How can they all cry fluke if we do it again?

May 22 2007 by Rob Jackson, Liverpool Daily Post

Rob Jackson trawls through the memory banks for the five European Cup triumphs that went before

MEMORY Lane is getting to be a longer thoroughfare than Queens Drive. Cutting to the chase, here are the five wins as I remember them. And I must confess that some of these triumphs were witnessed via the medium of the telly – ticket shortages are nothing new!

1977: Recognition in Rome

Can you imagine a worse frame of mind to enter the most important game of the club’s career?

We’d just won the title but had been diddled out of the classic treble in the FA Cup final at Wembley by a typical Man United flukey, freaky winner, which went in courtesy of Tommy Smith’s backside.

The game was probably the best of all five in terms of performance, especially as the Borussia Moenchengladbach of Simonsen, Vogts et al were not just a trophy inscriber’s nightmare but also a very decent side.

The game is still notable for the last goal LFC have scored from a corner.

Performance: 9/10

Excitement: 12/10

Significance: 15/10

1978: Nice goal, shame about the game

Having won once, it was essential to do it again to prove it was no fluke.

And where better than Old Wembley, that dilapidated bowl in the wastelands of Brent?

FC Bruges were the opposition, not exactly European football royalty but a tough enough proposition at the time.

In the event, the game was almost a non-event, memorable only for that delightfully worked goal featuring our two best-ever players. The Dalglish/Souness axis put Ball/Harvey/Kendall into any shade you could care to name.

Performance: 6/10

Excitement: 5/10

Significance: 8/10