Into that “Gathering Cups In May” time of year again. What was it this time? Well, on this day 19th May 1976 we were gathering the UEFA Cup. Our opponents again were Club Brugge. They must have been sick of the sight of us in the 70’s!!!
Unlike the European Cup, the UEFA Cup (now the Europa Cup of course) was played over two legs. Liverpool held a 3-2 lead from the first leg.
On This Day 19th May 1976
On This Day 19th May 1976
Holding this slender advantage in Belgium, Liverpool were entirely professional and brilliantly reacted to Raoul Lambert’s 11th-minute penalty. Note, it was Raoul Lambert…..not Rickie!!! Club Brugge’s Lambert was their star player in those days. In fact, the whole Club Brugge team was littered with stars and quality players.
It’s strange nowadays when you look back at some of yesteryears big hitters and wonder what happened to them. I’d guess money……again!! Back then as well as FC Brugge, Belgium boasted Anderlecht. They were also a formidable side in those days.
Off the top of my head I can remember teams like FC Zurich, Partizan Belgrade, Ujpest Dozsa, Steaua Bucharest, Vojvodina to name just a few teams that always seemed to be there or thereabouts in European competitions.
As I’ve mentioned, Raoul Lambert gave FC Brugge the lead only for Kevin Keegan to equalise soon after. Keegan struck back with a drilled effort just four minutes later, after Emlyn Hughes confused the Brugge defence with a short pass from a free-kick.
From then on, Liverpool controlled the proceedings and held on fairly easily to secure the League and UEFA Cup double for that season.
He may have been faultless on the pitch but skipper, Emlyn Hughes, had a bit of a wobble off it. He made his only mistake of the night when he dropped the trophy following its presentation.
After the presentation faux pas, Hughes said: “We won it because we’re the best side in England, the best in the UEFA Cup and probably the best in the whole of Europe!
“Every one of the lads were absolutely brilliant and I knew when we scored that we were going to win the cup.”
The substitutes were: Fairclough (on for Toshack on 62 minutes); McDonnell (goalkeeper); Jones; Hall and McDermott.
The attendance in the Jan-Breydel Stadium, Bruges was 29,423.
You can see the highlights of the second leg below.
The First Leg
As it happens the first leg was a classic. What, Liverpool involved in a classic European tie!!! Who’d have thought!!!
We were 2-0 down at half-time at Anfield (ring any bells…..being behind at half-time in a European Final?). However, three goals in a five minute spell in the second half (ring any bells….three goals in a five or six minute burst coming from behind in a European Final) turned the tie around.
Liverpool’s goals were scored by Ray Kennedy (loved him as a player), Jimmy Case and a Kevin Keegan penalty. Watch the short video clip above for highlights. Interesting to hear commentator Brian Moore say about the penalty incident when Heighway was brought down.
“I think Heighway helped it”. That would be 1970’s speak for “he might have dived”. I didn’t think he did. But there again, I might be biased.
Here we go gathering cups in May. Let’s hope on this day 19th May 1976 is another omen for what lies ahead next weekend.
