of Matthias Sammer, the most outstanding in the German triumph of the Euro’96 who won the Golden Ball that same year, the ‘borusser’ expedition included the great captain Michael Zorc, who played his whole career with the Dortmund club, from 1981 to 1998, the goal scorer Stephane Chapuisat, the only Swiss along with Ciriaco Sforza who knows what it is like to win a Champions League, goalkeeper Stephan Klos and the excellent header striker Karl Heinz Riedle, the author of the first two goals in the final of the 1997 European Cup against Juventus. In that friendly match disputed on 17 August 1993 in La Cathedral, the great Karl Heinz Rummenigge’s younger brother, Michael, opened the scoring which ended 0-3. Eight days later, San Mamés’ 80th anniversary was commemorated with the visit of a prestigious organization as is the Brazilian Flamengo, which tied at two in the friendly, and in October, a posthumous tribute to journalist Jose Maria Múgica was held, Kendall’s Everton defeated Heynckes’ Athletic (0-2).

A few months before, on 18 February 1993, on the occasion of the Centennial of the Pichichi Trophy, the champion Milan of Berlusconi, under the orders of Fabio Capello, agreed to dispute a friendly match in Bilbao. In spite of the significant absences of Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Papin and the international Italians Maldini, Lentini, Costacurta and Tassotti, the ‘rossonera’ squad’ aligned talented footballers such as Fernando De Napoli, Stefano Eranio, Daniele Massaro, the Croatian Zvonimir Boban, Roberto Donadoni, Marco Simone, the Brazilian Giováne Elber and especially, the great captain Franco Baresi, one of the best sweepers in history, who had the bad fortune of scoring an own goal in San Mamés.

Baresi attempted a back pass but in its trajectory towards Sebastiano Rossi, the ball hit an aluminium ball that confused the Milan goalie. Athletic Club managed the feat of beating the ‘rossonera’ team with individual goals in the minutes 87′ and 90′, before the delirium of the excited spectators in the ‘full to the brim’ La Catedral. This way, the lions broke the fantastic winning streak of Capello’s men which included 55 undefeated matches, both official and friendly matches.

That ‘rojiblanca’ squad was directed by Heynckes, who the following season left the Club after fulfilling his 2-year contract, and did so after qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Javier Irureta took the team’s reins and in the European tournament, which began with a very tight qualifying round against the modest Anorthosis from Ciprus, they were paired off in the Round of 32 with Newcastle United. Under the management of Kevin Keegan, ‘the magpies’ had become the fashion team in England after taking the lead in their League. In San Mamés, a goal by Ziganda brought about the pass to the following round against a team, whose indisputable star was the international English player Peter Beardsley, who reached the peak of his professional career in the rows of Liverpool.

In the following qualifying round, the lions had to play against Parma, who would eventually win the tournament. In any case, the Italians, coached by an emerging Nevoid Scale, fell defeated in La Catedral (1-0, Ziganda) with an eleven line up in which stood out the Argentinean Nestor Sensing, Dino Baggie, and a magician with the ball, Gianfranco Zola, recognized as one of the best talents that ever emerged from the transalpine country. Zola, who today manages Watford, ended up prevailing in his journey through Chelsea (1996-2003) scoring very impressive goals.

In the following European participation of the 1997/98 season, another Italian team crossed paths with Athletic Club, the Sampdoria of trainer Cesar Luis Menotti. Luis Fernandez’s players passed to the next round (1-2 in Genoa and 2-0 in Bilbao) against a team that presented well-known faces such as the Serb Sinisa Mihajlovic, famous for his high goal percentage from free kicks, the Argentinean Juan Sebastián ‘La Brujita’ Verón and Jürgen Klinsmann, although the German forward only played in Luigi Ferraris Stadium. Later, Aston Villa ended the rojiblanco’s dream. San Mamés spectators witnessed the Australian goal keeper Mark Bosnich in action, who the previous year was sanctioned for making a Nazi greeting to the spectators of Tottenham Hotspur, the Irish winger Steve Staunton, the forwards Stan Collymore and Savo Milosevic, who later ended up playing in the Liga, and the skilful attacker from Trinidad and Tobago, Dwight Yorke, who achieved international fame after his career in Manchester United (1998-2002).