With our Europa League semi-final coming up with Valencia, i thought I’d show the most nerve-wracking penalty shoot out between Arsenal and our Spanish opponents in the Cup Winners Cup Final in 1980. The game was played at the infamous Heysel stadium on a horrendously waterlogged pitch and the game was stuck at 0-0 even after a half-hour of extra time. We were only allowed one sub in those days so there were very heavy tired legs as it came down to the penalty shoot-out…..
Here was our team on that day:
GK 1 Northern Ireland Pat Jennings
DF 2 Northern Ireland Pat Rice (c)
DF 3 Northern Ireland Sammy Nelson
MF 4 England Brian Talbot
DF 5 Republic of Ireland David O’Leary
DF 6 Scotland Willie Young
MF 7 Republic of Ireland Liam Brady
FW 8 England Alan Sunderland
FW 9 Republic of Ireland Frank Stapleton
MF 10 England David Price
MF 11 England Graham Rix
Substitutes:
MF 12 England John Hollins (replaced David Price on 105 minutes)
Watch the nail-biting finish below….
These were our penalty takers – in order…
Brady
Stapleton
Sunderland
Talbot
Hollins
Rix