Australia drew with the visiting Nottingham Forest team. Australia won the goal coming from Murphy, drew with Nottingham Forest, Viv Anderson scoring the goal there.
A crowd of around about 7,000, a very good attendance in Adelaide tonight to see the Socceroos drawing their match with Nottingham Forest.
Well as I said, welcome to our coverage of the final of the European Cup, one of the great soccer tournaments still in the world,
and a series that has been won fairly consistently by English sides over the last few years. Liverpool in fact have been successful on two occasions recently,
although the reigning champions Hamburg didn't make it to the final tonight, which is to be played between Liverpool and between AC Roma.
More about that in just a moment, but firstly a word from our sponsors, and I would mention right at the start of the telecast tonight
that the live coverage of the match will be uninterrupted, there will be no commercials at all during the play,
but before the play gets underway, here's some good advice.
Welcome back, well one of the high points of the match which is due to get underway at approximately quarter past two
is whether or not the Liverpool striker Ian Rush can notch his 50th goal for the season, which would be certainly a most unique achievement.
Liverpool have had two successes already in the European Cup competition, they won it first of all in 1977-78,
and then they won it again in 1981, it's also been won in recent years by Aston Villa and by the other English club Nottingham Forest,
so it's been a fairly good tournament for the Englishmen, and if Liverpool can win the championship tonight, then it'll be their 27th major event.
But now we're all set to go to the Olympic Stadium in Rome and the European Cup final, AC Roma against Liverpool.
Good morning, welcome again and thank you for joining us right around Australia. This morning the final of the 28th European Champions Cup
live from the Olympic Stadium in Rome, and the finalists, well simply no one could have wished for a better recipe.
Liverpool of England who won the first of their three European Cups at this ground in 1977,
and AS Roma, the star-studded champions of Italy in 1983, who by the luck of the draw will be playing at home.
And with us again, Raleigh Rasic and Tony Palumbo, and Tony you've been on the phone again to Rome, so what's the latest on the line?
Well no surprises, really the line-ups are as follows, Tancredi in goal for Roma, Nappi, Ney, Larighetti and Bonetti for the back four,
Falcao, Sereso and Di Bartolomeo in midfield, and Conti, Puruzzo and Graziani forward.
Of course Roma will be without Maldera who is suspended. So far as Liverpool is concerned, Grobel are in goal,
Neal, Lorenzo, Hanson and Kennedy are back four, Lee, Sooners and Wheeler are in midfield, and then Dalglish, Rush and Johnston.
So I take it that Liverpool line-up is the same as the one that played against Dinamo-Bucharest?
That's right, and it's interesting here because seven of the Liverpool players have played in all the matches leading to this final.
Right. Raleigh, how do you see it?
One wouldn't wish for a better match. I don't think anybody would choose two better sides to play this cup final.
And let me say something, Italians are triple world champions so far.
Juventus won their trophy just a few weeks ago, and if Roma does this time, then really there is no question about leading nation in the world,
about their soccer, and club soccer is progressing so fastly and attendance is incredible, and I would wish that really this match is one of the memorable ones.
Well can you see Roma missing out on this one, playing at home?
Playing against Liverpool you can see anybody missing out. Liverpool is just a super, super team, but I have a funny, stinky feeling that Roma will be at home tonight and they will win the match.
Tony, you would agree? Well not necessarily quite frankly, I think it's really a 50-50 thing, you know, and Liverpool as we said on previous occasions have shown that they don't suffer when they play away from home, so really it's an even match.
There are some key areas of course, one obviously is midfield where you've got the stamina of the soonest Saint-Doliz against the skills of Serrezo and Falcao,
and another important area I think will be the central defence of Liverpool where I think that Lorenzo and Hansen could be in trouble with this one-two that Roma uses to play,
and also Conti could be more than a handful for Kennedy and Neal as we know, he can switch from right to left and he's really in great form at the moment I'm told.
Okay, well let's have a look at how the two teams got to the final and Liverpool's trek surely shows what a dangerous team they are away from home.
It began with a 6-0 aggregate thrashing of Obe of Denmark in the first round, followed by just a 1-0 aggregate win with an away goal over the tough Athletic Bilbao of Spain.
