1991 European Cup Final

The 1991 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, Italy, on 29 May 1991, that saw Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia[lower-alpha 1] defeat Marseille of France in a penalty shoot-out. After normal time and extra time could not separate the two sides, the match was to be decided on penalty kicks. Manuel Amoros's miss for the French side proved crucial, as Red Star held their nerve to win their first European Cup. The final is, as of 2020, the most recent in which both of the finalists made their first ever European Cup/UEFA Champions League final appearance.

1991 European Cup Final
Event1990–91 European Cup
Red Star Belgrade Marseille
0 0
After extra time
Red Star Belgrade won 5–3 on penalties
Date29 May 1991 (1991-05-29)
VenueStadio San Nicola, Bari
RefereeTullio Lanese (Italy)
Attendance51,587
A ticket for the 1991 European Cup Final

Teams
Team Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
Red Star Belgrade None
Marseille None

Road to the final
Further information: 1990–91 European Cup
Red Star Belgrade Round Marseille
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Grasshopper 5–2 1–1 (H) 4–1 (A) First round Dinamo Tirana 5–1 5–1 (H) 0–0 (A)
Rangers 4–1 3–0 (H) 1–1 (A) Second round Lech Poznań 8–4 2–3 (A) 6–1 (H)
Dynamo Dresden 5–1 3–0 (H) 2–1 (A) Quarter-finals A.C. Milan 4–1 1–1 (A) 3–0 (H)
Bayern Munich 4–3 2–1 (A) 2–2 (H) Semi-finals Spartak Moscow 5–2 3–1 (A) 2–1 (H)

Lead-up to the match

Red Star arrived in Italy unusually early, on Thursday, 23 May 1991, six full days ahead of the final. The team set up base in the town of Monopoli, 40 kilometres (25 mi) south-east of Bari. There they stayed in Il Melograno Hotel and trained at the facilities of A.C. Monopoli.[3] Due to a lot of interest from richer European clubs already being raised for the future services of young Red Star players, the club management tried to ensure its footballers were fully focused on the task at hand. The players were placed in semi-quarantine immediately upon arrival in Italy, which meant being separated from wives and girlfriends without the ability to receive incoming phone calls in hotel rooms, though able to make outgoing calls.[4]

Over the coming days, the club also organized for a large entourage consisting of former players and coaches, friends of the club, etc. to arrive in Bari in order to watch Red Star in its first European Cup final. Therefore, club legends Rajko Mitić and Dragoslav Šekularac, notable former players Srđan Mrkušić, Stanislav Karasi, Živorad Jevtić, club's former coach Miša Pavić along with Serbian celebrities and public personalities such as Ljuba Tadić, Ivan Bekjarev, Bora Đorđević, etc. made their way to Italy.[5]

Match

Details
Red Star Belgrade 0–0 (a.e.t.) Marseille
Report
Penalties
 5–3
Attendance: 51,587
Referee: Tullio Lanese (Italy)
Red Star Belgrade
Marseille
GK1 Stevan Stojanović (c)
CM2 Vladimir Jugović
LB3 Slobodan Marović 61'
RB4 Refik Šabanadžović
CB5 Miodrag Belodedici
CB6 Ilija Najdoski
AM7 Robert Prosinečki
CM8 Siniša Mihajlović 40'
CF9 Darko Pančev
AM10 Dejan Savićević 84'
CF11 Dragiša Binić 26'
Substitutes:
GK12 Milić Jovanović
MF13 Ivica Momčilović
DF14 Rade Tošić
MF15 Vlada Stošić 84'
FW16 Vladan Lukić
Manager:
Ljupko Petrović
GK1 Pascal Olmeta
RWB2 Manuel Amoros
LWB3 Éric Di Meco 112'
CB4 Basile Boli 28'
CB5 Carlos Mozer
SW6 Bruno Germain
CB7 Bernard Casoni
RF8 Chris Waddle
CF9 Jean-Pierre Papin (c)
LF10 Abedi Pele
CM11 Laurent Fournier 75'
Substitutes:
MF12 Dragan Stojković 112'
MF13 Philippe Vercruysse 75'
MF14 Jean Tigana
DF15 Éric Mura
GK16 Alain Casanova
Manager:
Raymond Goethals

Assistant referees:
Castello Buonocore (Italy)
Roberto Calabassi (Italy)
Fourth official:
Pierluigi Magni (Italy)

Match rules

  • 90 minutes
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
  • Five named substitutes, of which two may be used

Analysis

Over 20 years later in 2011, talking to a French football magazine about the famous win in Bari, Siniša Mihajlović said:

That final is still very vivid in my memory. I think it was the most boring final match in European Cup history. A few hours before the match, seven of us were shown tapes with Olympique matches. I remember [manager] Ljupko Petrović telling us: 'If we attack them we'll leave ourselves open for counterattacks', to which I asked 'so, what do we do then'. His answer was: 'When you get the ball, give it back to them'. So we spent 120 minutes on the pitch without practically touching the ball. The match went to penalties, [Marseille player] Manuel Amoros failed to convert his whereas we converted all five. Had we approached the match with an attacking mentality, we probably would've lost, not because Olympique were necessarily better than us, but because their players were used to playing big matches like this one. We had a squad full of 21, 22, and 23-year-old kids.[6]

See also

Notes
  1. UEFA conventionally refers to Red Star Belgrade by the club's Serbian-language name, Crvena zvezda. Since the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, the club competes under the auspices of its successor Serbian Football Association.[1][2]

References
  1. "1990/91: Crvena zvezda spot on". Archive: UEFA Champions League. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  2. "Member associations: Serbia: Honours". Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  3. Red Star in Bari
  4. Red Star in Bari
  5. Red Star in Bari
  6. Mihajlović: Finale u Bariju najdosadnije u istoriji Archived October 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine;sportal.rs, 12 September 2011
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