Dutchmen in the European Cup Finals in the 1980's:
1981 (13)
The 1981 UEFA Cup final was a close win for Ipswich Town, with Frans Thijssen scoring 2 goals on aggregate, and Arnold Muhren among the champions. At Potman Road Ipswich had won 3-0 against Alkmaar AZ'67 , the 2nd leg, played in the Amsterdam Olympic stadium, the Dutch won 4-2. With Welzl, Metgod, Tol and Jonker scoring the AZ-goals. Former Feyenoord keeper Treytel was in both line-ups, together with the goalscorers and Van der Meer, Spelbos, Hovenkamp, Peters, Arntz, Van den Dungen, Kist and Reijnders. German coach Kessler could at least be proud on the 'local club' AZ'67.
1982 (2)
Barcelona played a home game at Nou Camp in the 1982 Cup Winners Cup final against Belgian stars Standard Liege. In front of 100.000 spectators the Catalan team won 2-1. The Wallon team of Standard had former Ajax-players Haan and Tahamata in their line-up.
1983 (3)
The UEFA Cup final of 1983 was one with little Dutch influence. Anderlecht played Benfica and had defender Hofkens on the winning Belgian team. In Brussels they won 1-0 and away in Portugal with Dutch referee Corver on the pitch, they draw 1-1. The 1983 Cup Winners Cup final between Aberdeen and Real Madrid (final score 2-1 after extra time), former AZ'67-libero John Metgod couldn't break the Scottish Ice.
1984 (1)
Again Belgian giants Anderlecht reached an European final in 1984. This time the UEFA Cup. They played, with Hofkens again in their midst, Spurs, who finaly won on penalties 4-3. The two games both ended in 1-1 draws.
1987 (17)
Amsterdam-born striker Willem Kieft of Italian AC Torino and Peter Houtman of Fc Groningen were topscorers in the 1987 UEFA Cup tournament. The Cup Winners Cup final was played in Stadio Olympico, Athens in front of a 35.000 crowd between Ajax Amsterdam and East-German Lokomotive Leipzig. Marco van Basten scored the winning goal (1-0) for the Dutch. The stand-in striker John Bosman became tournament topscorer for Ajax with 8 goals, although he didn't play the final. Coach Johan Cruijff selected the following Dutchmen: Menzo (goalie); Silooy, Rijkaard, Verlaat and Boeve in defence, Wouters, Winter and Arnold Muhren (substituted by Scholten) at midfield; next to Van Basten were the wingers Rob Witschge (substituted by Dennis Bergkamp) and Van 't Schip. Remarkeble in this final was the fact that all players and the trainer were Dutchmen. Ajax played Fc Porto twice for the Super Cup but lost two times 1-0.
1988 (30)
Before winning the European Cup for natioanl teams in Germany that year, the Dutch did very well in the European Cups. In the 1988 European Cup PSV Eindhoven came to a goalless draw in Stuttgart (0-0) against Benfica. Coach Guus Hiddink put in the following players: Van Breukelen (goalie), Gerets, Van Aerle, Ronald Koeman, Heintze and Nielsen in defence; Vanenburg, Linskens and Lerby midfield; Kieft and Gillhaus (substituted by Anton Janssen) in the frontline. The Portuguese lost 5-6 on penalties.
The Cup Winners Cup final was played in Strasbourg in front of 40.000 spectators. Belgian underdogs KV Mechelen played Ajax Amsterdam and won 1-0 (goal scored by Dutch striker Den Boer). Dutch coach De Mos put three other Dutchmen on the Belgian team: defenders Rutjes and Hofkens next to libero Erwin Koeman. Ajax, without "technical director" Johan Cruijff, but with assistent trainers Bobby Haarms, Spitz Kohn and former player Barry Hulshoff, played with Menzo in the goal; Blind, Wouters, Larsson and Verlaat (replaced by Hennie Meijer) in defence; Van 't Schip (replaced by Bergkamp), Winter, Scholten and Arnold Muhren on midfield. The hitmen were John Bosman and Rob Witschge, but they couldn't score..
John Bosman was transfered to KV Mechelen and when the Belgians played Ajax for the 1988 Supercup, he scored twice in the home match (3-0) against PSV. Gillhaus scored in the 2nd leg in Eindhoven, but the 1-0 was not enough. Again coach De Mos took a price, Hiddink didn't.
1989 (5)
The Golden Dutch Trio at AC Milan, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten, played the European Cup final in Nou Camp (Barcelona-97.000 spectators) against Steaua Bucuresti. Gullit and Van Basten both scored two goals, when the hammered Steaua 4-0 home. Marco van Basten became tournament topscorer with 10 goals.
In his first season at Fc Barcelona, trainer Johan Cruijff won the European Cup Winners cup against Sampdoria winning 2-0.
The European Supercup between Cruijffs Barcelona, with Ronald Koeman and AC Milan (and an away-goal of Van Basten), was won by the Italians. In Spain they draw 1-1, the San Siro ended in 1-0 (Evani scoring for Milan).
