28 November 2000 - Boca's Five-Minute Flurry

On 28 November 2000, Boca Juniors won their second Intercontinental Cup, upsetting Real Madrid 2-1.

Madrid, winners of the previous season's Champions League, had lifted the Intercontinental Cup in 1960 and 1998 and were looking for their third trophy. Led by the attacking trio of Raúl, Guti, and Luís Figo, they were heavily favored over Copa Libertadores champions Boca Juniors, who had themselves won the Intercontinental Cup in 1977.

But playing before a crowd of over 52,000 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, the Spaniards were stunned to  find themselves down 2-0 after only five minutes, with both goals delivered by forward Martín Palermo. For the first, in the third minute, he received a cross at the edge of the 6-yard box and fired home past keeper Iker Casillas. Two minutes later, he ran onto a long lobbed ball and held off pressure from a Madrid defender before firing it past the hands of the diving Casillas.

Real Madrid back Roberto Carlos pulled one back in the 11th minute. But even though they enjoyed the lion's share of possession, they could not crack the Boca defense again.

Madrid did eventually win a third Intercontinental Cup in 2002, followed by Boca's third in 2003.

27 November 1941 - France's Friend In Need

On 27 November 1941, World Cup-winning French manager Aimé Jacquet was born in the commune of Sail-sous-Couzan.

He enjoyed a long a successful playing career as a defensive midfielder, spending thirteen seasons at Saint-Étienne from 1960 to 1973. While there, he won five league titles and lifted the Coupe de France three times (and in 1968, he made his only two appearances for France). He moved to Lyon for his last two seasons before retiring in 1976, then took charge of the club as manager that year.

After four seasons in charge of Lyon, he switched to Bordeaux and guided the Girondins to the league title in 1984 and 1985, the Coupe de France in 1986, and a league and cup double in 1987. Despite that success, he fell out with the club president and left in 1989. Brief spells with Montpellier (1989-90) and Nancy (1990-91) followed before he took the reins of the national team in 1993.

When he took over, France had just failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup and shortly afterward suffered the loss of captain Eric Cantona to a year-long suspension. But he rebuilt the team around midfielder Zinedine Zidane and led them to the quarterfinals of Euro '96.

He adopted a 4-2-1-3 formation and frequently experimented with his line-up, which drew heavy criticism from French commentators. But his work led France to victory in the 1998 World Cup with a 3-0 victory over Brazil in the Stade de France.

Jacquet stepped down as manager immediately after the tournament, but served as technical director for the national team until his retirement 2006.

26 November 1977 - Run For The Forest

On 26 November 1977, Nottingham Forest drew 0-0 with West Brom to start a club-record streak of 42 unbeaten league matches.

Forest were in the third full season under the managerial duo of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, who took charge of the club in January 1975. They were in Division Two at the time, but won promotion to the top flight for the 1977-78 season.

They started off well in the First Division, winning ten and drawing two of their first thirteen matches and claiming the table's top spot in week nine. They remained there for the duration of the season, even after losing two of their first three games in November. Those two losses, to Chelsea and Leeds, joined an earlier one to Arsenal as their only losses on the season.

Their next match was the home draw against West Brom, followed by another 25 undefeated matches in the league to lift them seven points clear of runners-up Liverpool in the final table (Forest had also beaten Liverpool in that season's League Cup final).

The next season started with another 16 straight undefeated matches to take the total to 42 before Forest finally lost to Liverpool on 9 December 1978. They finished the season as runners-up to Liverpool in the league, but took some consolation by winning the first of two consecutive European Cups that year.

25 November 1964 - Liverpool's Study In Scarlet

On 25 November 1964, Liverpool played for the first time in the all-red kit that has since become the club's trademark.

Founded in 1892, Liverpool initially adopted blue and white as their colors. But four years later, they exchanged those colors for a combination of red shirts and white shorts (usually paired with red socks). That scheme remained their home kit until 1964, when manager Bill Shankly proposed the idea of a more intimidating all-red uniform.

According to club legend, Ron Yeats was the first player to model the new colors for Shankly, who reportedly responded by saying "Jesus Christ, son. You look bloody massive. You'll scare them to death."

