 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 1977–78 European Cup | ||||||
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| Date | 10 May 1978 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Charles Corver (Netherlands) | ||||||
| Attendance | 92,500 | ||||||
←1977 1979 → | |||||||
The1978 European Cup final was anassociation football match betweenLiverpool of England andClub Brugge of Belgium on 10 May 1978 atWembley Stadium, London, England (the venue was decided inBern by theUEFA Executive Committee on 20 September 1977).[1] It was the final match of the1977–78 season of Europe's premier cup competition, theEuropean Cup. Liverpool were the reigning champions and were appearing in their second European Cup final. Club Brugge were appearing in their first European Cup final. The two sides had met once before in European competition, when they contested the1976 UEFA Cup Final, which Liverpool won 4–3 on aggregate.
As reigning champions, Liverpool received abye in the first round, which meant that Club Brugge played two matches more to reach the final. All but one of Liverpool's matches were comfortable victories and they won each round with an aggregate score at least two goals to the good. In the first round Club Brugge beat Finnish championsKuopion Palloseura by 9–2 on aggregate, but they won each of their subsequent rounds by just one goal.
Watched by a crowd of 92,500, the first half was goalless. Liverpool took the lead in the second half whenKenny Dalglish scored from aGraeme Souness pass. They held this lead to win the match 1–0, securing Liverpool's second European Cup and third European trophy in succession, and they became the first English team to retain the European Cup.
| Round | Opponents | First leg | Second leg | Aggregate score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bye | — | — | — |
| 2nd | Dynamo Dresden | 5–1 (h) | 1–2 (a) | 6–3 |
| Quarter-final | Benfica | 2–1 (a) | 4–1 (h) | 6–2 |
| Semi-final | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 1–2 (a) | 3–0 (h) | 4–2 |
Liverpool were the reigning European Cup champions after defeatingBorussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 to win the1977 European Cup final. Liverpool were also the reigning English champions, having won the English league during the1976–77 season. As reigning European Cup champions, they received abye in the first round.[2] They were drawn against East German championsDynamo Dresden in the second round. Liverpool were expected to win the first leg, played atAnfield, their home ground, and they did so with a score of 5–1. Dresden won the second leg 2–1 at their home ground,Glücksgas Stadium, giving Liverpool a 6–3 win onaggregate.[3]
In the quarter-finals, Liverpool were drawn against Portuguese championsBenfica. The first leg was played at theEstádio da Luz, Benfica's home ground.Nené scored for Benfica in the 18th minute,Jimmy Case equalised for Liverpool in the 37th minute, andEmlyn Hughes scored midway through the second half to give Liverpool a 2–1 victory. The second leg at Anfield was won 4–1 by Liverpool, giving them a 6–2 win on aggregate.[4]
Liverpool's opponents in the semi-finals were Borussia Mönchengladbach, the team they had beaten to win the European Cup the previous year. The first leg was played in Germany at theBökelbergstadion, which was Borussia's home ground at that time. Borussia took an early lead whenWilfried Hannes scored. Liverpool equalised in the 88th minute, whenDavid Johnson scored, but in the following minuteRainer Bonhof scored from a 22-yardfree-kick, so Borussia won 2–1. In the second leg, at Anfield,Ray Kennedy scored for Liverpool in the sixth minute,Kenny Dalglish scored in the 35th minute, and Jimmy Case scored in the 56th minute, giving Liverpool a 3–0 win in the match[4] and a 4–2 win on aggregate, and securing a place in their second consecutive European Cup final.[5]
| Round | Opponents | First leg | Second leg | Aggregate score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | KuPS | 4–0 (a) | 5–2 (h) | 9–2 |
| 2nd | Panathinaikos | 2–0 (h) | 0–1 (a) | 2–1 |
| Quarter-final | Atlético Madrid | 2–0 (h) | 2–3 (a) | 4–3 |
| Semi-final | Juventus | 0–1 (a) | 2–0 (h) | 2–1 |
Club Brugge gained entry to the competition by winning the1976–77 Belgian First Division and thus becoming Belgian champions. Their opponents in the first round were the Finnish champions,Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS). Brugge won the first leg 4–0 at KuPS's home ground, theKuopion keskuskenttä, and the second leg 5–2 at Brugge's ground, theJan Breydel Stadium, thus winning the round 9–2 on aggregate.[2]
Their opponents in the second round were Greek championsPanathinaikos. The first leg was in Belgium. Brugge won 2–0 afterRoger Davies scored from a penalty in the 24th minute andJulien Cools scored midway through the second half. The second leg was played at Panathinaikos' home ground, theLeoforos Alexandras Stadium. Panathinaikos won the match 1–0, so Brugge won the round with an aggregate score of 2–1.[2]
