The last European competition – the Super Cup.
Strange looking trophy, which few took seriously. This year it should have been a clash between Liverpool and Dinamo Tbilisi. However, the Super Cup was not contested.
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Cup was much more entertaining than Cup Winners Cup and started with number of upsets. Manchester United was eliminated by unfancied Widzew (Lodz). Woolverhampton Wanderers lost to PSV Eindhoven. But the biggest surprise came from Bulgaria – Levski-Spartak (Sofia) had tough draw, Dinamo (Kiev), and, as usual, the Bulgarians were expected to lose without much of a fight. There was no worries in Soviet media: Dinamo practically had to look for the second round. Even when the first leg finished there was no real alarm: the match in Kiev ended 1-1 and the Bulgarians scored first, but Dinamo was seen as vastly superior and missed many opportunities. Just focus on scoring.
Levski-Spartak and Dinamo Kiev come out to start the second leg in Sofia. Note the Bulgarian goalkeeper on the left – early in the first game the regular keeper Staykov was injured and replaced by Vlado Delchev, young inexperienced goalie. He was perfect in both games.
The second leg ended 0-0. Perhaps the shock was so big, so no real criticism appeared in the Soviet press: Levski-Spartak was still judged a weak team, Dinamo – much better, but… failing to score and punished for that rather harshly. For a second time Bulgarian team eliminated the flagman of Soviet football, something unthinkable. Jumping a few years ahead, the same Levski-Spartak was ordered to lose to Dnepr (Dnepropetrovsk) and did so promptly – there was not going to be any more funny stuff: beating Big Brother twice was way too much. However, the heroic disobedience was lost to many, because of the great performance of CSKA (Sofia) at the same time – they eliminated Nottingham Forest, the holders of the European Champions Cup.
The tournament went ahead with some more surprises, but also with predictable results as well. Levski-Spartak was completely destroyed by the new wonder of Dutch football – AZ’67. The first leg ended 1-1 and at home AZ’67 just scored and scored to a final 5-0 victory. Hamburger SV eliminated PSV Eindhoven in the second round, but the real upset came from another pair: 1.FC Koln vs Barcelona. Barcelona won the first leg in Koln 1-0 and seemingly they already qualified. But the Germans did not think so and thrashed Barcelona at their scared stadium 4-0.
West German football suffered big defeat at the 1/8 finals – 4 teams reached this stage, something everybody was used to see after 1975, and three of them were expected to go ahead. One team was to be eliminated, for Lady Luck played quite a few jokes this season, pairing strong teams against each other at early stages. This time VfB Stuttgart was paired with 1. FC Koln, so one German team was going to be out no matter what. Stuttgart lost by one goal. But Hamburger SV was expected to win againt Saint Ettienne, which was not really as strong, as it was a few years back. Not so strong… the French finished one of the strongest European teams at that time in Hamburg – 5-0! The second leg was no longer important, but St. Etienne won again – 1-0. The French were bad luck for the Germans: the modest Sochaux eliminated Eintracht (Frankfurt), after losing the first leg 2-4. At home, they won 2-0. The other two teams unexpectedly eliminated at this stage were still strong Torino, losing to Grasshoppers after penalty shoot-out, and bright and promising Real Sociedad, losing to middle-of-the-road Lokeren.
The quarter-finalists looked somewhat strange, considering some of the club names starting the tournament, but whoever is strong should win on the field. Ones again there was ‘unfair’ draw: Sochaux vs Grasshopper was the weakest pair. Standard (Liege) had the tough luck to play against 1. FC Koln – and lost. St. Etienne faced Ipswich Town and also lost. AZ’67 eliminated Lokeren, as expected, but at least AZ’67 was already noticed for playing strong and attractive football. They were lucky in the semi-finals, drawing Sochaux. The French played bravely, but managed only to lose minimally – 1-1 at home and 2-3 away. Ipswich Town vs 1. FC Koln was perhaps unfair draw… should have been the final. Or may be not: the English won both legs 1-0.
