1973-1985: The Golden Years

Once again the "Holy Grail" of the champions' cup was within sight. Paisley was very shrewd and although on the whole he liked using substitutes as little as his predecessor had done, he knew when to make changes and when to change tactics. But as a small crowd of only 22,000 turned up for the visit of Crusaders in the middle of September 1976, nobody then had any idea of the drama that would unfold as the season wore on, both domestically and on foreign soil. Crusaders fought hard and by the end of 90 minutes only a dubious Phil Neal penalty and a Toshack goal separated the sides. But it was a different matter in Belfast where the Reds won comfortably enough 5-0 with four of the goals coming in the last 10 minutes as the Irish part-timers tired.

There was very much "a Journey into the Unknown" in round two. Liverpool travelled to Turkey for the first time and faced pretty miserable conditions on and off the pitch. A ridiculous penalty-decision gave Trabzonspor a narrow lead to bring to England and when they turned up at Anfield two weeks later thousands of their British-based fans occupied a large section of the Main Stand to make a noisy atmosphere which affected the home crowd too. Within 20 minutes the Turks were sitting quietly back in their seats. Heighway, Johnson & Keegan scored the goals which made the second half something of a stroll and despite some cynical tackling which saw one of the Turkish defenders sent from the field, the Reds held out without difficulty.

Four months separated the second round from the quarter-final but before the turn of the year Liverpool already knew that they would be facing Saint-Etienne ("les Verts" from France) who has so unluckily lost the previous season's final to Bayern Munich at Hampden Park. In one of the most hostile atmospheres a Liverpool team has ever faced, they walked out at the Geoffrey Guichard stadium to play a team that was determined to go one step further than they had a year before. But Liverpool were determined too and were unlucky to lose on the night. Steve Heighway had driven a shot against a post mid-way through the second-half but 10 minutes from time all the defensive heroics were undone as Bathenay drove the ball past Clemence following a corner.

With 55,000 packed into Anfield for the return game - and thousands of visiting supporters helping to create a wonderful atmosphere - St. Etienne's lead was wiped out with only two minutes on the clock, Keegan's cross from the left drifting over Curkovic and into the corner of the Anfield Road goal. Clemence was in inspired form as the French came back strongly but even he could do nothing about Dominique Bathenay's sensational, swerving strike from way out which put the French back into an aggregate lead. Ray Kennedy made the scores level but Liverpool were still behind on the away goals rule. (Anfield swinging to "We shall not be moved" at the St Etienne game! at Daily Motion).

With time running out, Paisley sent on Fairclough to replace the tiring Toshack and the youngster who had a growing reputation for coming off the bench to score vital goals obliged again. With just six minutes left, he raced onto Ray Kennedy's lob forward, brushed aside the defender who was chasing him and calmly slotted the ball past Curkovic to start off wild celebrations the like of which Anfield has rarely seen before. It was one of the great moments in the club's history but when the emotion died down everyone realised that there was still a long way to go in this competition, although I suspect that the club were happy to avoid their old foes from Borussia in the semi-final or to have to undergo a long and tiring trip to Russia to play Dynamo Kiev.

The semi-final with Zurich was almost an anti-climax after the drama of the St. Etienne tie. Zurich scored an early penalty but Phil Neal quickly equalised and added a penalty of his own in the second-half before Heighway effectively sealed the club's place in the final even before the home leg, which was subsequently won without any fuss 3-0. (Liverpool 3-1 Borussia M'gladbach at Daily Motion).

And so to Rome, and the greatest night in the club's history, a night of which so much has been spoken and written at the time and in the years that have followed. Coming only 4 days after the terrible disappointment of losing to Manchester United in the F.A. cup final, this was a remarkable performance indeed. The team was the same which had ended the Wembley final, which meant that Ian Callaghan was in the line-up from the start at David Johnson's expense. Liverpool took charge of the game early on and Terry McDermott's typical run and shot gave the Reds a deserved interval lead. Only briefly in the second period did things look to be going Borussia's way. Case's error presented Simonsen with a chance which the Dane took expertly and Clemence made two crucial saves as the Germans looked to profit from the advantage of equalising. But Tommy Smith's header from Heighway's corner and Neal's penalty after Keegan had run Vogts ragged sealed a memorable win. For the first time, Liverpool were champions of Europe and deservedly so.