(Reuters) – ON THIS DAY — MAY 27
May 27, 1986
SOCCER – England striker Gary Lineker grimaces as he does stretching exercises with his arm in a sling during the team’s training session in Monterrey, Mexico ahead of their World Cup campaign.
Despite injuring his arm a week earlier, Lineker started all three games in the group stage, netting a hat-trick in the third match in a 3-0 win over Poland.
He scored two more in the last-16 against Paraguay and another in the 2-1 quarter-final defeat by Argentina to go home with the Golden Boot for scoring the most goals in the tournament.
May 27, 1995
SOCCER – Celtic manager Tommy Burns lifts skipper Paul McStay after the team defeated first division outsiders Airdrie 1-0 in the Scottish FA Cup final at Hampden Park.
Dutch striker Pierre van Hooijdonk ended six trophy-less years for the Glasgow club by heading in the winner in the ninth minute of the contest.
Celtic’s first trophy since they won the Scottish Cup in 1989 gave Burns success during his first year in charge and earned the team a spot in the European Cup Winners’ Cup the following season.
May 27, 2002
MOTOR RACING – Helio Castroneves holds the Borg Warner Trophy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a day after he became the first driver in 31 years to defend his crown, scoring a controversial victory over Canada’s Paul Tracy.
A wild finish occurred with two laps remaining when Tracy made a move to pass Castroneves. At the same time Laurent Redon and Buddy Lazier became entangled half a lap behind and crashed into the wall, bringing out the yellow caution flag.
Officials later ruled Tracy had passed Castroneves under the caution, handing the Brazilian the victory as the race finished under yellow. But Tracy claimed he passed the Brazilian before the yellow caution flag.
After reviewing videotapes and timing results, chief race steward Brian Barnhart confirmed that Castroneves had won.
May 27, 2003
SOCCER – Former Manchester United and England midfielder Bobby Charlton and Eusebio pose with the European Cup trophy outside Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, a day before the Champions League final at the venue.
Charlton faced Eusebio in two of the finest days of his own career, the 1966 World Cup semi-final, when England beat Portugal at Wembley, and the 1968 European Cup final when Manchester United overcame Benfica in extra-time at the same venue.
Eusebio played for Benfica for 15 out of his 22 years as a footballer, and is the team’s all-time top scorer with 473 goals in 440 competitive matches.
May 27, 2006
TENNIS – Croatia’s team chief Riccardo Piatti, Mario Ancic, Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Ljubicic pose with their trophies after their 2-1 victory over Germany in the World Team Cup final in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Karlovic gave Croatia a 1-0 lead beating Alexander Waske 7-6(5) 6-4 before Ljubicic made sure of the country’s first title in the competition with a 6-4 6-4 win over Nicolas Kiefer.
Germany earned a consolation win when the pair of Michael Kohlmann and Waske beat Karlovic and Ljubicic 7-6(3) 6-3 in the doubles rubber.
May 27, 2007
ATHLETICS – Japanese pole-vaulter Takehito Ariki tries to clear a bar between two Tokyo skyscrapers during a street track and field event at the Marunouchi business district in Tokyo.
Ariki was joined by sprinter Dai Tamesue and long jumper Nobuharu Asahara as the trio showed off their skills at a makeshift track and field to raise public interest in athletics.
The event was staged to promote the IAAF World Championships in Athletics that were set to take place in Japan later that year and 2500 people gathered in the heart of the city to watch Japan’s top athletes up close and personal.
May 27, 2009
SOCCER – Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the Champions League final against Barcelona at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
Having beaten Inter Milan, Porto and Arsenal in the knockout stages, defending champions United were beaten 2-0 after goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi gave Barcelona their first-ever treble.
The match was Ronaldo’s last with United in his sixth season at the club before he made a then-world record transfer to Real Madrid worth 80 million pounds ($97.42 million).
May 27, 2018
FORMULA ONE – Monaco Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing belly flops into a pool as he celebrates with his team.
Ricciardo started on pole position and despite complaining about a loss of power in his car early in the race, he managed to finish ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
It was Hamilton who challenged him to do the belly flop during the news conference and the Australian driver duly obliged before other crew members joined him in the pool.
May 27, 2018
GOLF – Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy in action during the final round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
Italian Franceso Molinari won the event as McIlroy faded in the final round to miss out on the chance of a victory in the European Tour’s flagship tournament for the second time.
The pair started the day level on 13 under par and while Molinari carded a flawless 68 to finish at 17 under, McIlroy’s 70 left him two shots adrift in second place despite birdies at the last two holes.
May 27, 2019
SOCCER – Union Berlin players celebrate after winning their Bundesliga relegation/promotion playoff against VfB Stuttgart at the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei in Berlin, Germany.
Union were promoted to the top-flight for the first time following a 0-0 draw in the second leg which gave them an away-goals victory after the tie finished 2-2 on aggregate.
The Berlin club had finished in the top 10 of the second division in each of the previous eight seasons.
($1 = 0.8212 pounds)
(Compiled by Rohith Nair, Hardik Vyas, Shrivathsa Sridhar and Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
