On This Day in Football: Iran beat Israel to win the Asian Cup, Fergie bids goodbye

West Brom vs Manchester United
West Brom vs Manchester United

On this day in 1968, Iran beat Israel 2-1 to win their first ever AFC Asian Cup title.

Played at the Shahid Shiroudi Stadium in Tehran, then called the Amjadiyeh Stadium, in front of 30,000 fans, it was Israel who took the lead through a 56th minute strike from Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Giora Spiegel.

But a Homayoun Behzadi equaliser in the 75th minute sparked a comeback for the Iranians who scored the winning goal in the 86th minute thanks to Parviz Ghelichkhani.

This was Iran’s first time competing in the AFC Asian Cup. They would go on to repeat the feat again in 1972 and 1976.

Fergie bids goodbye

On this day in 2013, former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson managed his last game for the club in a thrilling 5-5 Premier League draw against West Bromwich Albion.

Ferguson’s United career began in 1986 when he was signed from Scottish premiership club Aberdeen. An incredible 27 trophy laden years in Manchester saw him lift the Premier League trophy 13 times, the FA Cup five times and the UEFA Champions League twice among several other honours.

United had already secured the league title after a win against Aston Villa a few days earlier. But the game did not lack entertainment. United went 3-0 up thanks to a goal from Shinji Kagawa, an own goal from Jonas Ollson and an Alexander Buttner strike.

James Morrison and substitute Romelu Lukaku cut the deficit to 3-2 before Javier Hernandez and Robin van Persie made it 5-2 for United. Lukaku then proceeded to complete his hat-trick and a goal from Youssouf Mulumbu denied Sir Alex a win in his last game in charge of the Mancunians.

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