The Cup Winners Cup. Given the current state of affairs – lots of lowly teams – upsetting results were practically impossible. Unless there was a joke, played by Lady Luck, pairing strong teams early, results were easily predictable. And so they were until the ¼ finals. Even there the surprises spoke more of the short-comings of big clubs than particularly inspired playing of the underdog. Paris SG was eliminated by Belgian Waterschei Thor. A lesson: by now, most teams were pretty much equal in terms of physical condition and basic contemporary tactics (run, tackle, cover the whole field). Three aging experienced players prevailed over studded with stars, but mismatched and rather clueless team. Austria (Vienna) eliminated Barcelona. Similar story… Schuster, Maradona… out. Bayern was kicked out by Aberdeen. Same thing. Aberdeen were not playing better football than Breitner, Rummenigge, and company… neither team showed interesting football – it was just heavy battle, in which Aberdeen had more guts. The fixtures displayed more of the troubles Bayern had than possible class of Aberdeen. But it was psychologically important victory, reminding the rise of Ajax ten years ago: back then Cruijff and company considered their victory over Arsenal most important: they overcome the sense of inferiority and after beating revered representative of British football felt that they can beat anybody. Which they did. Now Alex Ferguson spelled out the same: eliminating mighty Bayern brought confidence and everything was possible. It was not a matter of skill – it was a matter of the mindset. Inter and Real Madrid were unlucky to play against each other, but here surprise was impossible – one team had to be eliminated, one goal decided which – Inter was out.
The semi-finals hold no mystery – Aberdeen walked over Waterschei Thor 5-1 and the second leg did not matter at all. Austria (Vienna) did their best, which amounted to 2-2 tie at home. In Madrid there was no contest – Real won 3-1.
So, Real Madird vs Aberdeen. Real was the favorite – not just tradition and money were in their favour: the Spaniards simply had much stronger squad. Alex Ferguson again emphasized psychology and the need to fight inferiority complex, but here perhaps the opponents were pretty much in the same boat: if the Scots had to overcome respect and fear of arguably the mightiest club in the world, consider the pressure Real had – the club did not won anything internationally after 1966. The 1970s were pretty lean. Scottish fans perhaps would not be very harsh on their team, if Real won, but in Madrid the reaction was surely to be violent, if the trophy went to Scotland – the opponent was not leading European club, no excuse. Fear of losing is no joke, especially when the team was not all that great in the domestic championship.
Still, the finalists were quite mismatched and Real was seen as big favourite – Aberdeen gained some points in his favour, though: 12 000 out of 17 000 attendees in Goteborg were Scots, so Aberdeen was practically playing at home. The weather smiled at Aberdeen too – three hours before the game heavy rain started and mercilessly poured down until the end of the final: once again, it was just like at home,
Aberdeen was used to play in such conditions, Real was not. Even if it was perfect dry evening, football would have been the same, I am afraid – both teams were determined to fight, driven by their predicament. Aberdeen was not going to play some fancy football, even if they capable of such – they had to compensate for the fact that Real was much classier squad with fighting spirit, tight covering, tackles, hunting and destroying any Spanish attempt for creativity. On the other side, long tradition made Real predictable – what was ugly about Spanish football in general, was the quick replacement of football with war. If the opponent was of similar mind – and the simple straight-forward British approach to the game looked like war to Spaniards – football left Spanish mind at about 5th minute of the game.
That is why little could be said for the match – it was ‘masculine’. Muscular. A battle. In this battle Aberdeen looked preferable just for the lovely spirit they showed. Real was increasingly outrun and, frankly, when one sees players like Stielike unable to organize even simple attack, one prefers relatively anonymous guys, who, unlike the superstar, can reach the penalty area and shoot towards the net.
Black scored in the 4th minute and Real managed to equalize in the 15th, but it a goal, for which the stars could hardly credit themselves: a defensive mistake gave no choice to Jim Leighton, but to bring down Santillana. Juanito scored the penalty. To the end of the regular time Aberdeen did not look better, but only hungrier and somewhat prevailed, yet, no third goal was scored. Everything was decided in the extra time – the substitute Hewitt, who replaced goalscorer Black in the 88th minute, was the first to reach a cross and scored the proverbial British goal, a header. And that was that.
