World Soccer - UK (2021-10)

I didn’treallythinkaboutwinnig
theEuropeanCupwhenI was
growingup.Itfeltlike a dreamtoo fa
You setoutwithadreamofplayin
foryourlocalclub,maybegetto
Wembley at somepoint,butthe
EuropeanCupis a matchyou see
onTV, notsomethingyoubelieve
youwillbe a part of oneday.
Yet thatwasmein 19 84,winning
thebiggestcompetitionofthemall
against Romainfrontoftheirown
fansinRome.
WhenI lookback on ourrun in that
season,the semi-finalagainst Dinamo
Bucharest wasperfectpreparationfor
whatwas to comeinthefinal:the
atmosphereoutinRomaniawas
hostilewithacapitalH.
Itwas scary.Wewonthefirstlegat
Anfield1-0 and,forthem,the second
legwasthebiggest gameoftheirlives.
Theytriedevery trickinthe book
tointimidateus andI rememberthey
wentafter GraemeSounessina big
way– fairenough,afterhe hadbroken
theirbestplayer’s [LicaMovila]jaw in
thefirstleg.
Hewouldneverhavegotawaywith
itnow,butGraemedelivereda punch
thatflattened theguyatAnfieldandno
onesaw it.Notthereferee,noneofthe
playersandtheTV camerasdidn’tspot
iteither. Theperfectcrime!
Fromthemomentwearrivedat
theairport,yougottheimpression
thatsomethingbad mighthappen,so
wewerejust happytogetoutofthere
witha2-1 winanda place in thefinal.
After comingthrough that,Roma
inRomedidn’tseemsobad.Thefact
thatI wasina dressingroomfullof
championsthathad alreadywon the
EuropeanCupa coupleoftimes
mademyfirst experienceofa final
seema loteasier.
I rememberbeinginthetunnel

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before we wentoutintothislion’sden

andwe were alljustsocalm,readyto

go.Thiswasateamofwinnersand

nothingaffectedus.Oneof thelads

startedsingingthe Chris Reasong,

I Don’t Know WhatItIsButI LoveIt,

andI canonlyimaginewhatthe

Romaplayersthought.Thatsong

hadbecomea kind of anthemfor

usthatseasonanditprobablygave

thema hint thatweweren’t worried

aboutwhatwasto come.

Spaghettilegs...

Roma’sFrancesco

Grazianiskieshis

penaltyoverBruce

Grobbelaar’scrossbar

Liverpool1 Roma 1

(Liverpoolwon 4-2onpenalties)

1984 EuropeanCupFinal,Rome

Liverpoolwerea teamofserialEuropean upwinners when
MarkLawrensonarrived in 1 98 1.Threeyears later, he had
a medalofhisown,aftertheRedsbecae thefirst team
towinthefinalbypenalty shootout,in night that has
gonedowninAnfieldfolklore...

MarkLawrenso

Wewerethe better side against

Roma, butwecouldn’tget thewinning

goalwedeservedand it came down

topenalties.Bruce Grobbelaar did

his famous spaghettilegsand that

seemedtodothe trick.

Penalties shoud have been

a concernfor us becausethe day

beforewefewdowntoRome, e had

a shootout practice against e youth

teamand it wasa mes. rucedidn’t

get near anyofth andweended

uposinga stthe kids,butwe

whenitmattered most.

ThatLiverpoolteamwasspecial.

ThreeEuropeanCups? I wasonlypart

ofoneofthemsoI can’ttaketoo much

creditforthatrecord,buttheywerea

specialteam.Wehadplayersthatwere

goodenoughtoplayinanyera:Graeme

Souness,AlanHansen,KennyDalglish

andIan Rushwereworld-class

performersandtheywouldhavebeen

starsnow,nodoubtaboutit.Imagine

howmuchtheywouldbeworth in

thecurrenttransfermarket?You

couldn’tputa priceonthem.

MarkLawrensonwas

speakingto KevinPalmer for

World Soccer ata BT Sportevent

Europeanchamps...

Lawrenson (right)

holds thetrophywith

GraemeSouness (left)

r

z

l

Hewouldneverhavegotawaywith

itnow,butGraemedelivereda

punchthatflattenedtheguyat

Anfieldandnoonesawit

MYBIGGEST

GAME