AZ’67 (Alkmaar) vs Ipswich Town (Ipswich). Neither club had won anything on continental level before. Like the Cup Winners Cup finalist, the UEFA Cup was contested between new names – either weakening of the big European clubs, or change of guard, introducing a new order. Yet, it was familiar final – Dutch and English teams ruled European football at least for 10 years. Ipswich Town was climbing up roughly since 1975, so it was about time for something big. AZ’67 were bright newcomers, quickly going up – their policy of gathering big Dutch names was somewhat unusual, but it worked just fine. It was hard to say which team was the favourite – both were strong, ambitious, at their best, and full of very good players. To a point, it was to be Dutch against Dutch, for the key players of Ipswich were Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen. Perhaps Ipswich Town was slightly favoured to win, because of the lingering inferiority the Dutch felt to English football. But one thing was sure: the finals were going to be highly entertaining. And the teams did not disappoint.
In front of 27 500 enthusiastic crowd, Ipswich stepped on high gear at home on May 6.
AZ’67 fought back, but were busy with defending.
The Brits were unstoppable, however. They scored a goal in the 28th minute and in the second half added 2 more.
The English Dutch were excellent – here Frans Thijssen clearly dominates his compatriot, playing for the other team. He scored the second goal of the match. Ipswich got huge advantage at home.
Final 1st Leg, Portman Road, Ipswich, 6 May 1981, att 27532
Ipswich Town (1) 3 AZ ’67 (Alkmaar) (0) 0
28′ 1-0 I: Wark (pen)
46′ 2-0 I: Thijssen
56′ 3-0 I: Mariner
Ipswich Town: Cooper; Mills, Osman, Butcher, McCall; Thijssen, Wark, A.Mühren; Mariner,Brazil, Gates
AZ ’67 (Alkmaar): Treytel; Van der Meer, Metgod, Spelbos, Hovenkamp; Peters, Jonker, Arntz, Nygaard (Welzl); Kist, Tol
Before the second leg AZ’67 coach Kesler stated that his team practically has no chance. It was not a statement of giving up, however: Kesler added that his team had no other option, but to move entirely into attack – all or nothing, all caution abandoned as meaningless under the circumstances. The approach was risky and Ipswich quickly took advantage of it. Frans Thijssen scored the first goal in Amsterdam, where the second leg was played, because Alkmaar had small stadium. Game over in the 4th minute… the Dutch did not think so. They equalized three minutes later and went ahead in the 25th minute, when Metgod scored a second goal.
John Wark scored his second goal in the finals in the 32nd minute, equalizing the result. In the 40th minute Tol made it 3-2 for AZ’67. The Dutch were still fighting against the odds, but 5 goals in the first half were wonderful for the fans and the way the match was going the second half was promissing even more fun. AZ’67 continued to attack and in the 70th minute Jonker scored their 4th goal. 4-2.
Ipswich never dug themselves in the back, but used every opportunity to attack – here Eric Gates troubles the Dutch defense. But it was 4-2 at the end.
Final 2nd Leg, Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, 20 May 1981, att 28500
AZ ’67 (Alkmaar) (3) 4 Ipswich Town (2) 2
4′ 0-1 I: Thijssen
7′ 1-1 A: Welzl
25′ 2-1 A: Metgod
32′ 2-2 I: Wark
40′ 3-2 A: Tol
74′ 4-2 A: Jonker
AZ ’67 (Alkmaar:Treytel; Reynders, Metgod, Spelbos, Hovenkamp; Peters, Jonker, Arntz, Nygaard; Welzl (Talan), Tol (Kist)
Ipswich Town: Cooper; Mills, Osman, Butcher, McCall; Thijssen, Wark, A.Mühren; Mariner, Brazil, Gates.
Ipswich Town won 5-4 on aggregate, but even if they lost by three goals the second leg, they were going to win thanks to their away goals. AZ’67 really had no chance, but must be credited for maiing everything possible to change the result in their favour.
One may be sorry for AZ’67, but Ipswich Town was really deserving winner and Mick Mills got the UEFA Cup.
After Mills received the Cup, it was the usual English happiness.
Followed by drinking adult beverages from the same cup in the dressing room. Who can blame Ipswich Town? They won fair and square.
Lovely losers, but losers. Standing from left: Hovenkamp, Metgod, Van Der Meer, Spelbos, Jonker, Treytel.
Crouching: Tol, Arntz, Peters, Nygaard, Kist.
