European Cup Winners Cup Semi Final - 2nd Leg.
24th April 1985Managers and players will tell you that winning a Semi-Final of any Competition can be more exciting than the Final itself, and that was surely the case when Everton met Bayern Munich in the European Cup Winners’ Cup at Goodison Park back in April 1985.
Trailing 1-0 at half time ( after a 0-0 1st leg in Munich ), Everton faced their biggest test of a memorable season against one of Germany’s best, but with some inspirational words from Manager Howard Kendall and a display of dazzling football, they gave all Evertonians a night to remember.
The crowd inside Goodison Park that night was vociferous in the extreme, promoting Howard Kendall to tell his players in the dressing room at half time - “just get the ball forward and the Gwladys street will suck the goals in.” And how right he was as the blues scored three in a special second half performance and Everton marched onto the final in Holland.
Everton 3 Rapid Vienna 1
European Cup Winners Cup Final
15th May, 1985
The Blues arrived in Rotterdam full of confidence after beating Munich, and were now tipped as hot favourites to emerge victorious against Rapid Vienna.
Sharp scored first on 57 minutes and Trevor Steven added a second on 72 minutes. Rapid did manage to claw their way back into the
match, but the goal proved irrelevant, as Kevin Sheedy hammered home number three straight from the restart.
Rotterdam was awash in Blue, as Kevin Ratcliffe lifted Everton’s first trophy in Europe and made the 84-85 season one that the blue half of Merseyside will never forget.
You can now relive all of the passion and the drama of both of these matches, as the Blues marched to a unique European and League double.>!!