Brugge's opponents in the quarter-finals were Spanish championsAtlético Madrid. The first leg in Belgium was won 2–0 by Brugge. The second leg, played at theVicente Calderón Stadium, Atlético's home ground, was a close match: Atlético scored twice in the first half; Cools scored for Brugge in the 60th minute;Marcial Pina scored for Atlético two minutes later; finallyRaoul Lambert scored once more for Brugge. Thus Brugge lost the match 3–2 but won the round with a 4–3 aggregate score.[2]
Italian championsJuventus were their next opponents, in the semi-finals. The first leg, at theStadio Olimpico di Torino, Juventus' home ground, was goalless until the 86th minute, whenRoberto Bettega scored to give Juventus a 1–0 victory. The second leg in Belgium was a similarly close affair. Brugge scored in the third minute, but that left a 1–1 aggregate score after 90 minutes, requiringextra time to be played. Had the aggregate score still been tied after the extra time, there would have been apenalty shootout. However, it didn't happen, asRené Vandereycken scored in the 116th minute to give Brugge a 2–0 win in the match and a 2–1 win on aggregate, granting them progress to their first European Cup final.[2]
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1978 was the first year in which Club Brugge had reached the final, while Liverpool were appearing in their second successive final. The two teams had met before in the final of a European competition: the1976 UEFA Cup final, which Liverpool won 4–3 on aggregate.[6] Liverpool were the reigning champions and were aiming to become the first British team to win successive European Cups. Liverpool had already won theUEFA Cup twice, in the1972–73 and1975–76 seasons and had a chance to win two European cups as well.[7] Brugge were the first Belgian team to reach the final of the European Cup and thus were aiming to become the first to win the trophy.
As the final was held in England, atWembley, Liverpool were clear favourites to retain the European Cup.[8] Brugge were without a number of key players, such asRaoul Lambert, whose inclusion in the Brugge squad was rumoured before the final but never materialised.[9] Liverpool were also without a few players.Tommy Smith, who had scored in the previous season's final, was out after dropping a pick-axe on his foot and breaking a toe.[8] StrikerDavid Johnson was also absent. He had strained knee ligaments during a match againstLeicester City, an injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season.[8]
The first half was dull. Brugge held back, using tightmarking and theoffside trap to restrict Liverpool's attacking threat.[9] Towards the end of the first half, Liverpool started to have more scoring chances.Ray Kennedy volleyed across the face of the goal, andJimmy Case took afree kick that needed to be punched away by Brugge goalkeeperBirger Jensen. In the closing minutes of the first half, Jensen made two crucial saves: he blockedDavid Fairclough, who had made a run towards goal, and he tipped a header byAlan Hansen over the crossbar. So the score at half-time was 0–0.[9]
Early in the second half, Jensen made another save, this time fromTerry McDermott. Brugge's first significant chance came a few minutes afterwards, when a cross-field pass byRené Vandereycken reachedJan Sørensen on the right-hand side of the pitch. Sørensen's subsequent shot was blocked by Liverpool captainEmlyn Hughes. The blocked shot was not cleared, butRay Clemence reached the ball before Brugge'sLajos Kű could reach it and score. After this Kű was substituted with Dirk Sanders. Liverpool made a substitution minutes later, withSteve Heighway replacing Case. Liverpool's substitution had more effect, as Heighway gave Liverpool more width on the right-hand side of the pitch.[9] Two minutes after Heighway's introduction,Kenny Dalglish received the ball in the Brugge penalty area from aGraeme Souness pass and placed his shot over a diving Jensen to give Liverpool a 1–0 lead.[8]
Brugge now needed to score, but they only created one more chance. Ten minutes before the end of the match, Sørensen intercepted a Hansen backpass and shot. His shot was blocked by Clemence, and a goal-line clearance byPhil Thompson prevented Brugge from equalising.[8] The match remained at 1–0 and Liverpool won their second consecutive European Cup, becoming the first British team to retain the trophy.[10]
        Liverpool[11] |      Club Brugge[11] |
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After the match, figures from each team were critical of the other team's play. Liverpool defender Tommy Smith criticised Brugge for their approach, saying "It was a pathetic attitude. You never win anything like that."[8] Liverpool managerBob Paisley also criticised the Belgian team's tactics: "It takes two teams to make a game into a spectacle and Bruges only seemed to be concerned with keeping the score down. Bruges didn't come at us much – apart from one mistake in our defence, they never looked like scoring. But they were well organised at the back and it was a case of breaking them down. We controlled the game from start to finish."[9] Meanwhile, Club Brugge managerErnst Happel was critical of the quality of the Liverpool team: "Liverpool seemed only a shadow of the side we played in the UEFA Cup final two seasons ago. I was disappointed with them, but they deserved their victory although we were handicapped by injuries to two players."[9]