AZ’67 reached its peak, but was unable to win the UEFA Cup. One may argue that they were lucky and had easy road – playing against Red Boys Differdange (Luxembourg), Levski-Spartak (Bulgaria), Radnicki Nis (Yugoslavia), Lokeren (Belgium), and Sochaux (France) – but they reached the final with 6 wins, 3 ties, and lost only the second leg against Lokeren 0-1. They scored 29 goals and received 9 – truly attacking and high scoring team. At the end, Ipswich outscored them only by one goal and the Dutch failed to score in just 2 games during the campaign. True, the club came out practically from nowhere, but the players they had were not at all anonymous: about 10 firmer, current, and future Dutch national team players appeared in the finals. Add the Austrian national team striker Welzl. Treytel, Hovenkamp, Metgod, Spelbos, Peters were already well known names. Arntz, Tol, Jonker were just becoming known. Kees Kist was currently the best scorer in Europe. The team was no joke, had plenty of experience, had ambitious players and if there was something on the negative side, it was the predicament of any small club: AZ’67 was going to sell players too good for such a club. Reaching European final could only speed up the inevitable. They gathered good players, but there was no way to add more class to the squad. Too bad, though – during this season AZ’67 were exciting team, perhaps the most exciting on the continent. Unfortunately, they had Englsih opponent at its prime.
Ipswich Town were more than worthy winners.
The victory was a great recognition for the work Bobby Robson had done – slowly and carefully, he built the excellent squad, which reached its peak this year. As for Robson, he established himself as one of the leading coaches in the world with this victory – which was in a way too bad for Ipswich, for Robson was not going to stay much longer with the club: he was already hot commodity. As for the players, Kevin Beattie was perhaps the only player beyond his peak and on the way down. John Wark, Alan Brazil, Russell Osman, and Paul Cooper were perhaps at their peak just at that time. Terry Butcher, George Burley, and to a point Allan Hunter were not yet at their peak, but near. Mick Mills was the great captain and constant feature of the Engliah national team. Solid squad to begin with, but two fantastic additions made it really great: at the time English coaches were reluctant of foreign players, Bobby Robson made a big step ahead – he bought two Dutch midfielders, trusted them, and they not only delivered, but became great stars of 1980s English football. What an eye Robson had – Frans Thijssen and Arnold Muhren were hardly among the big names of Dutch football in the 1970s. Their careers at home were rather modest and they were no longer young promising players. To buy them was risky… but the Dutch invigorated Ipswich’s midfield, quickly became the playmakers of the team, adding continental creativity to normally unimaginative English midfield football. As for fitness and toughness – they lacked neither. Their addition was the finest final touch of Robson’s creation – and with them came the biggest triumph of Ipswich Town. Lovely winners of UEFA Cup.
Cup Winners Cup
Cup Winners Cup continued to suffer: the tournament was constantly losing people’s interest, because the teams were weaker and there was no way to change that. This season the stronger clubs were few: Valencia, Roma, Feyenoord, Celtic, West Ham United, Benfica, and Fortuna Dusseldorf. The favourites were expected to go far easily and one of them to win, but none was particularly strong leading European club at the moment. Predictions were quickly destroyed: Celtic and Roma were eliminated in the first round. Celtic lost on away goal to Romanian Politehnica (Timisoara) and may have been unlucky, but Roma won its opening home match 3-0 and was seen as sure winner. Their East German opponent Carl Zeiss (Jena) managed incredible come back in the second leg, destroying the Italians 4-0. Two favourites out after the first round and in the second they were three – Carl Zeiss again was destroyer, this time of the reigning cup holder Valencia. Carl Zeiss took big advantage at home – 3-1 – and Valencia, not the most exciting team anyway, managed to win only 1-0 at home, so they were eliminated. Two more casualties in the ¼ finals: one was inevitable, for the draw paired Fortuna and Benfica. Benfica managed to end the opening match in Dusseldorf 2-2 and improved on their small advantage at home, beating the West Germans 1-0. Meantime West Ham United faced Dinamo (Tbilisi) . The Soviets were good, and the English hardly at their best, but English clubs ruled European football in the recent years and West Ham was expected to win. What a surprise: Dinamo thrashed them 4-1 in London. The second leg was more or less mere protocol – West Ham won, but only 1-0 and was out. Feyenoord had an easy draw – Slavia (Sofia). They lost the first match in Bulgaria 2-3, but there were no worries: two away goals favoured the Dutch and they won confidently in Rotterdam 4-0. One thing to keep in mind from this clash: Feyenoord discovered Slavia’s striker and captain Andrey Zhelyazkov and few years later bought him. Arguably, Zhelyazkov became the biggest and most successful Bulgarian transfer of the 1980s – he played well for Feyenoord and after that for two other West European clubs. Cral Zeiss had the easiest draw at this stage: Newport County from Wales. After playing against Roma and Valencia, this opponent should have been a leisurely walk in the par, but instead happened to be the most difficult challenge Carl Zeiss faced. Newport extracted a 2-2 draw in Jena and Carl Zeiss had to win the second match – they did with difficulties, a measly 1-0.
