Tuesday, August 17, 2021
The Lions of Flanders, Part 2
When Bobby Robson's Ipswich side notched up a comfortable 3-0 home win against Ernst Happel's Bruges in the second round of the 1975/76 UEFA Cup, they must have thought that their progression was more or less assured. But in the second leg, Bruges wiped out the deficit within the first half, and a late goal from René Vandereycken put them through, 4-3 on aggregate. It was the first of many surprises they would pull in the competition.
In the succeeding rounds, they toppled Roma, AC Milan and Hamburg as well. For the first time, a Belgian club had reached the final of a major European club competition. Their opponents would be former winners Liverpool, who had narrowly gotten the better of a Johan Cruyff-inspired Barcelona in the other semi-final. Liverpool were already on the way to becoming the dominant side in Europe, and were heavy favourites for the final, which, unlike that of the European Cup, was played over two legs.
But they received a shock in the first leg at Anfield. After only five minutes, Bruges' talismanic forward Raoul Lambert latched onto a weak back-header, and lobbed Ray Clemence accurately to put his side in front. Ten minutes later, a superb left-footed half-volley from Julien Cools flew into the top corner of the Liverpool net; the Reds were 2-0 down at Anfield. The Danish winger Ulrik Le Fevre almost scored a third for Bruges after a fine team move.
The home side rallied, and in an extraordinary six-minute period in the second half, they scored three. First, the tricky Steve Heighway found space on the left and played a ball inside for Ray Kennedy, scorer of so many important Liverpool goals; his powerful left foot did the rest. Then it was Kevin Keegan, pivoting smartly on the left of the box and playing in Kennedy again, whose shot hit the post, Jimmy Case scrambling in the rebound. The third goal was controversial: Heighway got forward on the left again and was fouled by the Bruges captain Fons Bastijns, but it was surely outside the box. A penalty was given, and Keegan put it away. Things might have gotten even worse for Happel's side, but an alert clearance off the line by Jos Volders, and a great save by Birger Jensen from David Fairclough, kept the score at 3-2.
Early in the return leg, Bruges also received a fairly soft penalty for handball in the box, and Lambert put them ahead. But four minutes later, Emlyn Hughes touched a free kick off to Keegan, who fired home a superb low shot to put his side back ahead on aggregate. Although Lambert hit the inside of the post in the second half, and Cools forced a late save from Clemence, the cup was Liverpool's. Bruges' giant-killing run was halted at the last hurdle.
But they had won the domestic title, and next season the European Cup awaited them. In their previous appearance in the competition, in 1973/74, Bruges had been knocked out in an extraordinary tie against the Swiss side FC Basel, whose side included the Peruvian World Cup star Teofilo Cubillas. Bruges took a one-goal first-leg lead to Switzerland, but a wild, fluctuating game at the St. Jakob Stadium ended in a 6-4 win for Basel, the decisive goal coming three minutes from the end.
The 1976/77 European Cup campaign, although ultimately a disappointment, was to be a harbinger of greater things to come for Happel's well-drilled side. More in Part 3.
