1984 European Cup Final
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The 1984 European Cup Final took place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on May 30, 1984. The match was between Liverpool F.C. and AS Roma, with the stadium actually being Roma's home stadium and the site of Liverpool's first European Cup triumph. Liverpool won 4-2 on Penalty Shootout after the match was drawn 1-1. This was Liverpool's fourth European Cup win, becoming only the second team to win 4 European Cups (This was later surpassed by AC Milan when they won their fifth trophy in 1994). The victory gave Liverpool a unique Treble of the League Championship and the League Cup in Joe Fagan's first year in charge after replacing Bob Paisley the summer before. The final is particularly famous amongst Liverpool fans due to Bruce Grobbelaar's spaghetti legs antics during the shootout (Jerzy Dudek recreated this in the 2005).
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[edit] Match Summary
The task facing Liverpool was immense. It would have been hard enough facing a team with a defence so strong that they had not conceded a single goal at home during their European Cup campaign. But Roma also had the languid Cerezo and the brilliant Falcao from Brazil, the intelligent Di Bartolomei and Graziani, the pace and skills on the wing of Conti and the lethal goalscoring of Pruzzo. On top of that Liverpool had to contend with the overwhelming advantage that Roma had in playing in front of their own fervent supporters. Liverpool’s team showed many changes from that which had won the European Cup by beating Real Madrid three years earlier. The likes of Ray Clemence, Phil Thompson, Terry McDermott and Ray Kennedy had gone, to be replaced by eccentric Zimbabwean goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, the ball playing defender Mark Lawrenson, all action Australian midfielder Craig Johnston and, top goalscorer Ian Rush.
The atmosphere as the two teams took to the field in the 1984 European Cup final was as loud and hostile as expected, but Liverpool started the game in a manner which suggested that their many victories in intimidating foreign stadiums had made them immune to such an environment. The start of the game saw Liverpool keeping the ball as they attempted to deny Roma any momentum and so quieten the crowd. After 15 minutes, the English champions took the lead, although the goal was anything but a thing of beauty. Craig Johnston sent a high cross into the Roma penalty area where the goalkeeper Tancredi, under pressure from Ronnie Whelan, dropped the ball. After a desperate scramble the ball reached the onrushing Neal via the head of the prostrate goalkeeper, and he slid the ball into the net. Souness was denied soon afterwards when his goal was ruled offside, but it emphasised how much in control Liverpool were at that stage. Slowly, however, Roma got themselves back into the game with Graziani and Bruno Conti getting much joy down the wings. As half-time approached, Roma drew level. It was Bruno Conti who crossed the ball and Pruzzo who glanced the ball past the helpless Bruce Grobbelaar into the goal.
Roma tried to build on their equaliser and they were particularly dominant in the 20 minutes after the interval, but they could find no way past Graeme Souness and the Liverpool defence behind him and with an average age of over 28, they gradually began to tire. They also lost Pruzzo after an hour with a stomach upset. So after a goalless second half and a further period of extra-time, the European Cup Final, for the first time, was to be decided by a penalty shootout.
The Rome crowd went wild when Steve Nicol missed Liverpool’s first penalty, but after Di Bartolomei and Neal had made it 1-1, Bruno Conti blazed over to even things up. Graeme Souness, Righetti and Ian Rush were all successful before Graziani stepped up to take his spot kick. What happened next has gone down into European Cup folklore. As Bruce Grobbelaar walked towards his goal his legs wobbled and his knees knocked as he attempted to distract the Italian as he prepared to take his penalty. Whether Grobbelaar’s antics put Graziani off will never be known but the Italian missed his kick and allowed Alan Kennedy, who had scored the winning goal three years earlier against Real Madrid, to score the penalty that won a fourth European Cup for Liverpool.
This was surely Liverpool’s greatest ever European Cup win and a performance that would rank alongside any produced in nearly 30 years of European Cup Finals. The odds had been stacked against them, but they had overcome all the factors that had been weighed against them to their fourth European Cup in eight years. Their performance had been exemplified by Graeme Souness who had consistently won the ball and protected his defence before finding a colleague with his next touch. The headlines, however, were made by Bruce Grobbelaar whose eccentric behaviour in the penalty shootout had made such an impact.
Unfortunately there were ugly scenes after the match. Many Roma fans did not take kindly to their teams defeat and took to the streets determined to wreak revenge on any Liverpool supporters they could find. There were reports of visiting fans being attacked with concrete blocks, bottles, bricks and smoke bombs, and there were also a number of stabbings. These events would have tragic repercussions a year later, but for now the story was of how Liverpool had triumphed in the lions den. There may have been teams with more individual flair, but Liverpool had proved that once again they had the best team in Europe and it was going to take something quite special to beat them.
[edit] Match details
| May 30, 1984 | |||
 Liverpool |
1–1 |  AS Roma |
Stadio Olimpico, Rome |
| Neal 13' | Pruzzo 42' |
| PENALTIES | |||||
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Nicol: missed |
4–2 |
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| Liverpool FC went first | |||||
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- Referee:
Erik Fredriksson
[edit] See Also
[edit] External links
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