St. Etienne had a great chance for celebrating a double this year, for they reached the Cup final. Winning the cup was quite important, for it was elusive trophy for ‘the greens’: the last time they won it was in 1975. The moment was perfect – Bastia was the other finalist and they had a rather weak season. Surely Platini and company would won easily… but no! Bastia fought bravely and prevailed 2-1, winning their first Cup against odds and reason.
St. Etienne as they lined up before the final, which looked like mere formality: standing from left: Gérard Janvion, Patrick Battiston, Jacques Santini, Bernard Gardon, Christian Lopez, Jean Castaneda
Crouching: Johnny Rep, Laurent Roussey, Michel Platini, Jacques Zimako, Jean-Marie Elie.
Well, the lost final perhaps showed that this new St. Etienne was not yet the finished product, not ready to truly dominate the French football.
Brave Bastia not only upset the big guys: they won their very first – and so far, only – trophy. May be the team, reaching the UEFA Cup final in 1977-78 is considered legendary outside France, but these guys are the real club legends, for they won, not only played a final. Compared to St. Etienne, they wee almost nothing. They were also less famous squad than the UEFA Cup finalist – there was no world class star among them, Rep was playing against them now. In fact, they had famous players earlier – Rep and Dragan Djajic before the Dutch striker. Now… Rajkovic was not first rank Yugoslavian player, Roger Milla so far nobody heard of outside Africa – he was not a major name in France. Papi, Orlanducci, Hiard, Lacuesta… good, but second tier players – local stars surely, but no more. It was a great victory of the underdog. Nothing wrong with that: Bastia had something to put in its trophy room at last.