On A Day Like Today: Valencia CF win the European Cup Winners Cup

On May 14th, 1980, Valencia CF beat Arsenal on penalties to win the European Cup Winners Cup.

The team had reached the final of the competition after eliminating B 1903 Copenhague, Glasgow Rangers, FC Barcelona and Nantes. Ahead of them were the English side, whom they would meet in Heysel, Brussels to decide who would lift the cup.

Around 8,000 Valencianistas made the trip to watch their side, coached by Alfredo di Stefano. He fielded a lineup consisting of Pereira, Carrete, Botubot, Arias, Tendillo, Saura, Subirats, Pablo, Kempes, Solsona and Bonhof -with the latter trio described by Arsenal coach Terry Neil as ‘The golden triangle.’

The strategy employed was to be solid in defence and shutout Arsenal’s Liam Brady, regarded as the ‘Gunners’ best player at the time. Attacking from VCF came mainly on the counter, and Kempes and Bonhof both had early opportunities to score, but the match would reach full-time with no break in the deadlock.

Extra time failed to separate the two sides either, thus the European Cup Winners Cup final would be decided by a penalty shootout. Kempes was first up, and his spot kick would be saved by Arsenal goalkeeper Pat Jennings.

“When I missed the penalty I broke into a cold sweat. It was very bad for me,” admitted Kempes.

His blushes were saved when Pereira responded in kind, stopping Brady’s penalty.

Solsona, Pablo, Castellanos, Bonhof and Ricardo Arias all converted their efforts, and with a save from Pereira to deny Graham Rix, Valencia CF added the prestigious European honour to their trophy cabinet.

“This win is the peak for any professional,” a jubilant Pereira said after his shootout heroics. “I kept out a couple of penalties, but I’m more satisfied with my performance over the 90 minutes. Intuition was important, because a perfectly taken penalty can’t be stopped.”

Di Stefano revealed his belief in the team, claiming that “I had absolute faith that we were going to win the European Cup Winners Cup. We sacrificed individual glory to play as a team.”