Spurs 3 Benfica 4
Our first-ever European campaign saw us progress all the way to the semi-finals of the European Cup, where our hopes of continental glory were extinguished by holders Benfica of Portugal. Bill Nicholson’s all-conquering Double winners headed to Lisbon for the first leg, where the home side took a fifth-minute lead through a near post shot from Jose Aguas. We thought we’d levelled moments later only for Jimmy Greaves’ goal to be ruled out for offside and instead, Augusto added a second on 19 minutes. We clawed our way back into the tie nine minutes after the break when Bobby Smith headed home from a Danny Blanchflower centre and had chances to equalise through Greaves, John White and Cliff Jones. Augusto made it 3-1 on the night in the 64th minute but there was controversy in the closing minutes when Greaves and Smith combined only for the latter to again be ruled offside, despite the fact there were two Benfica players on the goal-line. The return here 15 days later produced one of the greatest games White Hart Lane ever witnessed, even though the final outcome went against us. Described in the Daily Mirror as ‘a titanic struggle’, we threw everything at our visitors from Lisbon but fell just short following our 2-1 win. ‘One goal from glory’ as another headline proclaimed. The evening began in disastrous fashion when we went behind to an Aguas goal on the quarter hour mark. Eusebio slid the ball out to Antonio Simoes whose low cross was turned past Bill Brown. We thought we were back in the tie in the 23rd minute as Smith released Greaves who finished in style, only for the linesman to flag for offside - another decision which looked dubious to say the least. For the rest of the game, we attacked with real intensity and so nearly completed the most dramatic of comebacks. A 35th minute lob from Smith, who was set up by White, brought us level on the night and three minutes after the interval we went 2-1 up when Mario Coluna charged White in the back and Blanchflower netted from the penalty spot. We did everything but score the third goal to level up the tie, hitting the woodwork three times, most agonisingly in the final minute when Dave Mackay’s 20-yard drive struck the crossbar. Benfica went on to retain the trophy with a 5-3 victory over Real Madrid in the Amsterdam final.
Spurs 5 OFK Belgrade 2
We didn’t have to wait long for our next shot at European glory – just 12 months after the Benfica defeat, we faced OFK Belgrade in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. The first leg was played in what was then Yugoslavia, deep inside the Eastern Bloc at the height of the Cold War against a side who were emerging from the shadows of their city rivals Red Star and Partizan and who were about to enjoy the most successful spell in their history. It was certainly a controversial match, with Jimmy Greaves becoming the first Spur for 40 years to be sent off, for allegedly taking a swing at OFK centre-half Blagomir Krivokuca. At this stage the scores were level at 1-1, John White having put us ahead on 26 minutes before the home side levelled 10 minutes later. Despite being down to 10 men, Bill Nicholson’s side displayed their battling qualities to grab a winner on 55 minutes through Terry Dyson, to take a crucial advantage back to N17 for the return. The following week we finished the job with a 3-1 win at White Hart Lane, but it was a much tougher contest than the scoreline suggests and it needed a fine defensive display to see us through, with newspaper reports praising the performances of Danny Blanchflower and Dave Mackay in breaking up the OFK attacks. Mackay in fact opened the scoring before the visitors hit back to make for a nervous atmosphere, but a strike from Cliff Jones and a Bobby Smith header extinguished any fears around the stadium and we were through to face Atletico Madrid in the final, duly romping to a 5-1 victory in Rotterdam to become the first British team to win a European trophy.