The draw for the semi-finals practically spelled out the finalists: Carl Zeiss vs Benfica and Dinamo Tbilisi vs Feyenoord. So, Benfica and Feyenoord would meet at the final… it was not to be: the East European teams got strong leads after their opening home games. Carl Zeiss won 2-0 and Dinamo – 3-0. The Westerners were unable to come back – they won at home, but both teams fell a goal short: Benfica won 1-0 and Feyenoord 2-0. All favourites were eliminated – usually a victory of the underdogs are nice and pleasant surprise, but not this time: it was just one more nail in the coffin of the Cup Winners Cup. The final in Dusseldorf was going to be played practically without audience: Soviet and East German fans were not allowed to travel to the West and neutral public was not going either – neither finalist attracted foreign viewers. Two very small and carefully selected groups came from USSR and DDR and this final one of the least attended in the history of the tournament with 9000 attendees – only the 1964 final between Sporting (Lisbon) and MTK (Budapest) was attended by less, 3000 people. It was inevitable: Eastern European countries did not allow people to travel abroad and little known clubs did not attract Westerners. As a result, the final became the forgotten one – few paid attention at the time and even fewer remember it today. Which is ironic, because the final was lively and entertaining. Both teams were unable to field their best lines: Dinamo’s captain Shota Khinchagashvili was suspended for yellow cards received in the previous games and Carl Zeiss had two starters injured – Konrad Weise and Martin Trocha. There were fears that three more Georgians would not be able to play because of injuries and sickness – Sulakvelidze, Chivadze, and Gabelia – but the team doctor managed to get them on their feet. The opponents were quite different in their making and style: the East Germans depended on well established veterans, well known for their play for the national team of DDR – Grapentin (37 years old), Vogel (38), Kurbjuweit (30), Lindemann (31). They were very disciplined and fit squad, dedicated to attacking football, but a bit predictable. In defense, they employed personal marking, which was risky approach. Dinamo Tbilisi was slightly younger and much more exciting team, lead a great midfielder – David Kipiani. As a team, Dinamo was at its peak, playing fast attacking football. The Georgians were very skillful, creative and loved to improvise – a team difficult to beat and full of Soviet national team players (Kipiani, Chivadze, Sulakvelidze, Shengelia, Daraselia, Gutzaev, Gabelia). Observers favoured Dinamo, but not by much. It was not expected to be attractive game, which happened to wrong – whoever watch the final was pleasantly surprised by the fast, open, attacking match, full of scoring chances. At first the Germans pushed ahead and slightly dominated the match for 30 minutes. Eventually Dinamo equalized the game and had the upper hand to the end, but not for a moment there was big dominance of one team. Both goalkeepers were busy and made great saves. Carl Zeiss pressured the Georgians, but they were more dangerous on counter-attacks, thanks to their technicality and creativity. To a point, Carl Zeiss suffered from their defensive scheme – personal marking did not work well against imaginative and very skillful players. The Germans had problems when their attacks were broken – gaps opened, which immediately were used by the Georgians for dangerous counter-attacks. No wonder Grapentin was the best German player – the collective approach did not allow to any field player to shine. On the other side Shengelia, Daraselia, Gutzaev shined with their quick improvisations and Kipiani was clearly the star of the game.
Almost no pictorial material exists from this final – no wonder, for the picture shows the empty stands. Time was running and there was no goal – both goalkeepers were outstanding. The first goal was scored in the second half, when Dinamo was clearly the stronger – but the goal was in their net. In the 63rd minute the central defender of Carl Zeiss Hoppe scored wonderful goal. Dinamo equalized 4 minutes later – one more excellent goal, thanks to Gutzaev. In the 87th minute they scored again – Daraselia was the hero this time.
Everybody celebrates the second goal and scorer Daraselia cannot be seen. Three minutes were not enough for any change – there was no extra time. Dinamo won and rightly so – they were the better team and it was only just. Carl Zeiss played well and had their chances, but Dinamo deserved the victory and got it. The second all-East European final ended as the first one: the Soviet club won.
