Continuing our flashback series ahead of the 2020/21 Champions League quarter-finals, the latest to feature in the Champions League flashback is Liverpool against Real Madrid in 1981.
Champions League Flashback
Champions League Flashback: Liverpool v Real Madrid (1981)
There are only so many ways you can highlight how football 40 years ago is different from the game now. Static advertising hoardings. More basic dugouts. No protection for photographers. And plain kits without sponsors (bring those back?). But the starkest difference has to be the back-pass rule. Back then, goalkeepers were allowed to handle back-passed kicked to them.
When Liverpool met Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Paris in 1981, things were different. The competition was very much simply knockout games. Liverpool began in the First Round (Last 32), beating Finnish side OPS 11-2 on aggregate. Real Madrid kicked off a round later, as they got past Budapest Honved.
Tactical Setup
The back-pass law back then meant players could significantly slow the game down. Players could win the ball in their own half and simply give it to the goalie, which happened in this game. The pace of the game was understandably slower than it is now, and there was more space to find.
And Real Madrid’s play seemed to do with space. Vujadin Boskov’s side were intent on playing their way through. Despite that, their main outlet was the tricky Laurie Cunningham on the wings, who occupied both flanks and had the Reds defence in retreat.
For Liverpool, meanwhile, the game plan was more direct. The centre-backs Alan Hansen and Phil Thompson sometimes took their time on the ball, but the Reds were also quick to get the ball forward. Bob Paisley’s side also used their full-backs in the attack. Phil Neal and Alan Kennedy gave shades of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson. It wasn’t just that they were both forward at the same time; even when Liverpool had free-kicks, Neal was stationed up front and out wide.
First Half: Liverpool Edge Subdued Half
Like a typical final, events were quite cagey. Real Madrid made a rapid start, Cunningham had the Liverpool defence on the back foot just seconds in, but that didn’t last. Cunningham was Madrid’s biggest threat, even though he didn’t really trouble Reds goalie Ray Clemence. They also kept Liverpool on edge with skipper and target man Santillana, although he didn’t manage an effort on target.
But it was Liverpool that had the better of the half, especially concerning chances. Alan Kennedy had a shot saved by Agustin after 11 minutes, while Terry McDermott fired one away a minute after. Kenny Dalglish also tested Agustin, while the RealMadrid goalkeeper saved from a quiet Graeme Souness ten minutes before the break.
Second Half: Kennedy Makes Reds Champions
The second half began at something of a frantic pace. In less than five minutes, Jose Antonio Camacho was put through, but his chip over Clemence cleared the bar. At the other end, Liverpool misused a promising counter-attack, which had David Johnson through on goal.
The pace would die down, even below that of the first half. Liverpool had, in McDermott and Souness, the competition’s joint top scorers. But both had rather poor games. For Real Madrid, Cunningham couldn’t match his first-half verve, and much of this period saw Boskov’s team play passes and crosses too late.
The game looked to be on about nothing, but from nothing, a goal came. Despite being deep in Madrid’s half, a Ray Kennedy throw-in for Liverpool spelt little danger. But his throw found Alan Kennedy, who bundled his way past the Real defence, and got lucky from a ricochet. Not that he’d call it luck. “No, it was not. It was an act of courage,” Kennedy once told Marca. “Maybe I had some luck, but I think it was a prize for my persistence.”
Kennedy found himself one-on-one with Agustin and blasted a shot from a tight angle. Kennedy had been a doubt for the final, having been injured in the semi-final against Bayern Munich. But Liverpool’s Number three had given them the lead with nine minutes left.
Now, Real had to be inventive, and up the ante. That led to more vulnerability at the back, and Agustin had to save from McDermott to prevent a second, while Dalglish shot over. But Liverpool didn’t need another, as they held on for a third European Cup triumph in five years.
What Happened Next
Liverpool would win another European Cup in 1984, beating Roma on home soil. The Reds had started to look unstoppable in Europe, but then Heysel happened in ’85. A disaster and a ban later, the Reds would wait 20 years on from that game against Juventus to reach another final.
Speaking of drought, that 1981 defeat meant Real Madrid, the original pacesetters in the competition, hadn’t won the trophy in 15 years. It would take 17 more years, and 16 managerial appointments – including Vicente del Bosque, a defender on the night – to finally break that duck.
Both sides have met a few times since then, including the famous night in Kyiv in 2018. Acquaintances will be renewed this week once more.
Main Photo
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