Spurs 3 Milan 2
The first season of the UEFA Cup saw us drawn against Milan at the semi-final stage, with ‘Captain Fantastic’ Steve Perryman the star of the show in the first leg here in N17. Early action saw Martin Chivers shoot over from a Ralph Coates assist and Pat Jennings parry a Gianni Rivera shot. Alan Gilzean headed over from an Alan Mullery centre before Milan took a shock 25th-minute lead through Romeo Benetti. Within 10 minutes we were level, Perryman’s rasping shot from the edge of the area beating Fabio Cudicini in the visitors’ goal. Riccardo Sogliano was sent off in the 61st minute by Spanish referee Mariano Iglesias for twice delaying a free kick. Four minutes later Perryman notched the winning goal. A defensive header to clear a corner fell to him outside the penalty area and he drove in a 25-yard volley. Needing a victory to turn the tie around in the second leg at the San Siro two weeks’ later, the home side squandered two early chances. Centres from Piero Prati found Rivera who shot inches wide of a post and Giorgio Biasioli who rifled over the bar. Then Alan Mullery stunned the 68,482 crowd with his sixth-minute strike. A Cyril Knowles raid down the left was beaten away as far as Chivers, whose shot was blocked. From the rebound Perryman rolled the ball to the right which Mullery hit with a 25-yard right foot shot high into Cudicini’s net. Following a slip by Knowles in the 70th minute, Phil Beal brought down Alberto Bigon and Rivera equalised from the resultant penalty. We held out under intense pressure for the last 20 minutes to claim a place in the all-English final versus Wolves, which we ultimately won to become the first-ever winners of the UEFA Cup.
Spurs 2 Liverpool 2 (Liverpool win on away goals)
As defending champions, we marched all the way to the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1972/73, only to lose by the narrowest of margins in an epic all-English affair. It’s a tie seen by many as a changing of the guard. Spurs under Bill Nicholson had been hugely successful at home and abroad during the 60s and early 70s, but Liverpool’s victory in this clash saw them go on to not only win the UEFA Cup Final against Borussia Monchengladbach but also dominate English and European football for the next decade or so. We were in a good position after the first leg at Anfield, going down to a 1-0 defeat courtesy of an Alec Lindsay goal in the 27th minute. Pat Jennings made a string of superb saves to keep the score down and we returned to north London confident of finishing the job. It wasn’t to be though, despite a frenzied atmosphere inside the Lane. Hopes were high of successful UEFA Cup Finals when Martin Peters scored three minutes after half-time when Alan Gilzean flicked on a Martin Chivers throw-in. But when Steve Heighway converted Kevin Keegan’s cross, it gave Liverpool a significant away goal and meant we had to score twice more to survive. Peters did eventually finds the net again to put us ahead on the night, however it was too little, too late and our grip on the UEFA Cup was relinquished.
Spurs 4 Lokomotive Leipzig 1
For the third successive season, we reached the last four of the UEFA Cup and this time made no mistake with a commanding victory over Lokomotive Leipzig. The defensive-minded side from East Germany had already seen off Ipswich Town and Wolves and were hoping for an English hat-trick, but we were a step too far for them. In stifling heat in the first leg in Leipzig, we raced into a two-goal lead. Martin Peters lashed home a half-volley high into the net to open the scoring on 15 minutes before a Ray Evans cross from the byline hit the crossbar and rebounded out for Ralph Coates to slam the ball into the back of the net 10 minutes later. Wolfram Lowe pulled a goal back just before the hour mark, but we held out to take a narrow lead back to London. There was no slip-up this time on home soil. Leipzig were forced to come out and play in search of the goal they needed and that played into our hands as the gaps opened up. In the 55th minute, Chris McGrath headed home a Coates cross to extend our aggregate lead before Martin Chivers sealed the win with a low left-footed shot four minutes from time. Unfortunately though, we lost the two-legged final to Feyenoord, going down 2-0 in Rotterdam after a 2-2 draw at home.
