Paul Lambert became the first Scot to win the Champions League when he starred in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-1 win over Juventus 26 years ago today.
However, it took TV’s Bradley Walsh to inform him that he’d broken another record that night. Lambert said: “I knew I was the first Scot to collect a winner’s medal from the competition – as opposed to those who won the European Cup. However, I’m also the first British player ever to win either tournament with a foreign club. I know because I was watching The Chase and that was one of host Bradley’s questions!”
Facing the holders in club football’s biggest game at Munich’s Olympiastadion was a huge step up for the midfielder who’d finished the previous season playing for Motherwell. However, Lambert took it all in his stride and walked off with the man of the match award.
Yet it could easily have been very different. He said: “I’d decided not to stay with Motherwell. The Bosman ruling had come in so I contacted clubs all over Europe to let them know I’d be a free agent. The first thing I did at Dortmund was to start learning the language.
“British players like Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Paul Gascoigne struggled abroad because they couldn’t communicate with their team-mates. I was determined that wouldn’t happen to me.
“It was just as well I did because our coach Ottmar Hitzfeld didn’t have much English. Working with him and players like Matthias Sammer and Jurgen Kohler lifted me to a new level. We had a great season, beat Manchester United home and away to reach the Champions League Final.
“My job was to man-mark Zinedine Zidane who made everything happen for Juve. Zidane was something else. I hadn’t realised he was so tall – he’s 6ft 4in – and he could do step-overs with either foot.
“Ball-watching was out because he’d just drift away and kill you so I just followed him everywhere. My two best memories of that night were making an interception just as he was about to pull the trigger and of claiming the assist for our opening goal.”
Just six months later – as a result of his wife’s homesickness – Lambert returned to Glasgow to sign for Celtic in a £2million deal but he’s still a frequent visitor to Dortmund. He said: “Nowadays I have my own square in their Walk of Fame outside the ground. Leaving Dortmund was the hardest thing I ever did in football. Like Celtic, it’s a special club.”
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