Cup Winners Cup. There were two upsets – Albanian 17 Nentori (Tirana) eliminated Dynamo (Bucharest) in the first round, beating them twice (1-0 and 2-1). New talented Albanian generation coming up was noticed – they practically eliminated half the impressive Romanian national team – but even so, it was just that: Malmo FF was too much in the second round. In which VfB Stuttgart was destroyed by relatively modest Torpedo (Moscow) – 0-2 and 3-5. Meantime Girondens Bordeaux eliminated Benfica (1-1 and 1-0) and looked like Bordeaux was going far with its impressive team. Alas, it was a French team… they managed to eliminate Torpedo Moscow in the 1/4-finals only on away goals and lost the ½ to Lokomotive (Leipzig) after penalty shoot-out. Something little was missing… and it was fatal. Ajax was flying all the way to the final – they lost only one match ( the first leg against Malmo FF – 0-1 – at the 1/4-finals), scored a plenty, and reached the final with great record: 6 wins, 1 tie, 1 lost match. In the semi-finals they gave no chance to tough Real Zaragoza, beating them 3-2 in Zaragoza and then 3-0 in Amsterdam. Looked like Ajax was back. The other finalist happened to be 1. FC Lokomotive (Leipzig) – they were not as impressive as Ajax on the road to the final, even lost the opening home leg to Bordeaux in the semi-finals. But managed to come back in the second match and prevailed in the penalty shoot-out. Ajax was seemingly the favourite at the final. However, Cruijff was more than cautious – he said the team was too young and not at its peak yet and also having trouble with injuries. A second great Ajax? Hardly… at least, not now and surely nothing like the great team he played for – this was something different, hold your horses, don’t ask for what isn’t there. The East Germans were tough team as well – perhaps the best squad the club ever had, full of national players, led by the best East German goalkeeper at the time Rene Muller. Both teams had key players injured, so both coaches were careful in their predictions, but at the end Ajax managed to get in some shape Arnold Muhren, Verlaat, and Bergkamp. Lokomotive was unable to start with their top strikers Kuhn and Leitzke. On the surface, Ajax was in trouble – Muhren was not fit at all, Bergkamp not even able to start, and Bosman, who was the leading scorer in the campaign with 8 goals, was suspended by UEFA. Bellow the surface – Ajax fielded 11 Dutch national team players. It was deeper team than Lokomotive, younger and faster. On the other hand – any new Ajax squad was under heavy pressure, expected to match the success of the 1970s team and also inevitably considered weaker. It was very difficult to come out from the shadow of the legends – after all, the direct link was there, Arnold Muhren, but not only he was 35-years old, but during the legendary years he was only a reserve player… now he was the leader of the new team, its key player… the legend was led by Cruijff… the difference was obvious, even if Cruijff was already proving that he was great coach, just as he was a great player. Lokomotive was under pressure too, however different one: this was perhaps the best ever squad of the club. It was also the third East German club reaching European Cup final – in 1974 1. FC Magdeburg won the Cup Winners Cup; in 1981 Carl Zeiss (Jena) lost the same final. It would be great to be the second East German team to win the trophy – and Magdeburg did it entirely against the odds back in 1974, when everybody was sure Milan will win. Now it looked like at least a battle with equal chances. Ambition and pressure combined perhaps triggered caution in both coaches – in words. Even the obvious advantage of Ajax – they had huge number of supporters traveling to Athens, something East Germans were unable to do – was dismissed.
Final, Olympic Stadium, Athens, 13 May 1987, att 35000
Ajax (1) 1 1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig (0) 0
21: 1-0 A: Van Basten
Ajax: Menzo; Silooy, Rijkaard, Verlaat, Boeve; Wouters, Winter, A.Mühren (Scholten 83);
Van ‘t Schip, Van Basten, Rob Witschge (Bergkamp 66)
1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig: Müller; Kreer, Baum, Lindner, Zötsche; Scholz, Liebers (Kühn 76), Bredow, Marschall; Richter, Edmond (Leitzke 55)
Referee: Agnolin (Italy)
The game proved to be tough and far from perfect. Equal, to a point – both teams were fighters in more than good physical condition.
Ajax controlled the game somewhat, although Lokomotive was not really outplayed. Such was the legend of the old great Ajax, that automatically even commentators decided it was not very impressive match – not really true: it was fast game and neither team fell apart, it was interesting match with dramatic moments, but… Mark Barton from UPI wrote that there were only occasional sparks of the great total football of the past and the fans were rather disappointed from what they saw. Of course, journalists and fans would be disappointed if expected to sea performance by Cruijff and company in 1987 – impossibility hurts and makes one blind to what goes on presently.
What was going on was great goal by Marco van Basten in the 21st minute. A spark – to those trapped in the past. In that past the greats did not shine every time, even did not shine a full match sometimes – the current vintage suffered mainly from Arnold Muhren’s injury. The key playmaker of the team was reduced to playing long balls from far back and eventually unable to finish the game.
In the second half Lokomotive increased the tempo and went into aggressive attacks, even fielding the injured Kuhn and Leitzke. Ajax managed to survive the assault and had chances for dangerous counter-attacks, coming close to second goal, but Rene Muller made a good save. May be the game was not great, but it was dramatic and entertaining and the critics apparently forgot that times had changed: the great Ajax played entirely new kind of football, which nobody else played and its supremacy came largely from that difference. Now everybody was playing total football, the element of surprise was no longer there, there was no obvious advantage taming the opposition. The new Ajax faced opponents practicing the same approach. No more goals were scored to the end – and if one would be still grumbling that these new boys barely win, let remind him that the legends at their peak barely won over Juventus 1-0 in 1973.
And for the first since 1973 lifted European cup.
And once again there was victorious run of guys in white and red with cup in their hands.
1. FC Lokomotive (Leipzig) apparently reached their maximum – losing Cup Winners Cup finalists. After the game their coach was not very upset – perhaps he assessed reality well: having his key players injured was too much. He was eventually fielded both Kuhn and Leitzke, but it a desperate act and going into all-attack storm in the second half was major risk, also taken out of desperation. Ajax had slightly better argument and won.
The winners were still criticized and a bit downplayed, but that was largely because they were young squad – a few years later it would be unthinkable to say they were not great: who was not great? Van Basten (whose goal at the final may be convinced Milan to buy him after the end of this season), Rijkard, Wouters, Winter, Witschge? Not great? The young brooms were already national team players in 1987 – in fact, the whole starting eleven played for Holland in this period. Plus substitute Bergkamp. Plus some not playing at this final… this was the second coming of Ajax, a great generation and team at last, which – just like in the early 70s – was not afraid of selling a player or two, for there was more to come. Ajax finally had its second great team, well linked with the first one via Cruijff coaching and Arnold Muhren playing. European success came back again, Ajax won its first Cup Winners Cup, adding 4th European trophy to its collection and becoming one the few clubs winning 2 of the 3 European tournaments. The new boys showed character akin to the character the first great team showed when it was a squad full of youngsters prevailing over venerated British squads.
History was repeating itself – Ajax returned to international success with great young team. Instant heroes, instant stars, a new legend stepping on the shoulders of the old one. And somewhat ironically Arnold Muhren became the most successful player of Ajax – he won 4 European cup. The humble substitute once upon a time had 4 trophies – great Cruijff only 3 as a player. And Arnold Muhren would do even better than all of his old illustrious teammates very soon.