| |||||||
| on aggregate | |||||||
| First leg | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 22 November 1977 | ||||||
| Venue | Volksparkstadion,Hamburg | ||||||
| Referee | António Garrido (Portugal) | ||||||
| Attendance | 16,000 | ||||||
| Second leg | |||||||
| |||||||
| Date | 6 December 1977 | ||||||
| Venue | Anfield,Liverpool | ||||||
| Referee | Ulf Eriksson (Sweden) | ||||||
| Attendance | 34,931 | ||||||
←1976 1978 → | |||||||
The1977 European Super Cup was anassociation football match played overtwo-legs between German teamHamburger SV and English teamLiverpool. The first leg was played at theVolksparkstadion, Hamburg on 22 November 1977 and the second leg was played on 6 December 1977 atAnfield, Liverpool. The match was for theEuropean Super Cup, an annual contest between the winners of theEuropean Cup andEuropean Cup Winners' Cup. Both teams were appearing in the competition for the first time.
The teams qualified for the competition by winning the European Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup. Hamburg won the1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup beating Belgian teamAnderlecht 2–0 in thefinal. Liverpool qualified by winning the1976–77 European Cup. They beat German teamBorussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 in the final.
Watched by a crowd of 16,000 at the Volksparkstadion, Hamburg took the lead in the first half of the first leg whenFerdinand Keller scored. ADavid Fairclough goal in the second half levelled the match at 1–1, which remained the score when the match finished. A crowd of 34,391 saw Liverpool take the lead in the second leg whenPhil Thompson scored in the 21st minute. Ahat-trick fromTerry McDermott and a goal each fromKenny Dalglish and Fairclough secured a 6–0 win for Liverpool. Thus, Liverpool won 7–1 on aggregate to win their first European Super Cup.
TheEuropean Super Cup was founded in the early 1970s, as a means to determine the best team in Europe and serve as a challenge toAjax, the strongest club side of its day.[1] The proposal by Dutch journalistAnton Witkamp, a football match between the holders of theEuropean Cup andCup Winners' Cup, failed to receiveUEFA's backing,[1] given the recent Cup Winners' Cup winnersRangers had been banned from European competition.[n 1] Witkamp nonetheless proceeded with his vision, a two-legged match played between Ajax and Rangers in January 1973.[1] The competition was endorsed and recognised by UEFA a year later.[1]
Liverpool qualified for the Super Cup as winners of the1976–77 European Cup. They had beaten German teamBorussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 in thefinal to win theEuropean Cup for the first time.[3] It was Liverpool's first appearance in the Super Cup.Hamburger SV had qualified for the competition as winners of the1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup. A 2–0 victory againstAnderlecht ensured they won theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup for the first time.[4] Hamburg were also appearing in their first Super Cup match.[5]
Both teams were midway through their respective domestic campaigns at the time of the matches. Liverpool's last game before the first leg was againstBristol City, which they drew 1–1. This result left Liverpool sixth in the1977–78 Football League.[6] Hamburg playedBorussia Dortmund in the1977–78 Bundesliga in their last match before the first leg, which they lost 2–1.[7] A subplot to the matches was that Hamburg strikerKevin Keegan, would be playing against the club that he left the previous season. Keegan joined Hamburg for £500,000 following Liverpool's European Cup success.[8][9] Keegan was confident in Hamburg's chances going into the match: "We're beginning to run into form, Liverpool, on the other hand, are tired physically and mentally. People don't realise they are only human. I would probably have lost the edge if I had stayed."[10]
Neither side created many chances in whatPatrick Barclay, writing inThe Guardian described as "a banal, unadventurous first half."[11] Liverpool had chances to score throughJimmy Case,Ray Kennedy andDavid Fairclough but they were unable to convert them.[12]Ferdinand Keller was unable to convert a headed chance into goal, but he did score in the 29th minute.[11]Klaus Zaczyk passed to Keller whose shot went beyond Liverpool goalkeeper,Ray Clemence, to give Hamburg a 1–0 lead.[12] Three minutes later,Joey Jones was replaced byTommy Smith after he picked up a thigh injury from attempting a long-range shot.[11]