Then came Benfica of Portugal in the quarter-finals and Liverpool would have had cause for concern after just a 1-0 win at home, but here's what happened in the return leg in Lisbon.
The early goal is a treasure in an away European cup tie and that's what Liverpool got when Ronnie Whelan's header embarrassed the Portuguese keeper and made it 2-0 on aggregate.
The indecisive Benfica defence fell victim again in the 34th minute when Rush and Dalglish brought the ball forward before finally Craig Johnston found a huge gap to the keeper's right and planted in goal number two.
It was by then a long way back for the Portuguese although they got some hope when Nene floated his header over Grobola to make it 2-1.
But it took only two minutes for Liverpool to reply again, Dalglish curling a perfect cross onto the head of the deadly Ian Rush.
That made it 1-3 and there was one more from Liverpool when Ronnie Whelan slipped the ball under the keeper for his second goal and Liverpool's aggregate win of 5-1.
Yes, that made it 5-1 on aggregate to Liverpool and that left only Dinamo Bucharest in the semi-finals.
After another 1-0 win at home, they made sure by scoring twice in Bucharest to get to the final 3-0 on aggregate.
Roma began their road on a bright note, beating Gothenburg at home 3-0 and going through the first round on a 4-2 aggregate.
Then two 1-0 wins over CSKA of Sofia put them into the quarter-finals where they met Dinamo Berlin.
They beat the Germans 3-0 and the home leg to go through on a 4-2 aggregate and so it was in the semi-finals where they got the fright of their lives after Dundee United beat them in Scotland 2-0.
But Roma had too much class to miss out on the final now. Here's how it went in the return in Rome.
Uso languages
Roberto Prutso scoring one of his two goals in that return leg, Roma of course in the
red, Dundee United in the white and here again a lot of the Roman class showing through.
Prutso scoring his second goal, Conti bringing the ball up to do the lead-up work on this
attack and it's Di Bartolomei who is brought down and it's a penalty to Roma.
And there it is the winner on every last three nil to Roma.
Dundee United just trying to peg one back, a good save by Tancrere.
Roma go chasing again Conti.
Yes well it was three nil on aggregate to Roma there and that's the way they got through
and as I said Roma has so much class, in fact fascinating ingredients in this game because
Roma has got all these stars playing for them, the two Brazilians and so on, yet they've
got the method and the power as well, two very good men up front who are good in the
air so therefore can put even those very expert centre backs for Liverpool, Hanson and Lorenzen
under pressure, can't they?
It's a question really, I see a bit probably different, I see that the game can be decided
by Bruno Conti, single handed possible and if Conti is in top gear probably it would
cause great problems to the defence of Liverpool.
On the other hand you must look for Ian Rush, if the ball supply comes, I see Italian defence
having incredible problems with him.
So in two great teams there are two players who can really be match winners in a day.
Now I don't think there's any doubt that Roma's strength will be in attack and if they are
going to fall it's going to be possibly because of their defence but the record also shows
that in all these European Cup games in this particular series they have not conceded one
goal at home.
Yes, I think both teams actually, if they do have a weak point that's their defence,
that applies to both Liverpool and Roma and this is probably the reason why we might look
forward to having a European Cup final, finally not decided by the old goal, for six years
now we have had one new result in this European Cup final, probably today it will be a different
result I feel.
That also if I may add, it's a free flowing game Tony, both teams are expressing themselves
towards opposing goal all the time.
In Italian Championship Roma is playing all the time the same, Liverpool in England is
playing all the time, is that game home or away, it really doesn't matter does it?
So you know there are teams which are attacking so freely, they are bound to concede a goal
which we sometimes say defences of each of the teams are doubtful or suspect but there
is a great number of great players in both defences of both teams, Liverpool and Roma
who are great players but as I said giving themselves freedom to attack of course the
goals are sometimes coming in a possible naive way.
Midfield is always the key in big matches usually and even more so in a match like this
because you have got these contrasting styles of Willem, Souness and Lee against Falcao
and Cereso and Di Bartolome and whoever wins gets the upper end there will win the match
I feel.
