Winning a European Cup at Wembley gave me one of the most special nights of my life.
He had watched Liverpool win the trophy the previous year, in 1977, on television at, of all places, a German workers’ club in Wollongong, New South Wales, while touring Australia with Middlesbrough. Liverpool had beaten Borussia Mönchengladbach, so we were not very popular with the German clientele, who applauded the English victory.
Almost a year later I was part of that Liverpool team and found myself heading to Wembley as we looked to retain the trophy against Brugge.
Even though it was the European Cup final, I had no nerves. I was always a confident person and at Liverpool I fed off the experience of the older players. They had incredible faith and Brujas was afraid of us. They just didn’t want to confront us.
A lot of emphasis had been placed on the game being at Wembley and having home advantage. But it was Liverpool’s way of treating it as just another away game in London and traveling to our usual stopover in Hertfordshire the day before the final.
There are few things that can compare to the feeling of winning a European Cup at Wembley.
Liverpool won Europe’s first prize after beating Club Brugge 1-0 in the 1978 final (Souness pictured, center right)
The way the Belgian team prepared made it difficult for Bob Paisley’s team to get around them.
Liverpool management laughed at other teams when they went to a Wembley final and spent three or four days before the game in a hotel. His opinion was that it would be much better to stay in our own beds, with our own pillows to get as much sleep as possible and not eat too much hotel food.
Even before in the locker room there was never talk of “they are very good, be careful with this or that…”. There were no jar speeches. It was just Ronnie Moran and Joe Fagan walking around the room offering little pearls of wisdom to each player, blowing in your ear almost with reminders about your job that night.
The way Brugge prepared made the match itself a dull affair. All the finals I played were games of attrition because everyone was afraid of making a mistake. The ideal was to score an early goal, but we had to wait until the 64th minute.
I get asked a lot about my pass for Kenny Dalglish’s winning goal. I remember the ball came out of the sky and I brought it down with my chest, but I could see two players coming to challenge me. I thought, ‘I’m going to get hit here,’ so I just wanted to make sure I had decent contact with the ball and luckily for me, the pass was perfectly angled and the perfect weight so Kenny could do the hard work. Nine out of ten times in one-on-one with the goalkeeper he finished and did not let us down.
As soon as he walked in, the roar of the 85,000 Liverpool fans in the stadium went up and we all started jumping over the billboards chasing Kenny in celebration. It was just a special, special feeling.
Kenny Dalglish (right) scored the winning goal at the home of English football in front of 85,000 Liverpool fans.
Paisley accompanied the trophy back to Liverpool on the train after a victorious evening.
It’s very exciting to walk up the steps at Wembley for any final. It’s an incredible feeling, but going up and lifting the trophy with big ears is something I will always remember.
The after party at a Swiss Cottage hotel was equally memorable. After celebrating with my colleagues, I decided at 3am to get into a taxi with a bottle of champagne and my medal before heading to the Marble Arch Holiday Inn. My parents and my old landlady from my accommodation in Middlesbrough, Phoebe, who I had invited to the game, were staying there.
However, I was a little worse for wear at this point and managed to get reception to wake them up, but they weren’t very happy!
I wanted to celebrate with them, drink champagne and talk about the night but I was met with: ‘Very good son, but let’s talk in the morning.’ We go back to bed. So I took a taxi back to Swiss Cottage to continue the club party. I know they were still proud though. Phoebe was a very special lady, so it was important to me that she was there.
She looked after me for five years in Middlesbrough. I got my way sometimes and it can’t have been easy. She made a fantastic coffee cake.
If he arrived late after a late-night party, she would leave a glass of milk, a sandwich and a piece of cake on the table, each protected with polythene, to make sure he was okay.
Souness invited his landlady from his Middlesbrough days, Phoebe, to the final as his guest.
One day, in a fit of independence, I decided to buy a flat in Saltburn. “This is what you do when you’re an adult.” So I packed my bags, left Phoebe and went to my new home.
I didn’t last an hour there, as after unpacking my bags I realized I had made a big mistake by leaving all the familiar comforts of Phoebe’s house.
I sat there thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ I miss afternoon tea, I miss my cake and I miss being treated like a long lost son.
In fact, I was so happy at Middlesbrough, largely thanks to her, that when they told me they had accepted an offer to sell me, I decided that if it was Leeds United or Manchester City who were interested, I was going to stay. Only Liverpool, then European champions, turned my head.
It meant a lot that she was there that night at Wembley with my parents. This game can bring back very special memories for you.
Cool Carlo is the master of adaptability
Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund weren’t even the two best teams in the Champions League this season, but they found a way to win.
Last week I talked about how coaches need to be more flexible and compromise principles to win games and there are few better examples than Carlo Ancelotti.
If Real Madrid had lost to Manchester City in the quarterfinals, one wonders if they would even have kept their place, because at the end of the day we are talking about Real Madrid, which has to play in a certain way and, as we have Seen, before, winning La Liga is not always enough.
Their team is talented and clever, but they couldn’t cope with Manchester City’s pressure at the Etihad and, rather than being a team that played from the back, resorted to a back-to-front long ball game.
What was admirable that night was that there was no reluctance to make the hard yards from those stylish players.
Ice cream Carlo Ancelotti is a great example for modern coaches for his quick pragmatism
Jude Bellingham will have the chance to win his first European title against former club Borussia Dortmund.
They had to show pragmatism and Ancelotti was more than happy to change tactics to save the tie.
He is a great example for the modern coach.
There are many intriguing stories waiting to unfold, great players like Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric all looking to perhaps make one final impression. Jadon Sancho must believe he has something to prove in front of a British audience, and what more can we say about Jude Bellingham? I’m not sure I can remember anyone making such an incredible impact in their first year at a club, let alone Real Madrid. But Dortmund know him well and will not offer them surprises.
I’m leaning towards Real Madrid but it’s difficult to decide. We have two teams that have great experience, but I think they are below the top level of the Premier League at the moment.
The City players will be at home watching this game on television with one eye closed because they know they really should be in the final.
I won’t be at Wembley to watch the final tonight because I’ll be busy with other things. I’m taking my beautiful young wife to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary…
Kompany to Bayern is stranger than fiction
It’s been an eventful few days on the business merry-go-round. There is no stranger story than Vincent Kompany being appointed head coach of Bayern Munich after relegation with Burnley, while Enzo Maresca lands a five-year contract at Chelsea after a good season with Leicester City.
Vincent Kompany is the newly announced head coach of Bayern Munich, weeks after being relegated with Burnley.
You have to think that if he can’t finish fourth and win the Champions League, he will go the same way as Mauricio Pochettino.
We are also waiting for news from Manchester United. After winning the FA Cup, there is talk of a review of the season. That, in football terms, should be an afternoon’s work. So if we continue this far, I think the signs are ominous for Erik ten Hag.