Liverpool first wore the new home colors in a second-round European Cup match against Anderlecht. And while it's not clear whether they played a psychological effect on the Belgians, Liverpool ran out 3-0 winners on the day with goals from Ian St. John (10'), Roger Hunt (43'), and Yeats (50'). They went on to win the second leg as well and eventually reached the semifinals before falling to Inter Milan.

The club switched to all-red for the start of the 1965-66 season and has worn those colors ever since.

24 November 1979 - Best Comes Back To Britain

On 24 November 1979, George Best returned to the UK from his American exile to play briefly for Hibernian and scored on his debut.

He became one of the most famous footballers in the world while playing for Manchester United, winning, among other things, the 1968 Ballon d'Or. But his inability to resist women and alcohol caused problems for him at Old Trafford, resulting in a series of retirements from the club, the last of which came in January 1974.

Afterward, he turned out for a handful of clubs, including Stockport County (1975) and Cork Celtic (1975-76), before splitting time between the Los Angeles Aztecs and Fulham from 1976 to 1978. When he left Fulham in 1978, he remained in the US, playing for LA and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

But in the fall of 1979, Hibernian manager Tom Hart lured Best back to Britain. At the time, Hibs were at the bottom of the Scottish First Division table and were lucky to draw 5,000 people to a match. Hart figured correctly that Best, despite having lost much of his ability, was still a big enough name to bring in the crowds and agreed to pay him £2,500 per match at a time when most of the team's other players were making less than a tenth of that amount.

Best's first appearance, though, was in an away match against St. Mirren, where a crowd of 13,798 watched him score the visitors' only goal in a 2-1 result. In his home debut the following week, more than 20,000 filled the stands. He didn't score, but helped Hibs claim their first win since August. It was only a brief respite, as they were relegated at the end of the season.

He played only 17 games for Hibernian across two seasons, scoring a total of three goals, before returning to the US to play for the San Jose Earthquakes. He continued to move around over the next few years before his final retirement in 1984, but never played professionally in the UK again.

23 November 1960 - It Was A Terrific Run While It Lasted

On 23 November 1960, Real Madrid were eliminated from the European Cup for the first time in history. By rivals Barcelona.

Real Madrid had won all five previous tournaments starting with the 1954-55 edition. Barcelona, meanwhile, had, to that point, participated only once, getting eliminated by Real Madrid in the semi-finals the previous season. They did earn a measure of revenge over Madrid by winning La Liga that spring (Madrid finished as runners-up), but were still eager to knock Madrid off their European perch.

They met in the first round, with Real Madrid hosting the first leg on 9 November. There, a penalty from Luis Suárez in the 88th minute earned Barcelona a 2-2 draw with the 5-time defending champions.

Two weeks later, the teams met at Camp Nou for the second leg where Barcelona took a two-goal lead deep into the second half after getting goals from Martí Vergés (33') and Evaristo de Marcedo (81'). Madrid forward Canário scored in the 87th minute to set up a tense finish, but it was the visitors' only goal of the day and they fell 4-3 on aggregate.

Barcelona eventually reached the final, but lost there to Benfica, 3-2. They finally won it in 1992 and have since lifted the trophy three more times. Real Madrid, meanwhile, won it again in 1966 and have since extended their collection of European Cups/Champions League trophies to nine.

22 November 1967 - Make Your Own "Irish Famine" Joke

On 22 November 1967, Ireland beat Czechoslovakia in a European qualifier. It was their last win for almost five years.

Played in Prague, the match was the last one in the qualifying group, with only the top finisher advancing to the quarterfinals. Ireland were already eliminated but were hoping to play the role of spoiler for the hosts, who started the day one point behind group leader Spain (the Spanish had already completed all of their matches).

The Czechs took the lead in the 57th minute courtesy of an own goal from Irish center back John Dempsey, but Ray Treacy pulled the visitors level in the 65th minute. Then, with four minutes of normal time remaining, striker Turlough O'Connor scored the match winner. The win lifted Ireland off the bottom of their group table into third and kept Czechoslovakia in second behind Spain.

It turned out to be Ireland's last taste of victory for quite a while. They went winless in their next twenty games, including their qualification campaigns for the 1970 World Cup and Euro '72, before finally beating Iran 2-1 in a friendly on 18 June 1972. They did not win another competitive match until they defeated France 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier on 15 November 1972.