When Liverpool play Borussia Dortmund tonight, there will be the odd mention of 1966 when both teams met in the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup at Hampden Park, Glasgow. The game 50 years ago was played under entirely different signs. Liverpool were favourites and Dortmund had nothing but the role as outsider to play. Originally, it was thought that West Ham would play Liverpool in the final but the Germans had other ideas.
The final of 1699 was decided by Stan Libuda’s long range kick from roughly 25 metres. Normally, this was not his habit. He was a dribbler and a fine technical player. If he got past one defender, he waited until the opponent got up to his feet again, only to fool him again before he passed to his team mates. The goal in extra time secured Dortmund’s win and the first European trophy for a German club at the third attempt after Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 and 1860 Munich in 1965 lost their respective final matches.
The game today sees Dortmund being the favourite even though they have a new coach, Thomas Tuchel who has replaced Jürgen Klopp, the current Liverpool coach. That makes this match tonight a rather special occasion.
image credit: Nationaal Archief via WikiCommons under CC BY-SA 3.0 NL