The moment worth remembering of otherwise unmemorable match. Well, depending on standpoint, but unless one is Scottish and Aberdeen fan, nothing all that special – on the contrary, just another nail in the building of the coffin of the Cup Winners Cup. Small attendance, decreasing interest to the whole tournament, nothing new and exciting about the football played. People were getting tired of battles, getting tired to see big stars appearing pretty much dull and similar to countless anonymous players, who had little skills, but run and tackle just the same as the stars and often beating them with just that. Yet, it was preferable to see the likes of Aberdeen winning spoiled brats like Real.
Final, Nya Ullevi, Göteborg, 11 May 1983, att 17804
Aberdeen (1) 2 Real Madrid (1) 1 aet
4′ 1-0 A: Black
15′ 1-1 RM: Juanito (pen)
112′ 2-1 A: Hewitt
Aberdeen: Leighton; Rougvie, McLeish, Miller, McMaster; Cooper, Strachan, Simpson; McGhee, Black (Hewitt 87), Weir
Real Madrid: Agustin; Juan Jose, Metgod, Bonet, Camacho (San Jose 91); Angel, Gallego, Stielike, Isidro (Salguero 103); Juanito, Santillana
Referee: Menegali (Italy)
The rest belonged to the victors.
Naturally, they were happy – the biggest success of Aberdeen ever.
This is not the squad Real fielded at the final and the relative difficulty of finding a photo of the Goteborg losers speaks loud enough. Less said about Real, the better. Spanish football had this special ‘quality’ for arresting the development of players – Stielike was not first, nor the last. True, he was no Beckenbauer on the field, but one of the leading liberos in the world reduced to rather aimless running around… In the same time one should think twice when evaluating Real of this period: Johhny Metgod. Sturdy defender, but Real seeking the services of quite ordinary player? And these two were still the best Real showed in Goteborg… One thing was certain: pretty much this was the end of Alfredo Di Stefano as a coach – magical player, but not magic coach.
The new Cup Winners Cup winners. First row from left: John McMaster, Stuart Kennedy, Doug Rougvie, Willie Miller.
Standing: Neale Cooper, Alex McLeish, John Hewitt, Peter Weir, Ian Angus, Mark McGhee, Eric Black, Jim Leighton, Gordon Strachan, Bryan Gunn, Andy Watson.
A photo for posterity. Still reproduced often – in Great Britain and North America. Negative side first: there is no escape – Aberdeen was not ground-braking team. Rather limited and very British in its play. Which meant it was not a team to influence football culture and it was not to stay on top long. Given the Scottish predicament, it would be very difficult to remain strong even domestically – a victory instantly meant exodus of key players. Since Gordon Strachan was practically the only truly outstanding player, he was to be first to go – and rightly so, for a star naturally wants to play for big club on one hand and on the other – both club and player need money.
Positive side – and there is no denying it: Aberdeen was carefully build and on ascend for 6 years already. Winning Cup Winners Cup was the culmination. It was heroic task, for Aberdeen had limited choice – facing the constant competition of English clubs, Celtic and Rangers, Aberdeen was not exactly able to tap on the best talent. So, it was a work of keen eye – selecting, developing and molding undiscovered talent into strong players and into a strong team. By now a number of them were Scottish national players, Gordon Strachan was a star, and Alex McLeish almost a star. All this was home work – a testimony of great work of young and ambitious coach. More or less, Alex Ferguson became internationally known after this victory.
He deserves the biggest credit for the triumph, it was his work. And it was also inevitable that Aberdeen was getting too narrow for him. One thing which can be pointed out – if one looks back to his early years pragmatism was immediately noticeable. No innovation, nothing radical, but very keen ability to get the best of what he has – what he had at this point was team with simple skills, so he did not try to introduce some fancy technical or tactical football. Aberdeen played typical British football, only Ferguson kept the boys motivated and at the best of their condition at all times. As for his methods, he was Fergie then, just he was ever – when a few years later he joined Manchester United, Gordon Strachan, already there, was not happy at all. Speaking of the coach, who made Strachan a star… But in 1983 the work was seemingly done – Aberdeen achieved what only two Scottish clubs achieved before: winning an European cup. Fantastic achievement, no matter what.