The Football Faithful’s Advent Calendar: December 11th | OneFootball

The countdown to Christmas is heating up with only a fortnight until the most anticipated day of the year.

Instead of eleven pipers piping, we offer Day 11 of our Football Advent Calendar!

The Football Faithful’s Advent Calendar: December 11th

Number: 11

After moving to Wolves, Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio averted from choosing the vacant and orthodox number one for a heartfelt reason.

Prior to Patricio’s arrival from Sporting CP, former Wolves stopper Carl Ikeme had occupied the number. But Ikeme was sadly forced into retirement.

The Nigerian, who had played an integral part in Wolves’ promotion back to the top-flight, couldn’t continue playing football following treatment for acute leukaemia.

It was a touching act from Patricio, who respectfully wanted to ensure Ikeme’s presence remained.

Match on this Day: The Battle of Britain

Any time Scotland face England in football, there always seems to be a little bit of extra tension around the occasion.

So when Tottenham Hotspur drew Rangers in the European Cup Winners’ Cup back in the 1962/63 campaign, the anticipation was palpable.

The Lilywhites breezed past the Scottish outfit in the first leg with a 5-2 win in front of a bumper crowd at White Hart Lane.

The second leg was initially scheduled for the 5th of December but had to be moved to the following week due to fog in Glasgow.

On the 11th December 1962, Spurs beat the Gers 3-2 which earned them qualification to the next round 8-4 on aggregate.

Bill Nicholson’s side went on to win the competition, thrusting themselves into history as the first English club to win a European trophy.

Coincidentally, Tottenham travel to Ibrox to face Rangers in the Europa League tomorrow, almost exactly 62 years later.

Goal on this Day: Heroics from Moura again!

We promise this isn’t intentionally a Tottenham Hotspur-themed advent calendar!

On this day in 2018, Spurs’ Champions League fate rested on matching Inter Milan’s result against PSV Eindhoven in the final group match.

However, standing in their way was a trip to Camp Nou. A test against a Barcelona side that had torn them to shreds a month prior at Wembley Stadium.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side had commenced their European campaign terribly with only one point from their opening three games.

But two late goals from Harry Kane against PSV and a narrow victory over Inter Milan had given the North Londoners a slim chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.

Their task was made even more difficult when Ousmane Dembele put the Catalan-based club ahead inside ten minutes.

But they would weather the storm and five minutes from the end of the contest, a certain Brazilian showed his heroic credentials.

After being teed up by Kane, Lucas Moura tapped in the equaliser and with PSV and Inter drawing – Spurs had completed the improbable feat.

Their fairytale story continued as they made it to the Champions League final after stunning games against Manchester City and Ajax.

Footballer Born on this Day: Leighton Baines and Sami Al-Jaber

Happy birthday to former Wigan Athletic and Everton left-back Leighton Baines, who is celebrating a landmark four decades on the planet.

Baines is renowned for being a dead-ball specialist as he took free-kicks, corners and sometimes even penalties – despite being a defender.

He earned 30 caps for England and currently spends his days in charge of Everton U-18’s team.

Saudi Arabian icon Sami Al-Jaber turns 52 today.

Back in 1998, a then 25-year-old Al-Jaber made his 100th cap for his country making him the the youngest male footballer to reach that feat.

The striker played almost the entirety of his career at Al-Hilal but bizarrely made four appearances out on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers back in 2000. We’re sure he was attracted to the beauty of the Black Country.

Stat: Vardy’s Unstoppable Scoring Spree

For many professional footballers scoring a Premier League goal is the precipice of emotion you can experience in the sport.

Leicester City’s miraculous 2015/16 campaign is prominent in football folklore and a big facilitator of that achievement was Jamie Vardy’s goalscoring rampage.

The Englishman netted in 11 consecutive games, with his final coming at the King Power Stadium against Manchester United.

Christian Fuchs disguised a clever pass in behind the defence into Vardy, who steadied himself before firing past David de Gea.

In the process, he dethroned Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in ten straight Premier League matches against the Dutchman’s former club.

That prompted legendary commentator Martin Tyler to spout a classic line.

“It’s eleven, it’s heaven for Jamie Vardy!”

The changing of the guard has had an almost cyclical ending, with Ruud van Nistelrooy now Vardy’s boss at Leicester City. Small world, eh?

Read – A brilliant XI of players whose contracts expire in 2025

See more – The Premier League top scorers as three-way Golden Boot race emerges

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