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.