Van der Sar Looks to Equal van Breukelen’s Double

It’s a year for doubles in Europe. Manchester United took the most prominent, by capturing both the Premier League title and the Champions League. There was also a Cup double for Rangers, and depending on today’s results, Lyon and Inter could both manage the league-and-cup double as well. But there’s one combination of prizes only one man can boast, being starting goalkeeper for the Champions League and European Championships winners in the same year. That man is Hans van Breukelen, and Holland’s Edwin van der Sar wants his record.

Van Breukelen won the exceedingly rare Euro double exactly twenty years ago, when he led PSV Eindhoven to the European Cup, and then took Holland through Euro 88, beating the USSR 2-0. The two legendary keepers have plenty in common. Both spent the largest chunk of their careers in the Netherlands, van Breukelen with PSV and van der Sar with Ajax. Both left home for England, van Breukelen to Nottingham Forest and VDS, of course, to Manchester (by way of Juventus). Both are known as fantastic penalty stoppers. Van Breukelen stopped a penalty in both of his European finals in 1988, one the deciding penalty in a shootout in the European Cup and the other during play in the Euro final to keep his shutout. Van der Sar has laid down his share of penalty denial as well, saving three consecutive spot kicks to hand United the Community Shield at the start of this season.

Van der Sar will certainly not have an easy road to the Euro double. Just getting out of the group stages, with Italy, France and Romania standing in the way, will be no mean feat. But if he does it, his status as Dutch legend will be even further solidified, and he can wrap up his international career in the best possible company.