New adventure for Odense
John | Aug 17, 2011 | Comments 0
Regarded as one of the smallest club’s competing in the Champions League, OB Odense surprised the world during the 1994/95 UEFA Cup, by overturning a first leg home defeat to beat Spanish giants, Real Madrid on aggregate.
It will forever be known as the ‘Miracle of Madrid’ – but OB’s current crop of players have made their own history this week.
For, on Tuesday, they went to Athens, and against all odds defeated the mighty Panathinaikos in a Champions’ League third round qualification match.
The Danish press have unsurprisingly dubbed it as the ‘Miracle of Athens’.
It means they will now sensationally join their countrymen, FC Copenhagen in reaching the group stage of the tournament.
The club were applauded on their hard earned 1-1 draw in the first leg, at home. However, not even the the most optimistic of their fans could have truly predicted what would unfold in the second leg.
Henrik Clausen’s side took the lead in the 12th minute, through Andreas Johansson, to the shock of the hostile home crowd.
But when former Newcastle United man, Jean-Alain Boumsong popped up with an equaliser midway through the first half, many of the spectators at the game would have been expecting the game to turn rather one-sided.
Indeed that prophecy looked to be coming true, as early in the second half, the hosts went ahead in the game.
OB managed to turn that round, and were leading the game 4-2 until the 90th minute when Antonis Petropoulos brought it back to 4-3.
This meant a nervy finish, but they were able to hold on and record one of the most famous victories in the history of the club.
It had echo’s of that famous night in Madrid, when goals from Ulrik Pedersen and Morten Bisgaard saw them win 2-0 in the Bernabau. They had lost the first leg 3-2.
That year was the first time that OB had ever progressed further than the first round of the UEFA Cup. After their heroics, though, they were beaten by Parma in the first round.
This year will be the beginning of a brand new European adventure for Odense, and many football fans will be hoping for more of the ‘romance of the cup’, and a long stay in it for this particular Danish side.
By William Taylor – An Ipswich Town fan and sports writer who often uses Bet365 Free Bets when placing bookmakers free bets.
Related posts:
Filed Under: Featured • World Football
About the Author:
Loading ...