(Reuters) – ON THIS DAY — MAY 24
May 24, 1995
SOCCER – Ajax Amsterdam’s Edgar Davids lifts the Champions League trophy aloft as he celebrates with Finidi George, Jari Litmanen and Nwankwo Kanu after they beat AC Milan in the final in Vienna.
Ajax had defeated Milan twice in the group stage to top the standings ahead of the holders and followed it up by thrashing Bayern Munich 5-2 in the semi-finals.
Louis van Gaal’s Ajax side had an average age of just 23 and they stunned overwhelming favourites Milan 1-0 with 18-year-old substitute Patrick Kluivert scoring the winner in the 85th minute.
May 24, 2001
SOCCER – Tens of thousands of enthusiastic Bayern fans congregate in downtown Munich on the famous Marienplatz to celebrate the club’s double-winning season.
Bayern won the Bundesliga title by one point on the final day of the season in the dying seconds with a late equaliser against Hamburg to pip Schalke to the title.
In the Champions League, Bayern defeated Manchester United and Real Madrid on the way to the final, where they drew 1-1 with Valencia before beating the Spaniards 5-4 in a penalty shootout.
May 24, 2001
FORMULA ONE – McLaren-Mercedes’ Scottish driver David Coulthard looks in his rear view mirror during the first free practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.
Coulthard, who hit a barrier and damaged his car in practice, claimed his second pole position of the season in the qualifying session two days later ahead of Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and team mate Mika Hakkinen.
However, a stalled engine at the start of the formation lap saw him moved to the back of the grid, allowing Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to give Ferrari a one-two finish after Hakkinen retired with a steering problem.
May 24, 2008
BASKETBALL – Detroit Pistons’ Antonio McDyess sits on the sideline during the second quarter of their 94-80 defeat by the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics went on to win the series 4-2, sealing a berth in the NBA finals, where they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-2 to seal their 17th championship.
McDyess also enjoyed stints with the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs before retiring in 2011.
May 24, 2009
HALF MARATHON – Kenya’s David Tarus sprints to victory in the inaugural Sotokoto Safari Half Marathon at Nairobi National Park.
Tarus stayed with the lead pack for the majority of the race but broke away from the rest of the field towards the back end of the race to win in one hour, two minutes and 29 seconds.
With the victory, Tarus, a silver medallist in the Mumbai Marathon earlier that year, pocketed 1.2 million Kenyan shillings.
May 24, 2011
TENNIS – Spain’s Rafa Nadal celebrates victory against American John Isner in the French Open first round at Roland Garros in Paris.
World number one Nadal avoided a stunning upset as he recovered from two sets to one down to win 6-4 6-7(2) 6-7(2) 6-2 6-4.
Having received an early wake-up call, Nadal went on to drop just one more set in the tournament as he claimed a sixth French Open title.
May 24, 2012
CYCLING – Italy’s Andrea Guardini celebrates after crossing the finish line to win the 149-km, 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia.
Guardini, considered the future of Italian sprinting at the time, fought off the challenge from hot favourite Mark Cavendish to pick up his maiden stage victory on the grand tour.
Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal won the overall race, overtaking Spain’s Joaquim Rodrguez on the final stage.
May 24, 2017
SOCCER – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho celebrates with coaching staff after the club’s 2-0 victory over Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League final in Stockholm.
Paul Pogba’s deflected shot put them ahead in the 18th minute and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s sixth Europa League goal of the season ensured Mourinho’s United side added to their League Cup triumph earlier in the season.
United’s first European trophy since 2008 came just two days after the Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people. The club paid tribute to the victims and posted a photo on Twitter of the players holding a banner that read: “Manchester – A City United #prayformanchester”.
May 24, 2018
SOCCER – Ada Hegerberg celebrates with team mate Camille Abily after Olympique Lyonnais’ fourth goal against Vfl Wolfsburg in the Women’s Champions League final.
Hegerberg and Abily both got on the scoresheet along with Amandine Henry and Eugenie Le Sommer as Lyon crushed Wolfsburg 4-1, with all five goals coming in extra time.
It was Lyon’s third successive Champions League title and fifth overall. They would go on to win the tournament for a record sixth time the following season.
May 24, 2019
GOLF – Tony Finau plays a shot from a bunker on the seventh hole during the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club, Texas.
Finau led the field after the first round where he shot a 64, but lost momentum the rest of the way and finished four strokes behind South Korean-born American Kevin Na, who claimed his third PGA Tour victory.
“When I was standing on the first tee, I looked at that wall of champions and in my head I engraved my name on it,” Na said after joining Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino as winners at Colonial.
(Compiled by Rohith Nair, Hardik Vyas and Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
