LIVERPOOL FC: ROLL OF HONOUR
Mad dash for glory
After scoring the winner for Liverpool against Madrid in the 1981 final, Alan Kennedy set off on a mad dash every bit as memorable as the goal
Honours
EUROPEAN CUP 5
1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005
UEFA CUP 3
1973, 1976, 2001
UEFA SUPER CUP 3
1977, 2001, 2005
FIRST DIVISION 18
1901, 1906, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990
FA CUP 7
1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2006
LEAGUE CUP 8
1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2012
European Cup finals
2007 AC MILAN 2-1 LIVERPOOL
2005 LIVERPOOL 3-3 AC MILAN (AET)
Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties
1985 JUVENTUS 1-0 LIVERPOOL
1984 LIVERPOOL 1-1 ROMA (AET)
Liverpool won 4-2 on penalties
1981 LIVERPOOL 1-0 REAL MADRID
Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, A Kennedy; Lee, McDermott, Souness, R Kennedy; Johnson, Dalglish (Case 85)
1978 LIVERPOOL 1-0 CLUB BRUGGE
1977 LIVERPOOL 3-1 MÖNCHENGLADBACH
As soon as the ball hit the net, Alan Kennedy was off. “I just ran,” says the former Liverpool FC left-back, who barely broke his stride after scoring the opening goal in the 1981 European Champion Clubs’ Cup final. Just nine minutes remained in a tense encounter with Real Madrid CF, but, for that one thrilling moment, Kennedy almost forgot where he was. “I didn’t know where I was running, I was just running – fortunately to all the Liverpool fans behind the goal. When I got there, I hadn’t a clue what to do.”
The defender’s frenzied dash at the Parc des Princes remains one of the iconic moments in European Cup history, not least because his superbly taken effort proved to be the only goal of the game, securing Liverpool their third title. Racing on to a long throw from Ray Kennedy, he surged into the box, evaded a challenge and beat Madrid goalkeeper Agustín Rodríguez with a powerful finish from a tight angle.
“I had a split second to make up my mind,” he recalls. “Shoot for goal or cross the ball? I could have quite easily rolled the ball across the edge of the box, but I thought to myself I’m only eight or ten yards from goal – give it a go. And I remember, in that split second, the goalkeeper hesitated. He caught his weight on his left foot, expecting the ball to go to his left-hand side and obviously it went in at the near post.”
Liverpool European Cup records
MOST GAMES
80
JAMIE CARRAGHER
MOST GOALS
21
STEVEN GERRARD
Cue pandemonium. And a cheeky rebuke from a team-mate. “Terry McDermott and David Johnson were the first ones to come over. Honestly, David just looked at me and said: ‘Why didn’t you pass to me?’ And I was, like, ‘Well David, I didn’t pass to you because you might miss!’”
The Reds eventually held out, and Kennedy remembers feeling pure relief – with the caveat that the right team had won. “We felt at that time, and in that game against Madrid, that we could just about beat anybody,” he explains, recalling the club’s golden era under Bob Paisley. “Liverpool were the best at that time. They had great players, a great manager.”
Kennedy had his own particular debt to Paisley. He had broken his wrist in the semi-final opener against FC Bayern München and was not originally included in Liverpool’s starting XI – only learning of his place in the team shortly before kick-off. That, too, was on his mind as he celebrated his goal.
“One of my first thoughts was with Bob Paisley,” says Kennedy, who later struck the decisive penalty in the 1984 decider against AS Roma. “I was thanking Bob Paisley for giving me the chance to play in the European Cup final. He could have quite easily gone with the team that did well in the second leg of the semi-finals. So I can say, ‘Bob, I hope you enjoyed what I did.’”
