 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 1983–84 European Cup | ||||||
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| Afterextra time Liverpool won 4–2 onpenalties | |||||||
| Date | 30 May 1984 | ||||||
| Venue | Stadio Olimpico,Rome | ||||||
| Referee | Erik Fredriksson (Sweden) | ||||||
| Attendance | 69,693 | ||||||
←1983 1985 → | |||||||
The1984 European Cup final was anassociation football match betweenLiverpool of England andRoma of Italy on 30 May 1984 at theStadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy. It was the final match of the1983–84 season of Europe's premier cup competition, theEuropean Cup. Liverpool were appearing in their fourth final, having won the competition in1977,1978 and1981. Roma were appearing in their first European Cup final.
Each club needed to progress through four rounds to reach the final. Matches were contested over two legs, with a match at each team's home ground. Liverpool's matches/ties ranged from close affairs to comfortable victories. They beatAthletic Bilbao by a single goal in the second round, while they beatBenfica 5–1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. Roma's matches were all close affairs, winning their ties up to the semi-final by two goal margins. They beatDundee United 3–2 on aggregate in the semi-finals, although it was later revealed that Roma had bribed the referee in the second leg of the semi-final.
As the final was held at Roma's home ground they went into the match as favourites, despite Liverpool's previous record in the competition. Watched by a crowd of 69,693, Liverpool took the lead in the first half whenPhil Neal scored, but Roma equalised before half-time throughRoberto Pruzzo. With the scores level at 1–1 through full-time andextra-time, the match went to apenalty shoot-out. Liverpool won the shoot-out 4–2 to claim their fourth European Cup.
| Round | Opponents | First leg | Second leg | Aggregate score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Odense Boldklub | 1–0 (a) | 5–0 (h) | 6–0 |
| 2nd | Athletic Bilbao | 0–0 (h) | 1–0 (a) | 1–0 |
| Quarter-final | Benfica | 1–0 (h) | 4–1 (a) | 5–1 |
| Semi-final | Dinamo București | 1–0 (h) | 2–1 (a) | 3–1 |
Liverpool gained entry to the competition by winning the1982–83 Football League First Division, entering as English champions.[1] Their opponents in the first round were Danish championsOdense Boldklub. The first leg in Denmark at theOdense Stadium was won 1–0 by Liverpool. A 5–0 victory in the second leg at their home groundAnfield ensured they won the tie 6–0 on aggregate.[2]
In the second round, Liverpool were drawn against Spanish championsAthletic Bilbao. The first leg in England ended 0–0, but Liverpool won the second leg at theSan Mamés Stadium 1–0 courtesy of anIan Rush goal to win the tie 1–0 on aggregate.[3] Liverpool's opponents in the quarter-finals were Portuguese championsBenfica. Liverpool won the first leg in England 1–0 after another Rush goal. The second leg at theEstádio da Luz in Portugal resulted in a comprehensive 4–1 victory for Liverpool. Thus, they won the tie 5–1 on aggregate.[4]
In the semi-final, Liverpool's opponents were Romanian championsDinamo București. An ill-tempered first leg, which saw Liverpool captainGraeme Souness break the jaw of Dinamo midfielderLică Movilă, was won 1–0 by Liverpool. The second leg at theStadionul 23 August was won 2–1 by Liverpool after two goals from Rush. Liverpool won the tie 3–1 on aggregate to progress to their fourth European Cup final.[5]
| Round | Opponents | First leg | Second leg | Aggregate score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | IFK Göteborg | 3–0 (h) | 1–2 (a) | 4–2 |
| 2nd | CSKA Sofia | 1–0 (a) | 1–0 (h) | 2–0 |
| Quarter-final | Dynamo Berlin | 3–0 (h) | 1–2 (a) | 4–2 |
| Semi-final | Dundee United | 0–2 (a) | 3–0 (h) | 3–2 |
Roma qualified for the competition by winning the1982–83 Serie A becoming Italian champions. Swedish championsIFK Göteborg were their opposition in the first round. Roma won the first leg 3–0 at their home groundStadio Olimpico after three second half goals fromFrancesco Vincenzi,Bruno Conti andToninho Cerezo. Despite losing the second leg 2–1 in Sweden, Roma progressed to the second round, winning the tie 4–2 on aggregate.[6]
Their opposition in the second round were Bulgarian championsCSKA Sofia. Roma won the first leg in Bulgaria 1–0 and another 1–0 victory in the second leg in Italy meant Roma won the tie 2–0 on aggregate.[6]Dynamo Berlin, the East German champions were the opposition in the quarter-finals. Roma won the first leg 3–0, after goals fromFrancesco Graziani, Pruzzo and Cerezo. They were beaten 2–1 in the second leg at Berlin's home ground theSportforum Hohenschönhausen, but won the tie 4–2 on aggregate.[6]
The opposition in the semi-finals were Scottish championsDundee United. The first leg was held at Dundee United's home ground,Tannadice Park. Dundee United won the match 2–0, meaning that Roma had to win by three clear goals to progress to the final. Roma did indeed score three goals to win the tie 3–0 and progress to the final, by virtue of a 3–2 aggregate victory.[6] In 1986, Roma president Dino Viola was banned by UEFA for attempting to bribe refereeMichel Vautrot with £50,000 before the match.[7][8]
Liverpool were appearing in their fourth European Cup final. They had won their three previous appearances in1977,1978 and1981. Roma were appearing in their first European Cup final. Their only success in European competition was in theInter-Cities Fairs Cup, which they won in1961.[9]
