benfica were looking to do a real madrid by winning 5 successive european cup finals and this was their 3rd final in a row, but they reckoned without the finishing prowess of altafini and the creative genius of gianni rivera.
wembley stadium was the host on a fine may evening on a night when an ıtalian teenager burst onto the european scene for the first time.
gianni rivera had already made an impact during milan's run to the final, but on this, the biggest stage of all, he reinforced his talent and lived up to the hype that he had received in ıtaly.
he was the creative heart of the side, particularly in his understanding with altafini ahead of him, and this relationship would prove particularly fruitful when it most mattered.
eusebio was finding little joy in the benfica attack, but on 19 minutes he got his chance. torres intercepted a pass from trapattoni in midfield and when eusebio was played in, he pounced to send a low shot onto the corner of the net and give his side the lead.
rivera was now finding space in the middle of the pitch and was orchestrating the midfield.
on 58 minutes he found altafini who swivelled and scored from 18 yards to bring the two teams level, and then just ten minutes later he found altafini again who, despite benfica's appeals for offside, kept his cool to slot home after pereira had saved his first effort.
milan went on to hold on to win the european cup for the first but certainly not the last time.
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