#5 Euro 1960- Soviet Union vs Yugoslavia
Trending
The inaugural edition of the UEFA European Championship was held in France. The final four teams in the competition were hosts France, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. The tournament had only four games but it did have its share of excitement in a couple of matches.
The first semi-final between hosts France and Yugoslavia is regarded to be one of the most thrilling matches in Euro history as Yugoslavia came from 4-2 down to beat France 5-4. This match in fact, is still the highest scoring match in Euro history.
The other semi-final between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia was, however, a one-sided affair as the Soviets comprehensively beat Czechoslovakia to book their place in the final.The Parc Des Princes in Paris was the venue for the first European Championship final featuring the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. While Yugoslavia had star forwards Milan Galic and Drazan Jerkovic in their lineup , Soviet Union had the best goalkeeper in the world Lev Yashin in their roster alongside the likes of Vladimir Ivanov and Viktor Ponedelnik. The match was expected to be a tight contest and it certainly turned out to be so.
Yugoslavia showed their flair time and again and opened the scoring after 43 minutes when Jerkovic’s cross was headed in the net by Galic. Yugoslavia had several chances to increase their lead but were foiled time and again by a defiant Lev Yashin. His counterpart Blagoje Vidinic, however, couldn’t produce the same display as his inability to hold Valentin Bubukin’s shot allowed Slava Metreveli to equalise for the Soviets.Both the teams had scoring opportunities in the dying moments of the game and in the beginning of extra time. With seven minutes remaining on the clock, Ponedelnik headed in the winner and the Soviet Union won the match 2-1 to be crowned the inaugural European Champions.
