Borussia Dortmund will take on Real Madrid at Wembley later this evening aiming to win the Champions League for the second time in their history.
It was 27 years ago that the German side won the famous trophy for the first time in their history after defeating Juventus 3-1 in Munich. And one player who was a vital part of that side. The man of the match on the night was a player who played a massive part in keeping the legendary Zinedine Zidane from making an impact. That player was none other than future Celtic captain Paul Lambert.
As Paul held aloft that famous trophy, he became the first British player to win the big cup with a foreign club. It capped something of an amazing 12 months for the Scottish midfielder. You could say it was something of a fairytale.
Only 12 months earlier the 26 year old Lambert was out of contract with Motherwell wondering where his footballing future lay.
Paul was hardly an unknown in the Scottish game and was undoubtedly a talented footballer, but what he was to achieve in the next year would take everyone including himself by total surprise. Amazingly after leaving the Steelmen and taking advantage of the newly formed Bosman ruling, he landed a dream move to the German champions, and the rest as they say is history.
Paul would move on only a few months after that famous cup win due to personal circumstances, when Wim Jansen persuaded him to sign for Celtic in a £2 million deal.
Within only a few weeks as a Celtic player he had won his first honour, the league cup at Ibrox. A couple of months later Paul would score a spectacular memorable goal to settle a tense win in the Glasgow derby, a win that was instrumental in the club winning the title later that season.
Three years later Paul would cement his place in Celtic folklore by being a vital part of the side that won a clean sweep under Martin O’Neill. This was the club’s first treble in over 30 years, let that sink in younger readers!
In just five years Paul Lambert had went from being a Motherwell player to a Champions League winner and Celtic treble winner. A remarkable rise and achievement that has to be truly admired.
This evening Dortmund will be going all out to double their tally of Champions League wins while Reall Madrid will be desperate for another win to narrow the gap on theRangers for that “Most Successful Club in the World” thing…
Paul Lambert holds aloft the big cup with Borussia Dortmund 1997 pic.twitter.com/o51g4nLMG9
— JustAnOrdinaryBhoy (@ordinarybhoy) June 1, 2024
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