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GALLERY '50 / 1950 Decade / 1957 European cup final tickets
1957
Final-
Bernabeu stadium , Madrid, 30 May 1957
13-06-56 Real Madrid VS. Stade de Reims 4-3
Real Madrid 2 vs. AC Fiorentina 0
70' 1-0 RM: Di Stéfano (pen)
76'
2-0 RM: Gento
Real Madrid (trainer Villalonga)
Alonso; Torres, Marquitos, Lesmes; Muñóz, Zárraga;
Kopa, Mateos, Di Stéfano, Rial, Gento
AC Fiorentina (trainer Bernardini)
Sarti; Magnini, Orzan, Cervato; Scaramucci, Segato;
Julinho, Gratton, Virgili, Montuori, Bizzarri
Referee:
Horn (Netherlands)
With
clubs from countries such as England, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and
Turkey making their first appearances in the competition, an extra
round was required to accommodate these extra teams, so Manchester
United began England’s European Cup participation in the
Preliminary Round. United’s debut took place in Brussels on
September 12th 1956 against Anderlecht. Goals from Denis Viollet and
Tommy Taylor following a missed penalty from the Belgians meant that
United took a two goal lead back to Manchester and the first ever
European Cup game to be played on English soil.
With
floodlights yet to be installed at Old Trafford, Manchester United’s
first home game in Europe was played at Maine Road, home of their
rivals Manchester City. That night, the Busby Babes issued a
declaration of intent as they steamrollered the champions of Belgium
by ten goals to nil. ‘The Times’ reported that:
It would be
easy to go into raptures over such an exhibition. The accuracy,
artistry, pace and devastating finish of the young Manchester United
side – its average age is 22 – on the night would have pulverised
any other team in the British Isles and, surely, most on the
continent also. With United having gone 23 league matches without
defeat and with Anderlecht having been so unceremoniously thrashed,
there was no doubt in England as to who the main threat to Real
Madrid was going to be.
The preliminary round was also notable
for the first ever replay in the competition. With penalty shootouts
and the away goals rule still some way off, it was remarkable that
two legs had been sufficient to decide every tie in the first year of
competition, but when Borussia Dortmund’s 4-3 win over Spora
Luxembourg was cancelled out by a 2-1 defeat in the second leg, a
replay was required. The third game, however, was much more decisive
than the previous two as Borussia won 7-0, although it is worth
noting that had the away goals rule been in operation it would have
been the Luxembourg team that would have made it through.
Having
gained a bye in the Preliminary round, the holders Real Madrid
entered the competition at the first round stage where they
encountered more problems than they had at any time en route to the
previous final. Having conceded seven goals in the San Siro when
going out to Milan in the 1955-56 competition, Rapid Vienna were not
expected to cause the reigning champions much of a problem,
particularly as Real seemed to be even stronger than they had been a
year earlier. Despite having proved themselves the best team in
Europe, Real had not rested on their laurels. Instead, they strove to
improve even further by signing the best player from their nearest
challengers. Raymond Kopa who had impressed as he led Reims to the
1956 Final had been signed from the French side. With Di Stefano
playing in Kopa’s favoured deep lying forward position, the
Frenchman was forced to play out on the right wing, but along with
Rial and Gento, Kopa and Di Stefano completed a fearsome forward
foursome which made Real appear even harder to beat. This view seemed
to be confirmed by Real’s 4-2 win in the first leg against Rapid,
but a 3-1 win for the Austrians in the return game, with all three
home goals coming from centre-back Ernst Happel, saw Rapid force the
Madrid side to a replay – in fact Real had been on their way out as
they trailed 3-0 before a goal from Di Stefano rescued them in the
second half. A payment of £25,000 by Real persuaded Rapid to play
the extra game back in Madrid where normality returned as Real won
2-0, but if there had been any complacency in the holders camp, they
had received a stark warning.
Elsewhere, there was controversy
in Nice as the French champions took on Glasgow Rangers. Nice won the
game 2-1 to level the tie 3-3 on aggregate, but that was not the main
story. Things flared up when Logie of Rangers and Nice’s Bravo
became involved in an on-field punch-up. Both players received their
marching orders, but while Logie left the pitch, Bravo refused to
walk, encouraged by the Nice trainer who motioned to him to stay on.