Final, Rheinstadion, Dusseldorf, 13 May 1981, att 9000
Dynamo Tbilisi (0) 2 Carl Zeiss Jena (0) 1
63′ 0-1 C: Hoppe
67′ 1-1 D: Gutsayev
86′ 2-1 D: Daraselia
Dynamo Tbilisi: Gabelia; Kostava, Chivadze, Khisanishvili, Tavadze; Svanadze
(Kakilashvili), Sulakvelidze, Daraselia; Gutsayev, Kipiani, Shengelia
Carl Zeiss Jena: Grapenthin; Brauer, Kurbjuweit, Schnuphase, Schilling; Hoppe (Övermann), Krause, Lindemann; Bielau (Töpfer), Raab, Vogel.
Captain Chivadze lifts the Cup Winners Cup.
Happy Georgians, no matter the empty stadium.
Tamaz Kostava, one of the lesser known players, proudly poses with the cup.
David Kipiani, the genius midfielder, with the cup – perhaps the most deserving player.
Worthy finalists, standing from left: Eberhard Vogel, Jurgen Raab, Andreas Bielau, Rudiger Schnuphase, Gerhard Hoppe, Hans-Ulrich Grapentin, Lothar Kurbjuweit.
First row: Wolfgang Shilling, Lutz Lindemann, Gerd Brauer, Andreas Krause.
Surprise finalists, but Carl Zeiss (Jena) were one of the three best East German teams in the 1970s. To a point, this was their swan song – the key players were getting too old: Grapentin, Vogel, Weise, Lindemann, Kurbjuweit. To a point, the team already reached its peak a few years back. But it was a team full of national team players, including 5 members of the 1974 World Cup team – perhaps the best squad DDR ever had. Currently, 6 players were members of the national team – Grapentin, Schnuphase, Brauer, Lindemann, Kurbjuweit, and Bielau. Jurgen Raab was rapidly becoming the next generation star and would be constant member of the national team in the 1980s. Strong team, no doubt, but just a bit over the hill and may be too disciplined for its own good. Carl Zeiss played very well at the final and had a chance to win, but they were slightly weaker than Dinamo.
New Cup winners, standing from left: V. Daraselia, A. Chivadze, D. Kipiani, N. Khizanishvili, A. Andguladze, T. Sulakvelidze, V. Zhvania, G. Tavadze.
Crouching: V. Gutzaev, R. Shengelia, O. Gabelia, Z. Svanadze, N. Kakilashvili, T. Kostava.
Dinamo (Tbilisi) were always among the best Soviet clubs, but the late 1970s were their best time – winning the Soviet title and cup, and finally – the Cup Winners Cup. Fine crafted team, which had something unusual for a Soviet team – a flair. Very attractive kind of football, based on technical skills and improvisation – something fans always enjoy. There was one misfortune – Shota Khinchagashvili, their long time central defender and captain missed the final. Misfortune on personal level, but not on team level – Nodar Khizanishvili perfectly replaced Khinchagashvili, which was no wonder: he was experienced player, who would have been regular in almost any other Soviet team. As a contrast, Carl Zeiss had no so good replacement for their injured central defender Konrad Weise – the veteran striker Vogel played at his place at the semi-final and Hoppe at the final. He scored the German goal, but… Khizanishvili played his part to neutralize the German attack, when Hoppe was not able to stop the Georgian strikers. Dinamo had a whole bunch of able and eager to win players – no line was lacking class and some players would be important part of the exciting Soviet national team of the 1980s – particularly Chivadze, Sulakvelidze, and Shengelia. Gutzaev was one of the most interesting wingers of Soviet football in the 1970s, but little known abroad, because he was rarely called to the national team. But the great star was David Kipiani – wonderful attacking midfielder, who also was the key playmaker of the team. Very skillful, imaginative, precise, entertaining, scoring – Kipiani was world class player, one of the top midfielders in the world, but unfortunately playing at a time the Soviet national team was weak, missing two World Cup finals, and, therefore, the international exposure. The other problem was that he was not called often to play for USSR – coaches preferred Moscow and Kiev players and thought technical Georgians unreliable. Kipiani got his revenge, so to say, by shining at the final and winning the Cup Winners Cup. Dinamo Tbilisi was deserving winner – they were the better team for the most of the match, played excellent football, pleased the eye, and evidently were at their peak as a team at this moment. USSR got her second European club trophy; DDR did not.