The 1981 Intercontinental Cup was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

match between

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

of England and Flamengo of Brazil on 13 December 1981 at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. The annual Intercontinental Cup was contested between the winners of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

and

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

. Flamengo qualified for the Intercontinental Cup for the first time following their Copa Libertadores Cup success. Liverpool were also appearing in their first Intercontinental Cup. They had declined to take part in 1977 and 1978 after they won the European Cup. On 27 October 2017, following a meeting held in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, India, the FIFA Council recognised the winners of Intercontinental Cup as world champions. Liverpool qualified for the Intercontinental Cup by winning the primary European cup competition, the European Cup. They won the 1980–81 European Cup defeating Spanish team

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Flamengo qualified by winning the primary South American cup competition, the Copa Libertadores. They beat Chilean team Cobreloa 2–0 in a playoff after the previous ties finished 2–2 on points to win the

1981 Copa Libertadores The 1981 Copa Libertadores was won by Flamengo of Brazil, who beat Cobreloa of Chile in the finals, without losing a match in their campaign on the way to win their first title.João Batista Nunes scored. They extended their lead in the 34th minute when Adílio added a second. A further goal was scored in the 41st minute by Nunes to give Flamengo a 3–0 lead at half-time. Liverpool were unable to respond in the second half and with no further goals scored, Flamengo won the match to secure their first victory in the Intercontinental Cup. It was the fourth successive victory by a South American team.

Background

qualified for the Intercontinental Cup as the reigning

winners. They won the 1980–81 European Cup beating

1–0 in the

. This was their first appearance in the Intercontinental Cup. They had been scheduled to take place in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

and 1978 but did not compete. They declined to play in 1977 and were replaced by runners-up

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

, while Liverpool decided against playing

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

in 1978 due to the brutality of previous Intercontinental Cup matches. Flamengo qualified for the competition as a result of winning the

1981 Copa Libertadores The 1981 Copa Libertadores was won by Flamengo of Brazil, who beat Cobreloa of Chile in the finals, without losing a match in their campaign on the way to win their first title.Cobreloa 2–0 in a playoff after the previous two-legs had resulted in a 2–2 draw on points. The second leg and replay were marred by brutality. Flamengo players Adílio and Lico were cut by a rock brought onto the pitch by Cobreloa defender Mario Soto during the second leg. While four players were sent off in the playoff. It was Flamengo's first appearance in the Intercontinental Cup after winning the Copa Libertadores for the first time. Liverpool's last match before the Intercontinental Cup was against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the fourth round of the 1981–82 Football League Cup. They won 3–0 in extra time courtesy of goals from Craig Johnston, Terry McDermott and

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

. The last match Flamengo played before the Intercontinental Cup was against Vasco de Gama in the final match of the 1981 Campeonato Carioca. Flamengo won 2–1 with goals from Adílio and João Batista Nunes to win the competition. Before the match, Liverpool manager

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. ...

was informed of the death of goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar's father. It was decided to keep the news of the death from him to maintain his focus on the match.

Match

Summary

The first chance fell to Flamengo in the 12th minute, which they scored from. Zico passed to Nunes, who had run in between Liverpool defenders Phil Neal and Phil Thompson. The pass went over Thompson's head and Nunes placed the ball beyond Grobbelaar with his first touch to give Flamengo the lead. Ian Hargraves, writing in the ''

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Reach plc, Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, wi ...

'' stated that the first goal "was a shattering blow and one from which Liverpool never recovered." He also noted that "The Brazilians, playing their 77th game of the season, stroked the ball around with loving care and always had time to spare." The next chance of the match fell to Flamengo defender Júnior. A corner taken by Tita found Júnior, who was from goal, his volley was just wide of the Liverpool goal. Soon after, Flamengo were awarded a free-kick when Liverpool midfielder Terry McDermott brought down Tita. As Zico ran in to take the free-kick, a Flamengo player moved out of the wall in front of the Liverpool goal. This left a gap through which Zico's shot went, although Grobbelaar was able to stop the shot, the rebound fell to Adílio, who scored to give Flamengo a 2–0 lead. A third goal followed seven minutes later. Zico's pass put Nunes past the Liverpool defence and his precise shot from the right-hand side of the Liverpool penalty area went past Grobbelaar to give Flamengo a 3–0 lead. Flamengo nearly added a fourth goal before half time, but Andrade's shot was saved by Grobbelaar. In the second half, Flamengo were content to protect the lead and played possession football for the most part. Liverpool continued to press for a goal and replaced McDermott with David Johnson early in the half. However, despite two shots on target from striker Craig Johnston, who was playing his first match for Liverpool, they were unable to score a goal. The match finished 3–0 to Flamengo to secure their first victory in the Intercontinental Cup.

Details

Post-match

Flamengo manager Carpegiani was delighted with his team's performance: "We were magnificent in the first half when I thought Liverpool were very disappointing. We played Zico further back than usual and, though he did not score, he did most of the damage". Reflecting on the match in a later interview, Andrade acknowledged the importance of playmaker Zico: “Zico was the great player in that team, but alongside him there was a lot of quality. It was a doddle in the first half. In the second half we managed the game.” Zico felt the Liverpool players had underestimated the ability of Flamengo: “Liverpool were the best team in Europe and they continued being so, they had high-quality players, great technical ability, but Flamengo played much better football and maybe they didn't expect we would be so strong.” Zico was awarded a Toyota Celica as a result of him being named man of the match. Liverpool manager Paisley was at a loss to describe his team's performance: "I have never seen our team so dull, so lacking in ideas and aggression. I simply cannot understand it". Liverpool captain Thompson was equally unsure about why they had failed to match Flamengo: “We let them dictate the pace of the game. We should have tried to quicken it up instead of attempting to match them at their slower tempo. We never played as we can do, and everyone knows we can do". Midfielder

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...

praised the performance of Zico: “I wanted to see how he would react to a physical challenge, but I couldn't get close enough to him to find out." Looking back years later, defender

Mark Lawrenson Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, among others, during the 1970s and 1980s. After ...

admitted the players didn't take the match as seriously as Flamengo: “We simply didn't take the game seriously, the Brazilian boys had been there for ten days, training and acclimatising, and it was a big deal for them. They absolutely battered us. Zico was sensational.” Liverpool finished the 1981–82 Football League First Division in first place, four points clear of Ipswich Town in second place. They also won the 1981–82 Football League Cup, beating Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 in the

. Despite their domestic success, Liverpool were unable to retain the European Cup. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals after Bulgarian team CSKA Sofia won 2–1 over two-legs. Flamengo won the 1982 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A defeating Grêmio in the finals. However, they were unable to retain the Copa Libertadores in 1982. They reached the semi-finals, but were eliminated by eventual winners

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

. A decision by the FIFA Council in 2017, considered all previous winners of the Intercontinental Cup to be world champions, on the same level as the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

. The two teams met each other again in the final of the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup. Liverpool won the

1–0 in extra time.

References

Bibliography

* {{Liverpool F.C. matches Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup Intercontinental Cup (1960–2004) Intercontinental Cup 1981 Intercontinental Cup 1981 Intercontinental Cup (football) matches hosted by Japan Inter inter Sports competitions in Tokyo December 1981 sports events in Asia 1981 in Tokyo 1981 in association football