1984/85: Football mourns Heysel victims
Wednesday 29 May 1985
e-mail
Print
Digg
Save
Juve match-winner Michel Platini (right) runs on to the ball, but the final was overshadowed by the deaths of 39 Italian fans (©GettyImages)
Juventus 1-0 Liverpool FC
(Platini 58p)
Heysel, Brussels
It should have been a dream final: Liverpool FC against Juventus FC, European Champion Clubs' Cup holders against UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners. Instead it was a nightmare. Thirty-nine Juventus fans died, crushed against or falling through a weak retaining wall, after they were charged by Liverpool supporters before kick-off at Brussels' Heysel Stadium.
Penalty decider
Belgian and UEFA officials later shouldered some of the blame, and many doubted whether the match should have gone ahead at all. In the event, it did, Michel Platini winning the cup for Juventus from the penalty spot. On another day, Joe Fagan's team might have disputed the referee's decision to award a spot-kick. Not, though, on 29 May 1985. Before the tragedy, Juventus, bidding to become the first side to lift all three UEFA trophies, had been too strong for Tampere United FC, Grasshopper-Club, AC Sparta Praha and FC Girondins de Bordeaux.
Uncertain future
In fact, only the French club had asked real questions of Giovanni Trapattoni's side - missing out by the odd goal in five despite a 2-0 home success in the semi-final second leg. Liverpool, too, had marched inexorably towards the final. However, wins against Lech Poznán, SL Benfica, FK Austria Wien and Panathinaikos FC would be their last at this level for some time. The subsequent blanket ban on English clubs saw to that. Yet Juventus also faced an uncertain future after this hollow victory. According to his wife, goalscorer Platini "wanted to give everything up. In his head was the fact that a Frenchman, who died at Heysel, had come to see him play. That broke Michel in two."
©uefa.com 1998-2009. All rights reserved.
