Final billed as ‘dream game’

Press, 27 April 1984, Page 28

Final billed as ‘dream game’

NZPA-Reuter London The twenty-ninth European Cup final between Liverpool and Roma on May 30 — already being billed as “the dream game” — will be an intriguing clash of contrasting soccer styles. Roma, which will have the advantage of playing on home ground in the Olympic Stadium, is a combination of Italian techniques and Brazilian flair, provided by the World Cup stars, Paulo Roberto Falcao and Toninho Cerezo. The Italians were in dazzling form yesterday in their semi-final second leg against Dundee United, the self-styled “Cinderella” club of the competition which captured the imagination by building up a 2-0 lead in Scotland two weeks ago. But there was to be no fairytale ending for the Scots. Two first-half goals by the striker, Roberto Pruzzo, cancelled out their first-leg advantage and a fifty-eighth minute penalty from Agostino Di Bartolomei means it will be Roma which goes to the ball next month. Liverpool, which beat Dinamo Bucharest, 2-1, in Rumania to reach the final for the fourth time in eight seasons on a 3-1 aggregate, boasts some outstanding individuals — notably Kenny Dalglish, lan Rush .and Graeme Souness — but the secret of its success is almost telepathic teamwork. The English champion, at present poised to lift its national title for the seventh time in nine years, is an amalgamation of the

best of British Isles football. Liverpool, the European Cup winner in 1977,1978 and 1981, will be cast in the unaccustomed role of underdog in Rome, although it has beaten the Danish champion, Odense, Spain’s Athletic Bilbao, Benfica, of Portugal, and Dinamo away from home on its run to the final. With hopes of an allBritish showdown dashed in Rome, Scotland and England suffered similar disappointments in the Cupwinners’ and U.E.F.A. Cups. The Cupwinners’ holder, Aberdeen, of Scotland, suffered a totally unexpected 1-0 defeat at home to Porto, of Portugal, which won, 2-0, over all to earn a meeting with Juventus, of Italy, in the final in Basle on May 16. The Italians completed a 3-2 aggregate win over the English F.A. Cup holder, Manchester United, in Turin, thanks to an eightyninth minute goal by the World Cup hero, Paolo Rossi, which gave Juventus a hard-earned 2-1 victory on the night. Next month’s two-leg U.E.F.A. Cup final will pit England’s Tottenham, which beat Hajduk Split, of Yugoslavia, on away goals, against the bolder, Anderlecht. The Belgians emulated Roma’s feat of coming back from two goals in arrears against England’s Nottingham Forest with a superb 30 second-leg win in Brussels, Erwin Vandenbergh scoring the all-important winner just two minutes from time.