Eventually the trainer was also ordered off while Bravo was
accompanied of the field by a Nice official. At the end of the game,
the Italian referee was escorted off by nine policemen and was later
driven away from the ground in a police car. Nice won the replay in
Paris 3-1.
The tie of the quarter-finals was undoubtedly
Manchester United against Athletic Bilbao, the Spanish champions. If
any encounter would show how well the best of English football would
fare in Europe, then this was it. Not only had Bilbao finished above
Real Madrid in the Spanish Championship, but they had disposed of a
Honved team that contained Hungarian legends such as Puskas, Kocsis
and Bozsik in the previous round, although that tie had been marred
by events of greater importance. While Honved were out of Hungary,
preparing for the away match in Bilbao, the Soviet tanks had rolled
into Budapest. Events at home no doubt played on the minds of the
Honved players as they were beaten 3-2 in Spain. Six weeks later, the
second leg was played in Brussels where the Hungarians battled
bravely but could only manage a 3-3 draw which sent them out.
The
first leg against Manchester United in Bilbao was played in
distinctly un-Spanish like weather. In blizzard conditions with a sea
of mud under foot, the Basque side had the 60,000 crowd in raptures
as they took a 3-0 first half lead. United showed their character by
bringing the score back to 3-2 after the break, but the home side
were soon back on top with two more goals before United finished the
scoring five minutes from the end as Billy Whelan beat four defenders
before slamming the ball home to complete the 5-3 score line. It had
been a thrilling game, but Manchester United were now very much the
underdogs as they faced the task of retrieving a two goal deficit.
The second leg, however, created huge interest and attracted over
150,000 applications for tickets – there was no doubt that English
fans had at least as much appetite for European football as their
continental counterparts. Bilbao manager Ferdinand Daucik had told
reporters that he did not believe his team could be beaten by three
goals, and as the first half wore on, it seemed that he might be
proved correct as the score sheet remained blank, but just as the
Spaniards seemed poised to reach half-time on level terms, a 42nd
minute goal from Viollett gave the home side some hope. After the
interval United swarmed all over the Bilbao defence and twice had the
ball in the net, only to be denied on both occasions by the offside
flag. Undeterred, they continued to attack and, with twenty minutes
to go, they reaped their reward as Taylor shot home from 15 yards to
level the tie. Five minutes from the end, the encounter was settled
by a Berry shot which found the net and gave United the lead for the
first time. In the dying minutes, Wood in the United goal, needed to
make a point blank save from Merodio to keep his side ahead, but they
held out for a famous victory and a ticket into the
semi-finals.
There was to be no respite for United. Having
disposed of the Spanish champions, they were now drawn against the
champions of Europe in the semi-finals. Real Madrid had knocked out
Nice in the quarter-finals with a 6-2 aggregate score (although Nice
must have made a good impression because when Real coach Jose
Villalonga left the following summer he was replaced by Nice’s
Argentinian boss Luis Carniglia) and they were riding high in the
Spanish championship, but having seen the way that Bilbao had been
eliminated, they knew that they now faced one of their toughest
tasks. Five chartered aircraft full of United supporters travelled
out to the Spanish capital for the first leg, and they were to be
treated to a display of outstanding football although, sadly for
them, it was the home side that produced it. Di Stefano in particular
was in top form as he popped up in every area of the pitch showing
his intimate ball control, his great body strength, his outstanding
vision and incredible stamina. For an hour, the Spanish team penned
United back as wave after wave of Di Stefano inspired attacks drove
towards their goal, but Byrne, Blanchflower and Wood kept them at bay
while Viollett, Berry and Pegg were able to make enough sweeping
raids into the other half to keep Real’s defenders on their toes.