The first chance of the second half fell to Fairclough when he was put through on the left hand side of the pitch but he was unable to score.[12] Following this, midfielderJimmy Case was replaced by strikerDavid Johnson in the 58th minute.[11] Hamburg made two substitutions in the 63rd and 64th minutes withAndreas Karow andHorst Bertl replacingManfred Kaltz andFelix Magath respectively.[13] A minute later, Liverpool had equalised. Bertl's first touch of the ball was a header from across byKenny Dalglish, which caught out Hamburg goalkeeper,Jürgen Stars, and allowed Fairclough to head the ball into Hamburg goal and level the match at 1–1.[12] Barclay stated the goal "roused Hamburg to their most animated spell" with Clemence saving a shot byArno Steffenhagen.[11] Stars stopped a chance from Dalglish,[12] and Johnson was unable to convert Dalglish's cross from 5 yards (4.6 m) as his shot went over the crossbar.[11] After the game, Liverpool manager,Bob Paisley, was satisfied with the result: "In the end, I was quite pleased. It was an encouraging performance. But I do not rate Hamburg and I did not rate them when we played them in August in a pre-season friendly." Keegan was not so positive about Hamburg's performance: "We were pathetic. The last two weeks we have played well but we were terrible tonight. Liverpool played quite well and got better as the game went on. I have mixed feelings about my return to Anfield now. If we had a 5–0 lead I would have loved it. I am still looking forward to it, but not so much."[14]
Hamburger SV | 1–1 |  Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
Keller 29' | Report | Fairclough 65' |
         Hamburger SV |    Liverpool |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Liverpool opened the scoring to the match in the 21st minute when, following a corner bySteve Heighway, the ball fell toPhil Thompson whose shot went in off the post to give Liverpool the lead.[15] Liverpool extended their lead in the 40th minute whenTerry McDermott chested down a pass by Kennedy and scored from the right-hand side of the penalty area.[10] Heighway was replaced by Johnson at the start of the second half,[15] and ten minutes later Liverpool had scored a third. McDermott scored again as he intercepted the ball and ran down the right-hand side of the pitch before his shot went into the top-right corner of the Hamburg goal.[10] A minute later, McDermott scored his third and Liverpool's fourth off the match after he received a pass from Kennedy down the left-hand side of the pitch.[10] McDermott became the first player to score a hat-trick in the Super Cup.[16] Liverpool added a further two goals in the final minutes as Fairclough scored with a header and Dalglish scored a sixth goal two minutes later.[12] Liverpool won the match 6–0 and a 7–1 aggregate victory meant they won their first European Super Cup.[17]
| Liverpool | 6–0 | Hamburger SV |
|---|---|---|
| Thompson 21' McDermott 40',55',56'Fairclough 86'Dalglish 88' | Report |
Liverpool | Hamburger SV |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Man of the Match: |
Keegan praised his former team after the second leg: "I'd heard Liverpool hadn't been doing too well but from where I was stood watching there didn't seem to be much wrong with them, there were no cracks and they look as strong, if not stronger, than they ever were."[20] McDermott was adamant that his performance in the second leg was a turning point in his Liverpool career: "Someone was injured, I think it may have been Ian Callaghan. I was moved in rather than be out wide on the right. I scored a hat-trick and I always remember John Toshack saying: 'That's your position'. I got the confidence fromJohn Toshack saying a thing like that. He probably won't remember, but I do."[18]
Following the Super Cup, Liverpool were still competing in the1977–78 European Cup. They reached thefinal where they facedClub Brugge, a match they won 1–0 to retain the title they had won the previous season.[21] They were unable to win the1977–78 First Division finishing second, seven points behind eventual winnersNottingham Forest.[22]
Hamburg were eliminated in the second round of the1977–78 European Cup Winners' Cup by eventual winners,Anderlecht of Belgium.[23] They finished the1977–78 Bundesliga in tenth, fourteen points behind winners,1. FC Köln.[7]
