On This Day – 28th May
Nottingham Forest retained the European Cup on this day back in 1980, beating West German side Hamburg 1-0 in the Final in Madrid.
A single goal from Scottish winger John Robertson after 20 minutes was enough to separate the sides. Hamburg were a tough opponent. and had Englishman Kevin Keegan in their side.
Nottingham Forest had beaten Swedish side Malmo the previous season by the same score and they became the first British side to retain the trophy.
This was the fourth of six consecutive European Cup Finals to be won by an English team. Liverpool won the biggest prize in European football in 1977, 78 and 81, Forest in 1979 and 80 and Aston Villa in 1982.
Nottingham Forest had got to through the first two rounds with relative ease, beating Swedish side Osters and Arges Pitesti of Romania.
Their first real test came in the Quarter Final against Dynamo Berlin. They lost the first leg 1-0 at home before beating the German side 3-1 in the second leg, going through 3-2 on aggregate.
Dutch giants Ajax were beaten 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final in another fantastic result for Brian Clough’s men.
The Forest team that beat Hamburg was:
Peter Shilton, Viv Anderson, Frank Gray, John McGovern, Larry Lloyd, Kenny Burns, Martin O’Neill, Ian Bowyer, Garry Birtles, Gary Mills, John Robertson
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