The biggest factor that I see is psychological one, it's enormous experience of the Liverpool
team in European Cup competitions and the supremacy over the world teams over the past
four or five years you could say, it's enormous experience over these seven players who already
played in European Cup finals and so on and then you have Roma which has class on its
own individual players playing like Falcao playing for Brazil in a big atmosphere, big
stadiums and so on, Conti also in the world champion team and so on, but in this department
psychologically Liverpool will obviously have a great advantage.
What do you think is the secret incidentally of this great Liverpool method, I mean clearly
it's not simply a case of individual players, the sheer class of individual players although
they have that as well but what is this magic that they have that they can steamroll the
opposition so freely not only at home but also in Europe?
I tend to believe that it is great individual play also in that Liverpool except the method
they are playing it's unique for Liverpool only, Douglish or Sooners or Johnston villain
and so makes no difference really who is in who is out in this team and it's a super strength
of this team, do they play at home in England or play anywhere else it really doesn't really
matter does it?
Conti as we look over the Stadio Olimpico and all the yellow and red flags which I presume
are the Roman fans mixed in with a bit of red and white there, you've been monitoring
the reactions back in Italy, is there any special fear of Liverpool in this game?
Liverpool is a very respected club, Roma has got very enthusiastic supporters but they
also know their soccer so they know that Roma is really up against a top team and that's
about it really, 80,000 people they were queuing up at 10 o'clock last night Australian time
I'm told that at about midnight the terraces were full already.
Okay well it looks like Roma will be playing in the white and Liverpool in their familiar
red once they take off the tracksuit tops but let's go over now to the Stadio Olimpico
in Rome and our commentator and it's the European Cup final of 1984, Roma versus Liverpool.
He has never played in the European Cup final and the referee is Eric Fredrickson, a 6 foot
2, 44 from Sweden, runs 6 miles a day to keep himself fit, speaks English, speaks German
and needs to speak a good international football language to keep control of this amazing scene,
emotions all around.
People talk about the pressure on Liverpool coming here and on the left is Niels Liedholm,
the manager of Roma.
As it broke away there had to be a follow up player, they were in trouble.
Yes Bruce Grobbel had a really hard rally but he had a good first half unlike a couple
of mistakes from Tancredi at the other end.
It would be just equal goal as Liverpool's goal if Graziani put the ball in the net.
It's one of the unusual moves that the ball comes through the centre of the defence and
the goalkeeper drops the ball.
Graziani had the second opportunity but he seemed really safe, Grobbel playing quite
well.
It really was Liverpool's first 20 minutes though, there was a lot of pressure coming
down the right flank with Craig Johnston, indeed it was his cross which put the pressure
on Tancredi that led to the goal.
Do you think it reversed after the first 20 minutes?
I said early in the piece that the most dangerous thing was to allow, as soon as to operate
the match that he had.
He had so much freedom throughout the first 45 minutes, it's incredible and second was
the dangerous point to stretch on the flanks and allow in a rush to operate in a penalty
box.
Surprisingly Johnston was free on a number of occasions into the first 10-15 minutes,
anything after 1-0 could happen.
Well the pressure was on from Liverpool but it was Bruce Grobbel who was busier at the
other end and in the 11th minute he had to save Liverpool again when Graziani got away
on the left and made a fine cross and Bruce Grobbel was momentarily the hero.
Yes, Tony, when Roma attack in that sort of fashion, when the quick one touches go, they
really look quite deadly don't they?
That's right but they are not using them as much as they should I think.
Also maybe because Sereso is not playing such a good game or at least a game as well as
he has been playing in the last couple of months.
And you can see when they take corner kicks with these high balls they are so easy for
the Liverpool defence to clear but that's the kind of game they should be playing, quick
one-two on the ground.
I wonder what you thought of Falcao's display, I thought he was rather more quiet than the
Romans would have hoped.
I agree and also you see the point is this, we said before both Liverpool and Roma let
the other team play so what happens?
The midfielders on both sides are free but the freedom of soonness has meant a lot for
Liverpool whereby the freedom of Falcao and Sereso hasn't made such a great difference
for Roma.
