1991 European Cup Final

1991 European Cup Final
Event 1990–91 European Cup
Red Star Belgrade won 5–3 on penalties
Date 29 May 1991
Venue Stadio San Nicola, Bari
Referee Tullio Lanese (Italy)
Attendance 51,587
A ticket for the 1991 European Cup Final

The 1991 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, Italy, on 29 May 1991, that saw Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia[lower-alpha 1] defeat Marseille of France in a penalty shoot-out. After normal time and extra time could not separate the two sides, the match was to be decided on penalty kicks. Manuel Amoros's miss for the French side proved crucial, as Red Star held their nerve to win their first European Cup.

Route to the final

For more details on this topic, see 1990–91 European Cup.
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Red Star Belgrade Round France Marseille
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Switzerland Grasshopper 5–2 1–1 (H) 4–1 (A) First round Albania Dinamo Tirana 5–1 5–1 (H) 0–0 (A)
Scotland Rangers 4–1 3–0 (H) 1–1 (A) Second round Poland Lech Poznań 8–4 2–3 (A) 6–1 (H)
East Germany Dynamo Dresden 6–0 3–0 (H) 3–0 (A) Quarter-finals Italy Milan 4–1 1–1 (A) 3–0 (H)
Germany Bayern Munich 4–3 2–1 (A) 2–2 (H) Semi-finals Soviet Union Spartak Moscow 5–2 3–1 (A) 2–1 (H)

Lead-up to the match

Red Star arrived in Italy unusually early, on Thursday, 23 May 1991, six full days ahead of the final. The team set up base in the town of Monopoli, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south-east of Bari. There they stayed in Il Melograno Hotel and trained at the facilities of A.C. Monopoli.[3] Due to a lot of interest from richer European clubs already being raised for the future services of young Red Star players, the club management tried to ensure its footballers were fully focused on the task at hand. The players were placed in semi-quarantine immediately upon arrival in Italy, which meant being separated from wives and girlfriends without the ability to receive incoming phone calls in hotel rooms, though able to make outgoing calls.[4]

Over the coming days, the club also organized for a large entourage consisting of former players and coaches, friends of the club, etc. to arrive in Bari in order to watch Red Star in its very first European Cup final. Therefore, club legends Rajko Mitić and Dragoslav Šekularac, notable former players Srđan Mrkušić, Stanislav Karasi, club's former coach Miša Pavić along with Serbian celebrities and public personalities such as Ljuba Tadić, Ivan Bekjarev, Bora Đorđević, etc. made their way to Italy.[5]

Match

Details

Red Star Belgrade
Marseille
GK 1 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Stevan Stojanović (c)
CM 2 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vladimir Jugović
CB 3 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Marović  61'
RB 4 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Refik Šabanadžović
SW 5 Romania Miodrag Belodedici
LB 6 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ilija Najdoski
CM 7 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Robert Prosinečki
LM 8 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Siniša Mihajlović  40'
CF 9 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Darko Pančev
AM 10Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dejan Savićević  84'
RM 11Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragiša Binić  26'
Substitutes:
GK 12Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Milić Jovanović
DF 13Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ivica Momčilović
DF 14Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Rade Tošić
MF 15Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vlada Stošić  84'
FW 16Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Vladan Lukić
Manager:
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ljupko Petrović
GK 1 France Pascal Olmeta
RM 2 France Manuel Amoros
LM 3 France Éric Di Meco  112'
CB 4 France Basile Boli  28'
CB 5 Brazil Carlos Mozer
CM 6 France Bruno Germain
CB 7 France Bernard Casoni
RF 8 England Chris Waddle
CF 9 France Jean-Pierre Papin (c)
LF 10Ghana Abedi Pele
CM 11France Laurent Fournier  75'
Substitutes:
GK 16France Alain Casanova
DF 15France Éric Mura
MF 12Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Dragan Stojković  112'
MF 13France Philippe Vercruysse  75'
MF 14France Jean Tigana
Manager:
Belgium Raymond Goethals

Assistant referees:
Italy Castello Buonocore (Italy)
Italy Roberto Calabassi (Italy)
Fourth official:
Italy Pierluigi Magni (Italy)

Match rules

  • 90 minutes.
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary.
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
  • Five named substitutes.
  • Maximum of two substitutions.

Analysis

Over twenty years later in 2011, talking to a French football magazine about the famous win in Bari, Siniša Mihajlović said:

That final is still very vivid in my memory. I think it was the most boring final match in European Cup history. A few hours before the match, seven of us were shown tapes with Olympique matches. I remember [manager] Ljupko Petrović telling us: 'If we attack them we'll leave ourselves open for counterattacks', to which I asked 'so, what do we do then'. His answer was: 'When you get the ball, give it back to them'. So we spent 120 minutes on the pitch without practically touching the ball. The match went to penalties, [Marseille player] Manuel Amoros failed to convert his whereas we converted all five. Had we approached the match with an attacking mentality, we probably would've lost, not because Olympique were necessarily better than us, but because their players were used to playing big matches like this one. We had a squad full of 21, 22, and 23-year-old kids.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. UEFA conventionally refers to Red Star Belgrade by the club's Serbian-language name, Crvena Zvezda. Since the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, the club competes under the auspices of its successor Serbian Football Association.[1][2]

References

External links

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