Spurs 1 Barcelona 2
It was eight years before we back in Europe again – and straight away we were back into a semi-final showdown, this time with Spanish giants Barcelona in the Cup Winners’ Cup. White Hart Lane was the venue for the first leg and it would be fair to say the game wasn’t pretty. We were renowned at the time for a free-flowing style of football under Keith Burkinshaw and were certainly tough to beat on our own patch, so Barcelona did their best to prevent us playing our usual game. It was a most controversial night of football, with the visitors deploying dubious spoiling tactics to knock us out of our stride and, unfortunately, it worked. Dutch referee Egbert Mulder could have taken action long before he sent off Juan Estella in the 57th minute but, even though they were reduced to 10 men, Barcelona made the breakthrough, Antonio Olmo’s long-range effort slipping through the grasp of Ray Clemence to give the Catalans a vital away goal. We weren’t to be denied on the night though and levelled with five minutes remaining thanks to Graham Roberts, who side-footed home Glenn Hoddle’s free-kick from close range. It was no more than we deserved and gave us a lifeline heading to Spain for the return leg. Two weeks later we reconvened at the Nou Camp and we approached the game confident of pulling off the result we needed to reach the final. But the match proved to be a step too far, coming at the end of a gruelling fixture backlog caused by the harsh winter which finally caught up with us. We looked a little jaded on the night but still produced a valiant display, the only thing missing being that vital away goal. As it was, Barcelona scored the only goal of the game a minute into the second half when Danish striker Allen Simonsen stabbed home after Quini’s header had looped into the area. A floodlight failure midway through the first half probably didn’t help our cause.
Spurs 2 Hajduk Split 2 (Spurs win on away goals)
Just over a week before our UEFA Cup semi-final against Hajduk Split in 1984, manager Keith Burkinshaw had announced he was stepping down at the end of the season. If ever the players needed an incentive to win a trophy, that was it. The popular Yorkshireman had already steered us to FA Cup glory in 1981 and 1982, now he was aiming for one last hurrah and his team made sure he had that chance with a narrow semi-final victory over the Yugoslavs. After just 17 minutes of the first leg in Split, Mark Falco’s cross from the left was handled by home defender Ivan Gudelj and Falco himself took the spotkick. Goalkeeper Zoran Simovic saved and denied Falco from the rebound, only for Tony Galvin to pull the loose ball back and Falco this time scrambled it home. Hajduk fought back though and goals in the 67th and 77th minutes from Gudelj and Dusran Pesic ensured a first leg victory. As it turned out, our away goal proved vital. Back in N17, Micky Hazard stroked home a beauty of a free-kick for his first Euro goal of the season but we couldn’t add to our tally. Tony Parks saved a Split free-kick late in the game as the visitors tried to find a way back into the game, but we held on to progress on away goals. A month later, it was Parks’ penalty shootout heroics that gave Burkinshaw the perfect send-off with victory over Anderlecht in the final.
Spurs 3 Ajax 3 (Spurs win on away goals)
No-one of a Spurs persuasion will ever forget where they were the night Lucas Moura scored the most magical hat-trick one could ever imagine to book our place in the Champions League Final for the first time in our history. Any thoughts of playing a final in Madrid were a long, long way off - not just at half-time of the semi-final, second leg in Amsterdam when we trailed 3-0 on aggregate - but months earlier during the group stage, when we had picked up just one point from our first three games. Mauricio Pochettino’s team rallied though, progressing out of the group before defeating Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City to set up a last four clash with Ajax. In what was just our sixth home game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Dutch side inflicted a painful 1-0 defeat in the first leg thanks to Donny van de Beek’s early goal. The Amsterdam Arena was a sea of red and white amid a cacophony of noise for the return game, as their fans sensed a glory, glory night of their own and it reached fever pitch inside the stadium as goals from Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech put them 2-0 up at the break, 3-0 on aggregate. The mood changed however, just before the hour mark when our Brazilian forward Lucas struck twice in four minutes to draw us level on the night. And that meant we needed just one more to progress on the away goals rule. Both sides had chances in the final stages, Ziyech hitting the post and Jan Vertonghen’s header striking the crossbar. We thought that was it, but Lucas had other ideas. As the game entered its sixth additional minute, a deft touch from Dele was perfect for Lucas to stroke precisely into the bottom corner to spark wild celebrations for Spurs fans all over the world! Sadly there was no fairytale ending as we lost the final 2-0 to Liverpool, but the memories of Amsterdam will live on forever.