Then, the breakthrough was finally made as Rial’s diving header
from a Gento cross opened the scoring. Fifteen minutes later Di
Stefano got the goal his performance had deserved and it was 2-0. The
cheering crowd made the stadium shake with emotion as they waved
their white handkerchiefs in celebration, but it was United who
seemed galvanised by the raucous atmosphere. Now they went forward in
search of a goal and, after two near misses, it was Taylor who headed
home an apparently vital goal after 82 minutes. If things had stayed
as they were, United could justifiably have claimed the upper hand in
the contest, but Real were to have the last word. In the dying
moments, Kopa flicked the ball through to Mateos who shot home to
give Real a vital 3-1 win.
By the time the two teams met again
a fortnight later, both sides had won their respective league
championships and were also favourites to win their domestic cup
competitions. There was no doubt that this tie pitted the best of
English football against the best of Spanish. There were confident
noises coming from the United camp beforehand, but under the glow of
Old Trafford’s newly installed lights, Real Madrid soon took
control. On 25 minutes, it was Di Stefano once more who opened up the
home defence with a brilliant long back-heeled pass to Kopa who
darted in and flicked the ball past Wood. Five minutes later and Real
produced a passing move of great pace and control to release Gento
down the left wing and his cross was touched home by Rial to
effectively end the contest. United did fight back to retrieve a 2-2
draw on the night, but Real had proved their mastery over the whole
European continent, and England had been shown that its teams were
not the dominant force that they had assumed they were.
In the
final, Real Madrid would meet the Italians of Fiorentina. Having
progressed with wins over Norrkoping and Grasshoppers, Fiorentina had
come up against Red Star Belgrade in the semi-finals. The Yugoslavs
had three particular stars in their team, Mitic at right-half who had
been prominent for his national team at both the 1950 and 1954 World
Cups, Beara their graceful ballet dancer turned goalkeeper, and
Kostic in attack who had scored five goals in their four European Cup
games so far. Despite Kostic’s ability in front of goal, Red Star’s
strength was very much in defence, and with Fiorentina playing the
kind of cautious game with which Italian teams would become
synonamous, the semi-final was a predictably low scoring affair. The
first game in Belgrade was goalless until, with just two minutes
remaining, Maurilio Prini gave Fiorentina a crucial lead. The second
leg failed to produce any scoring and so it was the Italians who
proceeded to the final.
Against Real, the Florence team were
looking to their strike partnership of Beppe Virgili and Miguel
Montouri (nicknamed Pecos Bill because of his obsession with cowboy
comics) to provide the goals. Supplying the ammunition for the
forwards was the Brazilian Julinho Botelho. Julinho, with his tricky
wing play, was one of the stars of the Brazil team in the 1954 World
Cup. Fiorentina coach, Fulvio Benardini watched him in that
tournament and persuaded him to move to Italy. The little Brazilian
arrived in the summer of 1955 and helped Fiorentina to the Italian
Championship the next season and to the European Cup Final one year
later. After three years, homesickness saw him return to Brazil , but
he is still fondly remembered in Florence to this day.
The
final was played in Real’s own newly christened Bernabeu Stadium . Before the game
began, Real officials were angered by the Italians insistence on
playing the game in daylight. Having spent £100,000 on the biggest
and best floodlights in the world specifically for this one game,
those in charge at the Bernabeu were none too impressed. Once the
game got underway, most observers expected Madrid to stroll to
victory on their own pitch, but things turned out very differently.
With the two latin teams living up to their stereotypes with lunging
tackles and excited retaliation being the order of the day, the
flowing Real style was disrupted and it was not until a controversial
moment twenty minutes from time that the holders took the lead. When
Mateos went down in the penalty area, Leopold Horn, the visibly
nervous Dutch referee, awarded a penalty kick to Real, despite the
attempts of the Italian players to pull him towards a linesman who a
few seconds earlier had flagged for offside. Di Stefano opened the
scoring from the spot. Six minutes later, Gento’s goal, after being
set up by Kopa, gave Real a 2-0 win and the title of European
champions once more. General Franco presented the trophy to Real’s
captain Miguel Munoz, and the man who had just played his last
European game held it aloft in the middle of a pitch to the roar of
the cheering Madrid hordes. The
European Cup would be staying in Madrid for another year.