Nostalgia: Champions League Style
Ajax celebrating with the UCL Trophy in 1995. Photo Credit: EMPICS Sport|Neal Simpson.
The original version of the piece was published on April 17th, 2019 at DC Soccer Digest, a now-defunct website I created in 2018.
The first time I saw a Champions League Final was in 1995. To be honest, I had no idea what I was watching, but when the final whistle blew, I knew I wanted more.
Ajax’s young guns, Frank and Ronald De Boer, Nwankwo Kanu, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Edwin van der Saar, well, basically their entire starting lineup, faced off against AC Milan, a squad that could only be described as the old guard, remnants left over from one of the more dominate footballing sides of the late ’80s and early ’90s.
I didn’t know it then, but they had met in the group stages, with Ajax taking both matches 2-0. But, it was just like a changing of the guards. Even though we didn’t get access to much club soccer on television, we did get a handful of soccer magazines. And from those sources, my brother and I knew that AC Milan was a powerhouse. They were at the pinnacle. They were the Yankees.
It was the 85th minute before 19-year-old substitute Patrick Kluivert’s first touch from a Frank Rijkaard pass took him 1v1 with the goalkeeper. And with two defenders closing while losing his own balance, Kluivert slotted the ball past an on-rushing goalkeeper.
The game-winner.
An addiction to the beautiful game and arguably its most exciting competition took hold.
Maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement. I was already addicted. My brother and I would watch tapes of old games from the 1990 and 1994 editions of the World Cup. (I still have those tapes, by the way.) This was pre-MLS and pre-EPL being televised regularly where we grew up.
But there was something about that game that drove that hook even deeper. Like the first time you taste a craft beer after years of stale macro brews. Or when you get that first sip of 12-year Balvenie after growing up on bottom-shelf bourbon. Whatever it was, I wanted more.
They made it to the finals the next season and could have been back-to-back champions without a silly defensive error. But honestly, Juventus had one of their own that let Ajax back into the game. The final had to be settled in a shootout, with the club from Turin hoisting the title. And by summer, Ajax’s finest products in a generation had been shipped off to distant corners of the continent—mainly Spain and Italy.
I would be lying if I said seeing Ajax making a deep run in this year’s Champions League didn’t have me overcome with nostalgia. And not just for that spring afternoon 24 years ago in May. But for every Champions League campaign after that.
The memories come flooding back. Rushing home from school to catch the last half of whatever game between whichever teams. Begging our soccer coach to delay practice so that we can catch a glimpse of our heroes playing each other. Jamming a VHS cassette (I had to look that up because I had forgotten the terminology) into our VCR and recording over the 1992 slam dunk contest, even if it’s only for the last 30 minutes of the game. Getting to see FC Bayern beat Glasgow Celtic at Munich’s Olympic Stadium on the opening match day of the 2003-04 Champions League.
Seeing Ajax in the semifinals does that to me. I’m not even an Ajax fan. Not in the same way I’m a Liverpool fan, at least. But seeing them do well and make a deep run against better-funded, superstar-filled squads makes all those memories come flooding back.
And while this team may not be as dominant as the Ajax teams of the past, as, year-on-year, it’s far more challenging to keep up with the big-spending Real Madrids, Barcelonas, and Manchester Citys, they’ve nonetheless made a strong case for keeping their club’s spot in the pantheon of footballing royalty.
A healthy mix of young and old has Ajax two games away from a Champions League Final. But undoubtedly, this summer will, just like in the summer of ‘96, see all those bright young superstars in Amsterdam headed off for new challenges—La Liga, The Premier League, Serie A, The Bundesliga. They’ll be Ajax’s missionaries, plying their trade and talent across the continent.
In a way, it’s heartbreaking. Imagine what this side could do if they stuck together. (It should be noted that the club made it to the 2017 Europa League Finals with some of the players from this year’s team.)
But that’s the modern game. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, nostalgia-inducing.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.