All right, well then we came up to the 15th minute of the game which of course changed
many things as far as the complexion of the game was concerned because this is the moment
that Liverpool went ahead.
This is how it happened 15 minutes in, Phil Neal the scorer.
Liverpool are in the lead.
And the man who scored a penalty here the last time he played in the European Cup final
in road 1977 has given Liverpool a tremendous break with 14 minutes gone.
Phil Neal after Tengriyhi couldn't hold it.
There's certainly an element of luck there as particularly as Hrigheti who should have
put the ball behind for a corner hit it straight at the keeper the ball bounced back and then
it went.
But I think you to be fair to Liverpool, goals even if luck is involved come as a result
of pressure and there was a lot of pressure already on Tengriyhi with a deep cross from
Johnston.
It could be as I pointed out earlier in the piece Johnston had so much freedom on the
right flank but the goal is one of those things that we don't see very often.
We are very critical of the junior players if this happened but you see it happens to
the best in the world and especially when defence had two alternatives, two opportunities
to clear and even you hit the ball against your own goalkeeper and so you know one of
those things but as I said before if this goal decided the match I would be really unhappy.
Sane did you think the Roman defence was a bit nervous at that time?
Well really I think first of all I'd like to say that the challenge on the goalkeeper
on this replay looked heavier than I first thought and so far as the defender involved
this concern that's Hrigheti he's 18 years old and this time last year he was playing
junior football so obviously he must have panicked a bit.
I think it was the best header Tengriyhi will have in all his career.
Well as we heard said more than once in the commentary that of course spurred Roma on
to come forward and open up the game a bit more and in the 27th minute of the first half
Graziani had a brilliant shot to the near post well saved again by Bruce Grobola.
There's Roberto Frutso the hero and I think without question really a goal of sheer class.
As I said before players such as Conti for youngsters it's good to see how a player
can move into the space without the ball you see and surprise also we say that Conti has
that only left foot have a look on the balance it's connected the ball perfectly to Frutso
and I must mention one more thing Frutso hasn't been much in a game but this is why Frutso
is in a park.
Not at all he's the ace goal scorer.
So what has Niels Lietholm the Roman coach learned from that first half most of which
he spent being a goal down.
I think he's such a great coach and it's a position they knew so much about each other
and I think he will close down as soon as in the second half.
I'm positive about it.
Do you think that's the operative factor?
Yeah I think secondly in no case that playing against British teams that you can leave the
flanks open you know any cross can result in a goal especially when you have in a penalty
box a player of caliber of Ian Rush even at his worst you know there is not many good
individuals tonight in the park but all of them like Frutso all of them like Rush or
Soon as can decide the match with one single move.
Well that's where Roma looked vulnerable in the centre of defence with the high ball so
I suppose you'd expect Liverpool to continue in that vein.
That's right also Tancredi is a heavy.
Thanks Tony I think I'll just cut you off there and we'll go straight back to Brian
Moore in the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
Well I hope you've enjoyed our coverage of the European Cup final a magnificent contest
between two marvellous teams and what a way for it to finish.
Our thanks to the sponsors of the program this morning who allowed the entire match
to go through without any commercial content as I said I hope you enjoyed it for those
of you who have been with us right since the start this morning at two o'clock those of
you who have only just got up recently stand by because in just a minute or two we'll be
back with a replay of the game.
European Cup Soccer the winners final brought to you by Swan Lager, Big Rock Toyota, Furniture
Expo and Danish Woodburning Stoves.
So welcome back if you have only just joined us or if you only just joined us in the last
few minutes of the match.
Now we're into the replay of the game and to explain to you exactly what we are going
to replay because of time commitments we will show you the first half in its entirety that's
where most of the action was in the match in normal time itself.
We'll show you the crucial parts of the game in the second half and then we'll show you
all the drama that then began in extra time and I won't tell you any more about that I'll
leave you to see that for yourself.
Hate to spoil the drama and believe me there was certainly plenty of it.
So we pick up the match between Roma and Liverpool at the Olympic Stadium in Rome and your commentator
is Brian Moore Liverpool in their familiar red strip.