Curator

http://ift.tt/2rK14hT May 22, 1996. Stadio Olimpico, Rome. Vladimir Jugovic stops for a brief moment at the end of his run. Between the Serbian defender and Champions League glory stands one man – Ajax goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Jugovic rises on his toes, like a gymnast addressing the vault, and takes a breath. Van der Sar guesses correctly but Jugovic strikes the ball too well. Juventus players collapse in tears on the turf. The Old Lady are European champions. It was Juve’s first European Cup triumph in 11 years. Back then, that was considered a lengthy wait. But now their patience is really being tested. Twenty-one years have passed without a repeat. Those famous black and white stripes will flood Cardiff this weekend, hoping to finally give a two-decade old itch a ruddy great scratch. Juventus’s most recent triumph on the continent’s biggest stage belongs to a totally different era, after all. It pre-dates the Euro, it pre-dates the iPhone, it pre-dates Twitter, Faceboo...