Tottenham Hotspur's 2024/25 campaign ended with them lifting a European trophy. The final against Manchester United was not a game to remember; the Lilywhites had just 26% possession and even Brennan Johnson's winner should have arguably been documented as an own goal.
Nonetheless, it marked Spurs' first European trophy since the 1983/84 season, when they lifted the UEFA Cup. During the second round of that season's competition, in stark contrast to their aforementioned Europa League final, Tottenham completed a now-legendary routing of Feyenood, beating the Dutch side 6-2 on aggregate.
But more than simply the scoreline and the quality of Tottenham's performance, the game is remembered for seeing an aging Johan Cruyff, one of the greatest footballers of all time, famed for his cerebral intelligence and technical elegance, cross paths with Tottenham's very own footballing mastermind, Glenn Hoddle.
The game didn't quite result in a passing of the torch; although Hoddle is remembered as one of British football's most intelligent players, his career and wider influence on football ultimately paled in comparison to the Ballon d'Or winning Dutchman's. Nonetheless, the match ended with Cruyff showing Hoddle the ultimate sign of respect by offering to swap shirts after the full-time whistle. Here's how and why.
Tottenham 4-2 Feyenood (First Half)
Hoddle steals the show by making four goals
While both Cruyff and Hoddle got their time in the spotlight during the encounter at White Hart Lane, it was the England midfielder who stole the show. By half-time, Tottenham were four goals up, and Hoddle had played a fundamental role in all of them. Two goals, both scored by Tony Galvin, were direct assists - the first being a cross from the right wing, and the second being a pin-point long pass played from deep midfield that fell perfectly to the winger on the edge of Feyenood's box.
For the other two goals, courtesy of Steve Archibald, Hoddle was the indirect architect. The opening goal saw Hoddle slide a perfectly-weighted pass through Feyenoord's defence to full-back Chris Hughton, who then laid a square pass across goal for Archibald to calmly finish. For Archibald's second goal, meanwhile, Hoddle created the initial chance, but a rebound eventually lead to the goal.
It was an incredible 45-minute performance from Hoddle, who described it as one of the best of his time at Tottenham. But it was made even more special by the fact Cruyff not only decided he would man-mark the Spurs midfielder, but even declared in the media before the match started that he'd be doing so. Hoddle thought it was nothing more than pre-match mind-games, so he was as surprised as anyone when Cruyff began chasing him around the pitch.
"I read it in the papers and I thought 'that's ridiculous, don't be stupid'. For him to come out and say he was going to man-mark me... I don't know if they were just trying to play with me, I thought it was psychological trying to play with me. I didn't believe it. But I remember in first couple of minutes, he's there, he's marking me. And I'm thinking 'I don't believe this'. But what it did, it just made me think, 'Ok then, let me show you what I've got'."
Hoddle indeed showed Cruyff what he had, running rings around one of the greatest players ever.
Tottenham 4-2 Feyenood (Second Half)
Cruyff rolls back the years but too little too late
At half time, Cruyff made a telling decision to no longer attempt to shackle Hoddle, a player who was enjoying incredible form and was ten years his junior. It was a tacit admission that the Spurs maestro had got the better of him, although it also freed up Cruyff to have a much bigger impact on the match.
Cruyff scored Feyenoord's opening goal of the game with an exceptional bit of movement on the edge of the box, playing a one-two to drift away from a defender, before shimmying around another and drilling the ball into the bottom corner. It was typical Cruyff, combining demanding technique and trickery with spacial awareness.
The Dutch side scored another from a corner with eight minutes to go, but it proved to be too little too late as the game finished 4-2. After the match, Cruyff expressed his admiration for Hoddle and admitted he'd been humbled by the England and Tottenham playmaker.
"I wanted to test myself against the young star of the present. Glenn was a great player in my book. He played football the way that I wanted to see it played. I thought I could mark him and keep him quiet. The result shows that I could not. It was only on the pitch that I realised how good he really was. I was a shadow without any presence."
Tottenham Storm Feyenood - and Europe
Spurs win second leg and go on to lift UEFA Cup
Tottenham made light work of Feyenoord in the second leg, winning 2-0 with goals from Hughton in the first half and Galvin in the second. It was a comprehensive victory against a side famed for their elegant style of play, which included not only a former Ballon d'Or winner in Cruyff but also a future one in Ruud Gullit. Indeed, the Dutch side were no slouches and won the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup that season, but Tottenham were too much for them.
In the following round, they would beat a Bayern Munich side that included Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, before going on to a 4-2 aggregate win over Austria Vienna, an away-goals win over Hajduk Split and an eventual victory via penalty shootout in the final against Anderlecht.
What Happened Next for Hoddle and Cruyff
Cruyff's revenge tour and Hoddle's legacy
That season was the last of Cruyff's career, and came in unusual circumstances. Although the Netherlands legend is far more closely associated with Ajax, his second spell ended acrimoniously in summer 1983, when the club decided against issuing him a new contract. Angered and intent on revenge, Cruyff joined their biggest rivals - Feyenood.
He played 44 times in all competitions that season as Feyenood won the Dutch title and the KNVB Cup, and he was crowned Dutch Footballer of the Year. Having more than proved his point to Ajax, Cruyff hung up his boots at the end of the campaign.
Hoddle, meanwhile, spent another three seasons at Tottenham. Spurs reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in the subsequent season and reached the final of the 1986/87 FA Cup. However, the victory over Anderlecht proved to be the last trophy of his Spurs career. Somewhat undervalued in England, Hoddle would go on to play for Monaco under Arsene Wenger, winning the French title for the 1987/88 season while playing in a side that included Mark Hateley and later George Weah.
Much greater appreciated in France, it was there Hoddle cemented his legacy as an unusually continental and cultured English midfielder who'd been misunderstood and misused by the England national team. Cruyff, though, knew how good he was all along.