RUSHIE RELIVES HOW THE KOP GLADIATORS TRIUMPHED
Liverpool 1 Roma 1
(AET; 1-1 at 90mins; Liverpool won 4-2 on penalties) Stadio Olimpico, Rome
May 30, 1984. KO: 7.15pm Liverpool (4-4-2): Grobbelaar; Neal, Lawrenson, Hansen, Kennedy; Johnston (Nicol 72), Lee, Souness, Whelan; Dalglish (Robinson 94), Rush Manager: Joe Fagan
Roma (4-3-1-2): Tancredi; Nappi, Nela, Righetti, Benetti; Cerezo (Strukelj 115), Di Bartolomei, Falcao; Conti; Pruzzo (Chierico 64); Graziani Manager: Nils Liedholm Scorers: Liverpool: Neal 13 Roma: Pruzzo 42
Att: 69,693
Ref: Erik Fredriksson (Swe)
This was the first time the competition had been decided on a penalty shootout.
Dundee United almost made it an all-British final, losing to a second-leg penalty in Rome. Roma later admitted trying to bribe the referee with £50,000.
Phil Neal’s opening goal means he is the only one of the 12 Reds who have scored in Liverpool’s nine European Cup finals, to have scored twice.
IT IS the Eternal City and for Liverpool it has provided eternal pride.
Rome 1977 was their first European Cup triumph but Rome 1984 was their greatest. The Kop gladiators had to face Roma in their own bear pit – no wonder it was a night of legend.
Liverpool striker Ian Rush has so many memories of that game. Of Bruce Grobbelaar’s spaghetti legs, of the game’s unlikely hero, of the singing as the Reds waited in the tunnel before the game (Chris Rea’s I Don’t Know What It Is But I Love It).
“You can talk about the tunnel, the singing, but it was the feeling we had,” said Rush.
“I honestly went into that
IF not for lockdown, we would have been settling down to the Champions League final tonight, perhaps even to witness the crowning of another English winner.
To end our week of celebrating the anniversaries of famous English triumphs in the competition, Ian Rush takes us back to Rome on May 30, 1984 and the first final decided on a penalty shootout, and we also look back on Nottingham Forest conquering Europe for the first time in 1979.
tunnel thinking: ‘We’re not going to lose this.’ I think Roma felt that too. You could see it in their faces.
“As we were singing, they were looking at us as if to say: ‘Seriously? You’re coming into the Colosseum, the lion’s den.’ We were going into that theatre with a true belief in ourselves, an incredible spirit, and it shocked the Italians.”
It wasn’t a misplaced belief. That 1984 team (celebrating, right) is arguably the best Liverpool XI ever and pro
duced, without question, the greatest season in the club’s history. Rush was at his peak, scoring 47 goals that season.
There was also a mass of individual honours to go with a trophy treble (European Cup, League Cup, League title).
Rush picked up both Footballer of the Year awards and was the top flight’s top scorer. It was another prize which made him most proud, though. “I won the European Golden Boot,” he said. “The first time a British player had done it. We were a fantastic team and that year it all came together for us. It was the perfect mixture of youth and experience. There were world-class players like Souness and Dalglish, and younger lads coming through. The manager, Joe Fagan, instilled a perfect balance and a real belief. It was a wonderful team.”
After Phil Neal’s opener, the Italians levelled and seemed content to go to penalties. Big mistake.
Grobbelaar’s wobbly legs unnerved the Roma players in the shoot-out and leftback Alan Kennedy, who admitted to being hopeless from 12 yards, converted the winning penalty as Liverpool lifted the European Cup for the fourth time in eight years.
Rush (with the trophy, above) laughs about the shootout now. “Graeme Souness was organising it,” he recalled. “Him, Nealy, Me. Kenny had gone off, and that was it, no one else. The only two who volunteered were Alan Kennedy and Bruce. Souey went with the keeper. I swear he was sixth man! Then as Souey was still doing the order, Steve Nicol picked up the ball and marched forward. And missed.
“That ripped up the order, we couldn’t afford another miss. That’s how Kennedy came to take the winning pen!”
Rush is modest about his own role. Bruno Conti’s miss meant it was game on, and his spot-kick was suddenly vital.
“There were 60,000 screaming at me,” he said. “The walk from the halfway line was the most frightening time of my life. Socks down, heart pumping, brain whirring, where do I put it? Just as I was about to hit it, the keeper moved, so he made up my mind for me.
“It wasn’t the best pen but I knew if I got it on target it was in. I’ve honestly never been more relieved.”
It was never so important, either. Scoring piled pressure on Francesco Graziani, and he caved. Kennedy stepped up, history was made.