IN ONE OF the great ever team performances of this competition, Richard Moller Nielsen’s unfancied side did the unimaginable and came away from Euro ’92 as champions after beating holders Germany in the final.
Having failed to qualify, the Danes were handed a late invitation to Sweden in place of Yugoslavia, who were at the time under sanctions by the UN Security Council and therefore prohibited from taking part.
The likes of Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larsen, and Kim Volfort were immense as they progressed out of Group A at the expense of France and England before seeing off Holland via penalties en route to the final in Gothenburg.
Manchester United had paid Bronby £500,000 for the services of goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel the previous summer in what Alex Ferguson has since called ‘the bargain of the century’ and on June 26, 1992, the legendary stopper proved indispensible to his national team by managing to keep out Jurgen Klinsmann, Stefan Effenberg and Matthias Sammer et al for 90 minutes.
Schmeichel later said on the unexpected victory: ”I think, beyond anything, it really sank in when we were in Copenhagen in the town hall for the celebrations with the rest of Denmark.
That was unbelievable, truly unbelievable. At this point you’re thinking: “Christ, we actually did this, it’s not a dream.”
Here are highlights of that final:
YouTube credit: lortmedore
