Paul Lambert and Paulo Sousa on Dortmund’s Champions League win over Zinedine Zidane’s Juventus | Football News

It is 25 years since Borussia Dortmund became champions of Europe for the only time in the club’s history. It was the day that they beat holders Juventus in the 1997 Champions League final. It was the day that Paul Lambert shackled Zinedine Zidane.

The great Zidane has not forgotten it. Years later, when Lambert visited Real Madrid’s training ground to see Carlo Ancelotti and Paul Clement, the latter alerted the Frenchman to the Scot’s presence. “He just put his head in his hands,” Lambert tells Sky Sports.

“He said, ‘Oh no, not you again!’. That was nice.”

Zidane was in his first season at Juventus, not quite the icon of the game he would become upon winning the World Cup and the Ballon d’Or the following year but still close to his peak. The challenge of limiting his influence was going to define the final.

“At that time, he was probably developing into the best player in the world,” says Lambert. “I knew he was always going to be the threat because of how elegant he was with the ball. He was a class player, both feet, a tall guy with skill. He could do everything.”

Lambert was also in his first season at a new club, a free transfer from Motherwell. He evolved into a holding midfielder in the Bundesliga, tasked with keeping the opposition’s creative players quiet. A gritty Glaswegian, he fitted in well at Dortmund.

“Dortmund as a city is quite similar to Glasgow. It is hard-working, it is industrial. I think the Dortmund fans knew what they were getting. They took to me really quickly. I guess it is the way I played. I knew exactly what I had to do. My job was to look at the No 10.

“That was my role, really, with Zidane.”

The problem was that in the early stages of the game, Zidane proved elusive. His tendency to drift out to the flanks, particularly the left, made it awkward to locate him without destabilising the Dortmund midfield. He played closer to Paulo Sousa than Lambert.

“There were decisions to make on that pitch,” Sousa tells Sky Sports.

“The first 20 minutes were really tough for us. Juventus pushed us. I took one decision on the pitch with Paul Lambert. We decided that he would take care of Zinedine Zidane and the rest of the midfield I would take care of that. It worked. It had a big impact.”

Lambert recalls the conversation.

“We spoke during the game to change it. The two of us looked at it. Zidane was playing on the other side to where I was. Paulo and I switched it because that allowed Paulo the freedom to do what he wanted to do. It gave me the role that I was used to doing.”

Making a tactical tweak on the fly in the Champions League final is not easy but the two midfielders did just that. “A good manager always lets you make decisions on the pitch,” says Lambert. “I was surrounded by world-class footballers and we trusted each other.”

Sousa agrees. “You have to be able to have that communication on the pitch because we are the ones who are living that moment. We have enough understanding to realise what is going on and to make small decisions that can have a big impact on the game.”

For the Portuguese, this was something he had learned in Italy. For Lambert, his footballing education came that year in Germany. “Going to Borussia Dortmund changed my life, really. It changed the way I looked at the game, how I thought, my mentality.”

He credits Dortmund coach Ottmar Hitzfeld with opening his eyes. “He was the catalyst.” And it was a conversation with him the evening before the game that led directly to the breakthrough goal in that Champions League final. Assisted by Lambert.

“Ottmar told me at training the night before that I should look for the back post because he was not sure they were strong enough there with Sergio Porrini at right-back.” In the 29th minute, Lambert sent the ball into the box, Karl-Heinz Riedle did the rest.

Lambert remembers the moment in remarkable detail. He had to keep the ball away from the goalkeeper. “I knew [Angelo] Peruzzi would punch things because I had seen the videos.” But that made an outswinger tricky. “I could not put any bend on it,” he adds.

“I knew Jurgen [Kohler] and Karl were at the back post. The bend would have taken the ball away from Karl. That was my first thought in my head, to get a connection on the ball with my laces. It became more of a pass with my laces than a cross. That is how I viewed it.”

Five minutes later, Riedle doubled the advantage. Although Alessandro Del Piero pulled one back midway through the second half, substitute Lars Ricken soon came on to score one of the most famous Champions League goals of them all with his first touch.

As a result, Dortmund played much of the final hour of the final with a two-goal lead, the whole feel of the match so very different from that testing first quarter. All sparked by that adjustment in midfield. “We controlled the opponent much better,” says Sousa.

“We changed the game.”

For Sousa, it was a rare achievement. He had played in Juventus’ win over Real Madrid in the previous year’s final, becoming only the second man to win the Champions League in back-to-back seasons with different clubs. Juventus had discarded him.

“I injured my knee in my first season at Juventus but the pressure to keep being involved did not allow me to treat it so I continued to play. There was a lot of swelling. The second year destroyed my knee a little bit so Juventus did not want to proceed with me.”

As a result, the prospect of him stopping his former club was a motivation – and a major story in the build-up, particularly among the Italian media. “In the week before the game, all the focus was on that, thousands of journalists and photographers,” he adds.

“Because I had been at Juventus the season before, Dortmund did not realise the pressure they were putting on me to speak to the Italian press all the time. It was not the best situation but I still managed to be focused on what I needed to do, the tasks.”

Despite later moving to Inter, Sousa’s knees continued to trouble him and his best years were behind him. Lambert, one year older, continued for longer, winning a treble with Celtic in 2001 and reaching another European final with them two years after that.

But Dortmund continues to be a part of his life. He visited in April, meeting current stars such as Jude Bellingham and reminiscing with old friends. In July, there is another get-together to mark the 25th anniversary. “We will have a big celebration,” he says.

“It is a special club because of the fans and the way the club is run so it was great to be back there at a place I had some great moments. It is always lovely when I go back over because everyone is really nice and the atmosphere in the stadium is absolutely brilliant.

“I was fortunate to play in a special team with incredible world-class players. My word, they could play. They could mix it, they had strength and power, they were technical and tactical, they knew how to play the game. That Borussia Dortmund team had everything.”

Including the man who shackled Zidane.