No. 5 – The 1984 European Cup Final
Liverpool had joined Ajax and Bayern Munich in 1981 as three times winners of the European Cup but a fourth soon followed in 1984…
The Olympic Stadium was the setting for Liverpools first European Cup victory in 1977 and on May 30, 1984, Liverpool were returning to that same stadium to face Roma to contest the 1984 European Cup Final.
Mark Lawrenson and Alan Hansen made up the bedrock of the defence with Phil Neal and Alan Kennedy on either flanks. The midfield was made up of Ronnie Whelan, Sammy Lee, Craig Johnson and Graeme Souness while upfront was Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush.
To get to the final, Roma had beaten Goteborg and CSKA Sofia convincingly and battled past Dynamo Berlin and Dundee United while Liverpool had eased past Odense, and recorded victories over Bilbao, Benfica, and Dynamo Bucharest.
Here TIA Forum member Obanite recalls the magical night Liverpool won their fourth European Cup…
“Wobbly legs are something that Liverpool fans will remember the 1984 European Cup Final by. The final against AS Roma was Liverpool’s last European triumph before Heysel and further cemented Liverpool’s status as the creme of Europe. Funnily enough, the match was held at Roma’s own stadium, the Stadio Olimpico, but that didn’t stop the legions of Reds supporters taking over Italy’s capital.
Phil Neal was the only survivor of Liverpools 1977 team, and it was his early goal that put Liverpool into an early lead in the fourteenth minute when Nappi’s attempt at a clearance bounced off the keepers back to Neal and he tucked the loose ball away.
However, Neals early goal was cancelled out by Roberto Pruzzo’s effort before half time. Conti delivered a hanging cross into the Liverpool box and there was Pruzzo to meet the ball with a glancing header which Grobbelar was powerless to reach.
The game eventually fizzled to penalties where Bruce Grobelaar was the star of the show.
Despite Steve Nicol’s miss, Liverpool went on to convert all their kicks whilst Conti and Graziani were famously put off by Brucie’s goal-line antics. Alan Kennedy converted the final penalty despite “unrest” from his team-mates and his jumping celebration remains one of the most iconic moments in Liverpool’s footballing history. Liverpool were champions of Europe for the 4th time.”
History had repeated itself, Liverpool had won the European Cup once again on a glorious night in Rome.
Liverpool: Grobbelaar, Neal, Lawrenson, Hansen, A.Kennedy, Lee, Johnston (Nicol), Whelan, Souness (capt), Rush, Dalglish (Robinson)
Scorer: Neal
Penalty Scorers: Neal, Souness, Rush, Kennedy
Roma: Tancredi, Nappi, Bonetti, Righetti, Nela, Conti, Di Bartolomei (capt),Cerezo (Strukelj), Falcao, Pruzzo (Chierico), Graziani
Scorer: Pruzzo
Penalty Scorers: Di Bartolomei, Righetti
*****
In May 1892, John Holding formed the Liverpool Association Football Club, 117 years later, we have witnessed all of the emotion-charged nights, the trophies that have been won and lost by a single goal, the dramatic days that propelled the club to unparallelled glory at home and abroad, the tears that have been shed by bitter disappointments as well as the bitter failures, the heart breaking disasters, the goals which have entered the game’s mythology to become shared treasures or moments or finals which will be revered by fans never to be forgotten.
We continue the countdown of our 100 Days this week… Every morning this week at 08:30, we will be continuing the countdown and publishing our final 5 days….
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