Liverpool had finished the1983–84 Football League First Division as champions.[10] They had also won the1983–84 Football League Cup beatingEverton 1–0 in a replay after thefinal finished 0–0. Their success meant that Liverpool entered the match with the chance of winning an unprecedented treble.[11] Roma had finished second during the1983–84 Serie A and won the1983–84 Coppa Italia, they had qualified for theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup as a result, but victory would enable them to compete in the European Cup the following season.[12]
The final was held at theStadio Olimpico in Rome, which was Roma's home ground. UEFA decided that the match would still be played at the stadium, despite it being Roma's home ground.[13] Therefore, the match was effectively a home match for them. The stadium was significant for Liverpool as well, as their victory in 1977 came at the ground. With home advantage Roma went into the match as favourites, and were 13–8 withbookmakers to win the match.[14]
The opening passages of the match were tentative. Faced with a hostile atmosphere, Liverpool were content to sit back and frustrate Roma.[15] Despite this tactic, Liverpool took the lead in the 15th minute. Souness andSammy Lee exchanged passes before passing toCraig Johnston on the right-hand side of the pitch. Johnston played a high cross into the Roma penalty area, which was challenged for by Roma goalkeeperFranco Tancredi andRonnie Whelan. The result was that Tancredi dropped the ball, Roma defenders tried to clear the ball, butMichele Nappi's attempted clearance bounced off Tancredi's back and fell to Liverpool defenderPhil Neal who scored to give Liverpool a 1–0 lead.[16] Two minutes later, Souness volleyed the ball into the Roma goal from close range, but his goal was disallowed for offside.[17]
Roma had a chance to equalise in the 27th minute, but Liverpool goalkeeperBruce Grobbelaar saved Conti's low shot.[17] Neal was shown ayellow card in the 32nd minute for bringing down Conti, and a few minutes later Liverpool had an opportunity to extend their lead. Liverpool striker Rush charged downDario Bonetti's clearance and ran onto the ball, but his shot was saved by Tancredi. With minutes remaining until half-time, Roma equalised.Sebastiano Nela passed to Conti, who ran down the left-hand side of the pitch. His first attempt at crossing the ball into the penalty area was blocked by a combination of Neal andMark Lawrenson, but his cross rebounded back to him. His second attempt foundRoberto Pruzzo in the penalty area, whose glancing header went into the Liverpool goal to level the scores at 1–1.[16]
Roma came out for the second half buoyed by their equaliser and they started the half the better of the two sides.[16] Despite this, they were unable to break down the Liverpool defence, with Lawrenson in particular performing well. Roma began to control the midfield with the Brazilian duoFalcão andToninho Cerezo combining to combat Souness in the Liverpool midfield. Roma's best chance of this period was a 25 yards (23 m) shot from Falcão which Grobbelaar saved.[16] Roma began to lose control of the period, with both sides abandoning their initial game plans for fearing of conceding a goal. Liverpoolsubstituted striker Johnston with defenderSteve Nicol in the 72nd minute. The best chance of the half came in the 85th minute;Kenny Dalglish found Nicol in the Roma penalty area, but his shot was saved by Tancredi.[17] The scores stayed level throughout the remainder of the half, which meant that the match would go intoextra-time.
Extra time provided little action; the only player that looked like changing the scoreline was Conti, whose runs at Neal caused the Liverpool defender problems.[16] Despite this, the score remained the same through the 30 minutes of extra time and the match went to a penalty-shoot-out. Liverpool were the first to take a penalty, but Nicol put his shot over the crossbar.[18] Graziani stepped up to take Roma's first penalty, but Roma captainAgostino Di Bartolomei took the ball from him and took the penalty instead, scoring to give Roma the lead.[19] Liverpool's next penalty was taken by their regular penalty taker Neal who scored to level the shoot-out. Conti took the next penalty for Roma, but like Nicol he put his shot over the crossbar.[20] Souness andUbaldo Righetti converted their respective penalties to make the scoreline 2–2. Rush scored Liverpool's next penalty to make the score 3–2. Graziani stepped up again to take Roma's fourth penalty. While he was placing the ball on the penalty spot, Liverpool goalkeeper Grobbelaar was wobbling his legs in the Liverpool goal, hoping to distract Graziani. The tactic appeared to have worked as Graziani placed his penalty over the crossbar.Alan Kennedy was the next player to take a penalty and if he scored Liverpool would win the match. Kennedy scored the penalty sending Tancredi the wrong way. Liverpool won the shoot-out 4–2, thereby winning their fourth European Cup.[21]
 Liverpool | 1–1 (a.e.t.) |  Roma |
|---|---|---|
Neal 13' | Report | Pruzzo 42' |
| Penalties | ||
Nicol Neal  Souness Rush Kennedy | 4–2 | Di BartolomeiContiRighettiGraziani |
          Liverpool |    Roma |
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Assistant referees:[22] |
