On This Day: Valverde became Barca coach; Chelsea's only UCL winning boss born

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (May 29th) 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 2017 - Barcelona announce Ernesto Valverde is the new first team coach

Barcelona appointed former Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Espanyol boss Ernesto Valverde as its new head coach.

He was widely expected to take over at Barca from the departing Luis Enrique.

The 53-year-old played for Barcelona as a striker, scoring eight goals in 22 appearances between 1988 and 1990 under the guidance of the legendary Johan Cruyff.

At a press conference, Bartomeu said the club had appointed Valverde for "many reasons."

"Valverde has the ability, the judgment, the knowledge and the experience," he said.

"He promotes the youth players and he has a Barca way. He has a philosophy that is similar to ours. He is a hard worker and he is a fan of using technology in training and in managing matches."

On this day in 1970 - The only Champions League winner of Chelsea Di Matteo was born

Roberto Di Matteo is an Italian former professional footballer and manager.

During his playing career as a midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau before joining Lazio of Italy and Chelsea of England. Born in Switzerland to Italian parents, he was capped 34 times for Italy, scoring two goals, and played in UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He retired as a player in February 2002 at the age of 31 following injury problems.

Di Matteo began his managerial career with Milton Keynes Dons, who he took to the League One playoffs in 2008–09 before leaving to return West Bromwich Albion to the Premier League. As caretaker manager of Chelsea, he steered the club to double title success, winning both the FA Cup and the club's first UEFA Champions League title in 2012,[4] but was dismissed later that year. He then went on to coach Schalke 04 until May 2015 when he departed after seven months in charge, and had four months as manager of Aston Villa in 2016.

On this day in 1985 - One of the darkest days for football: Heysel Stadium disaster

On 29 May 1985, as Liverpool and Juventus prepared to play the European Cup Final in Brussels' Heysel Stadium, pre-match rioting resulted in 39 deaths and over 600 injuries. UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson later called it "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions."

The trouble started approximately one hour before the scheduled kick-off time. Behind one of the goals, the opposing fans, who were divided into two sections separated by a narrow strip of unoccupied territory and bordered by chain-link fencing, began to throw bottles and stones over the fences at each other. As the situation grew increasingly hostile, a group of Liverpool supporters charged through and over the fencing into the Juventus enclosure. The Juventus fans retreated against a wall, which collapsed under the pressure. Of the 39 people killed, 32 were Juventus fans, while the other seven were neutrals.

Upon seeing their fellow supporters attacked, the Juventus fans at the other end of the stadium began rioting and fought with the police for over two hours, even after the match started (officials chose to play the match for fear that cancellation would result in increased violence - Juventus won 1-0 with a 56th-minute penalty scored by their French midfielder Michel Platini).

In response, UEFA banned British clubs from European competition for five years, with Liverpool receiving an additional three-year ban (later reduced to one extra year). British police investigated the incident and eventually arrested 27 people for manslaughter. In a trial held in Belgium, 14 people - all Liverpool fans - were given three-year sentences.

On This Day in 2005 - Juventus beat Cagliari and celebrates the Scudetto

Juventus Football Club returned to domestic glory in the first season under Fabio Capello's reign. The former Juventus midfielder had a positive influence on the Juventus squad, and it seemed as though he had led the club to its 28th league title. However, that was all to change a year afterwards when Calciopoli sent Juventus to Serie B.

On the pitch in 2004–05, Swedish signing Zlatan Ibrahimović was the biggest positive surprise. Not known as an outright goalscorer at previous club Ajax, Ibrahimović hit the back of the net 16 times in his debut Serie A season. Another signing, Fabio Cannavaro, gave the team the stability it had lacked in the 2003–04 season, and helped the defense to be rock-solid. Juventus conceded just 27 goals throughout the league season and this, combined with the 67 goals scored, gave the club both the best defence and best attack of 2004–05 in Italy.