May 16th 1979 – Cup Winners Cup final
Barcelona: Pedro Artola, Rafael Zuviria, Migueli, Quique Costas (Martinez Diaz 66), Albaladejo (Jésus de la Cruz 57), Johan Neeskens, Carles Rexach, José Sanchez, Hans Krankl, Juan Asensi, Francisco Carrasco
Scorers: Sanchez 5, Arseni 34, Rexach 103, Krankl 111 Manager: Joaquim Rifé
Fortuna Düsseldorf: Jörg Daniel, Dieter Brei (Josef Weikl 25), Gerd Zewe, Gerd Zimmermann (Flemming Lund 84), Heiner Baltes, Egon Köhnen, Hubert Schmitz, Thomas Allofs, Rudi Bommer, Klaus Allofs, Wolfgang Seel
Scorers: T. Allofs 8, Seel 41, 114 Manager: Hans-Dieter Tippenhauer
Referee: Károly Palotai (Hungary)
Why you should watch this match: The highest score in a Cup Winners Cup final.
This wasn't Barcelona's greatest era, and their eventual fifth place finish in La Liga was their lowest since 1965. Of course, it's all relative. Valencia or Sevilla fans would consider a championship in 1974 followed by four consecutive seasons finishing second or third as an immensely successful period, but that wasn't the Barcelona way. They'd not been convincing in the Cup Winners Cup either, needing penalties to see off Anderlecht, losing away to Ipswich and only scraping past Beveren with two 1-0 victories in the semi-final.
Fortuna Düsseldorf were undergoing a slight revival. Bundesliga challengers in 1973 and 1974 with two third place finishes, they'd slipped away mid-decade, but were now on course for their second consecutive top ten finish. The secret was consistency. Of the Düsseldorf outfield only Hubert Schmitz and substitute Flemming Lund turned out fewer than 150 times, while with 440 appearances defender Gerd Zewe played more games for the club than anyone else. This team also set a record of the most consecutive Dfb Pokal victories, via winning the trophy in 1979, retaining it in 1980 and reaching the quarter-finals in 1981. Had they not also lost the 1978 final that record would extend to 25 games.
Their Cup Winners Cup form was patchier. They'd lost in Aberdeen having won the home leg, and it was away goals that saw them through a semi-final with Banik Ostrava. Despite their faltering domestic form Barcelona were still favourites to win this trophy, but Düsseldorf weren't without danger. Klaus Allofs began his career as a midfielder with an eye for goal, but in 1978 switched to attack and found his calling. He'd been selected for the West German squad, renewed after a lacklustre 1978 World Cup, and had scored four times on the way to this final.
It was his brother Thomas who opened the scoring for Düsseldorf after 8 minutes. It was a messy affair with Barcelona unable to clear their area, and Pedro Artola failing to hold onto a shot from Rudi Bommer. Allofs was there to score from the rebound. Yet by that point the goal was but an equaliser. Barcelona netted the first time they emerged from their own half. Albaladejo took a few uncertain steps into the new territory before passing forward to Carles Rexach. Rexach made for the left, drawing defence with him, having noticed José Sanchez running up behind him. Rexach played a great ball cutting out the defence across into the path of Sanchez, who kept his cool as he slotted it past Jörg Daniel for the opener.
With two goals in under ten minutes, Düsseldorf constantly pressing, and Barcelona counter-attacking, everything pointed to a goal rush, but that never occurred. The excitement, though, didn't let up. Three minutes after the equaliser Francisco Carrasco headed for the bye-line. Across rushed club captain Zewe, and tripped him. It was blatant, stupid and these days would have earned an instant red card. Rexach's penalty, though, was poor, placed too near the centre of the goal for a keeper guessing the direction correctly. Daniel, never considered the safest pair of hands, saved his team.
Gruesome tackles flew in from both sides, earning no condemnation from the referee, but resulting in a succession of free kicks. There was no-one near Dieter Brei, though, as he collapsed in front of his own area, and was substituted. Barcelona gradually reversed the original pattern of the game by packing Düsseldorf into their own half. Daniel made a decent one-handed save from Juan Asensi, but Asensi was rewarded five minutes later with goal from a rebound off the keeper much in the manner of the Düsseldorf equaliser. Daniel was more impressive in tipping a snap shot from Johan Neeskens around the post.
Against the odds and the run of play, Düsseldorf equalised again before the interval. Josef Weikl had sent a warning shot just wide, when Wolfgang Seel latched onto a defence-splitting long ball into the area and tapped it across Artola with the outside of his right foot. Seel had briefly been a West German international five years previously, and his finish was international class.
The second half was scoreless, and disappointing. A confident Barcelona had seen how Düsseldorf could catch them on the break, and Düsseldorf had spent thirty minutes of the first half barely containing Barcelona. While fouls that today would be instant dismissals continued, neither team wanted to commit players forward, although Neeskens was increasingly delivering a masterclass in midfield as both stopper and creator.
The excitement was ramped up again with the advent of extra time. It was as if a collective sense of duty having been carried out had lifted, permitting expression once again. And the most expressive player on the pitch was Neeskens. It was again end to end football. Klaus Allofs sent a free kick inches wide, Rexach should have done better than snap at a knock back from Carrasco, Migueli, playing with an anaesthetised suspected broken collar bone, robbed Allofs at the last second, Artola gathered in Zewe's long shot, and Zewe's back pass nearly fooled his own keeper. It was Neekens, though, who provided the golden moment. Collecting the ball 15 yards into the Düsseldorf half by the touchline, he cut inside unchallenged, then floated a glorious pass into the area. Rexach, his back to goal, knocked the ball in front of him as the defence rushed past. He then turned and shot, Daniel watching as the ball hit the fallen Zewe before looping up into the net. Unfortunate perhaps, but there's an argument to made that such quality football deserved a goal. There remained time for Rexach to lift a free kick for Hans Krankl, who volleyed it into Thomas Allofs.
In the second period of extra time Düsseldorf forced three corners in five minutes. It required some desperate defending to keep them at bay, and one decisive tackle came from Neeskens deep in his own half. He sent a long ball up to the running Carrasco, who appeared to have run too far and waited too long before passing. Zewe, though, made the mistake of attempting to help Zimmermann with Carrasco, leaving Krankl free behind him. When Carrasco tipped the ball across, Krankl was unmarked and gave Daniel no opportunity to save his shot. A game that seemed finished, though, was fired back to life when Seel scored again. Lund mishit a shot that instead moved perpendicularly. Klaus Allofs' toe poke at the ball diverted it goalward in agonisingly slow fashion, but Seel sprinted in at the right post to add the decisive touch.
The subsequent six minutes were Barcelona on the back foot desperately defending against the Germans throwing everything forward. Asensi's delight at the final whistle is a joy to behold. He grabbed the ball and bounced across the centre of the pitch waving his fist in the air. As well he might seeing as he'd just captained Barcelona to their first European trophy in fourteen years. It would be a mere three until the next, as they beat Standard Liege to win the Cup Winners Cup again.
Düsseldorf haven't done as well as Barcelona since. It's been 15 years since they last graced the Bundesliga, but they're currently placed third on goal difference in the Zweite Bundesliga. A win at home today against MSV Duisburg will earn them a play-off with Hertha Berlin for a Bundesliga place next season.
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