On This Day: David Beckham retired; Milan beat Barcelona 4-0 to their 5th UCL

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (May 18th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, feel free to post them in the comment area and share them with AFers.

On this day in 2013 - David Beckham said goodbye to professional football

On 16 May 2013, Beckham announced that he would retire from professional football at the end of that year's French football season. Following his decision to retire at the end of the 2012–13 season, Beckham was given specially designed boots in the colours of the Union Jack to wear in his final game. These boots had the names of his wife and children stitched on to them. On 18 May 2013, Beckham was made captain in his final home game against Brest. In this game, Beckham assisted a goal by Matuidi from a corner. Beckham was subbed after 80 minutes, receiving hugs from his fellow players and manager, as well as a standing ovation from fans. PSG went on to win the game 3–1.

Beckham has consistently ranked among the highest earners in football, and in 2013 was listed as the highest-paid player in the world, having earned over $50 million in the previous 12 months. He has been married to Victoria Beckham since 1999 and they have four children. He has been a UNICEF UK ambassador since 2005, and in 2015 he launched 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund. In 2014, MLS announced that Beckham and a group of investors would own an Inter Miami CF, which will begin in 2020.

On this day in1994 - Milan beat Barcelona 4-0 and won their fifth Champions League

Milan dominated early and were rewarded when Dejan Savićević ran down the right flank and passed to Daniele Massaro, who tapped the ball into an empty net. Massaro banged in his second just before half-time to make it 2–0 after a solo run by Roberto Donadoni down the left wing.

In the 47th minute, Savićević capitalised on a defensive error by Miguel Ángel Nadal to lob goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta for the third goal. Eight minutes later, after Savićević had hit a post and the Barcelona defence had failed to clear, Milan defender Marcel Desailly beat the offside trap to make it 4–0, which ended up being the final score. Many pundits have described Milan's performance against Barcelona in the final as the greatest ever by a team in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history.

On this day in in 2014 - Javier Zanetti played his final game of a glittering career

On 29 April 2014, Inter chairman Erick Thohir announced that Zanetti would retire at the end of the 2013–14 season and become a club director. Zanetti's last competitive match at the San Siro was a 4–1 victory over Lazio on 10 May 2014. He came on as a substitute for Jonathan Moreira in the 52nd minute and wore a special armband featuring the names of every player he had played with during his career at Inter. He retired after the last game of the season, which he started as centre-back in a 2–1 away defeat to Chievo on 18 May.

On this day in 2012 - Jamie Vardy joined Leicester City

In May 2012, Vardy signed for Leicester City in the Championship for a non-League record transfer fee of £1 million, and helped the team win the Championship in 2014. In the 2015–16 Premier League season, he scored in eleven consecutive Premier League matches, breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's record, and was voted the Premier League Player of the Season and FWA Footballer of the Year as outsiders Leicester won the title.

On this day in 2009 - Germany National Youth Team were crowned U17 European Champions

Ter Stegen, Leno, Götze, Mustafi and their teammates won the U17 European Champions as they won Netherlands with a 2-1victory. Can you figure them out from the photo taken 10 years ago?

On this day in 1977 - Juventus won their first UEFA Cup

The 1977 UEFA Cup Final was played on 4 May 1977 and 18 May 1977 between Juventus of Italy and Athletic Bilbao of Spain. Juventus won 2-2 on away goals.

This is the only triumph for an Italian side in an official European tournament without foreign players in its first team squad as well as Juventus' first European title

On this day in 2011 - Porto won the Europa League

Porto won their third trophy of the season under new manager André Villas-Boas, beating their Portuguese league rivals Braga in the Europa League Final.

Porto's Europa League campaign was equally impressive, winning 11 of 14 matches on their road to the Final (they lost twice, once to Sevilla and once to Villareal, but advanced on away goals and aggregate score, respectively). In the Final, played before a crowd of 45,391 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, the tournament's top goalscorer, Falcao, grabbed his 17th strike of the competition in the 44th minute. It proved to be the match-winner, as the day ended 1-0 to Porto.

On this day in 1978 - Portugal legend Ricardo Carvalho was born

Carvalho began his career at Porto, where he had loan spells at Leça, Vitória de Setúbal and Alverca, before winning domestic and European trophies under José Mourinho's management. In July 2004, Carvalho transferred to Chelsea for a fee of just under €30 million. With the Blues, he won two Premier League titles in a row and one League Cup, in his first two seasons. In 2008, he was voted the team's Players' Player of the Year. Two years later, he helped Chelsea win the league and FA Cup, the first Double in the club's history. In August 2010, after six years with Chelsea, he transferred to Real Madrid for a fee of £6.7 million, winning two domestic honours under Mourinho's management before a free transfer to Monaco in 2013. On 9 January 2017, Carvalho was announcing his engagement by André Villas-Boas's Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League. 

On this day in 2000 - Ryan & Steven Sessegnon were born

Ryan Sessegnon made his breakthrough in the Fulham senior side in 2016, aged 16. He made an instant impact, becoming the first footballer born in the 2000s to score a goal in a first-team game in the professional English leagues, and the youngest player to score in a Championship match. In 2017–18, his second season, Sessegnon helped Fulham achieve promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, scoring fifteen goals and winning numerous personal awards.

On 28 June 2017, Steven signed his first professional contract with Fulham, pledging his future to the West London club until 2020. Sessegnon made his Fulham debut on 8 August 2017 in an EFL Cup third round tie against Wycombe Wanderers. He played the full ninety minutes in a Fulham win, playing the last nine minutes on the pitch with brother Ryan.