When Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties to win the FA Cup earlier this month, Kostas Tsimikas was the unlikely match-winner for the Reds as the Greek stepped up to score the winning spot-kick after Alisson had saved from Mason Mount.
Having clinched a domestic double, you’d back the left-back to step up again if called upon in Paris when Jurgen Klopp’s side seek revenge against Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Of course Tsimikas isn’t the only unlikely final match-winner for Liverpool, with his Wembley heroics ensuring he was following in the footsteps of one famous former Red in particular. And given a European Cup final clash with Real Madrid is looming in Paris, evoking memories of their first final meeting in the tournament in the same city back in 1981, it seems rather fitting that a left-back netted the winner in their most recent final on the eve of their latest showdown with the La Liga giants.
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Alan Kennedy is one of Liverpool’s most memorable legends. Affectionately nicknamed ‘Barney Rubble’, like Tsimikas he scored a winning penalty in a shootout for the Reds, though his came on an occasion of more grandeur against AS Roma in the 1984 European Cup final.
Like the Greek, he scored at Wembley for Liverpool too, netting an 118th minute opener for the Reds against West Ham United in 1981 League Cup final, only for the Hammers to equalise and force a replay. Meanwhile, he also scored an equaliser in their 2-1 victory over Manchester United in the final of the same competition two years later.
Yet arguably his finest hour came in Paris, against Real Madrid, in the 1981 European Cup final as he scored the only goal late on from the acutest of angles as Liverpool were crowned champions of Europe for the third time. Over 40 years have passed yet Kennedy’s strike still remains one of the Reds’ most iconic ever goals.
“Yes, happy memories! It felt fantastic at the time,” Kennedy chuckled when recalling the moment when speaking exclusively to the ECHO, courtesy of 101greatgoals.com. “I felt the forwards couldn't quite do it. Dalglish, Johnson and people like that, so I thought I'd give it a go and managed to score the winner.
“I didn't know how long there was to go. I know if I didn't make the run into the box and didn't score that maybe it would go to extra time, and we definitely didn't want that. Whether it was eight or nine minutes to go, it didn't matter, we weren't hanging on.
“They didn't have that many chances and there weren’t that many chances for us either. Thinking about it now, it was probably one of the most boring Champions League / European Cup finals that we've ever seen!
“But it was decided by my goal, and I was pretty proud of doing something like that. I'd been at the club for three years and hadn't quite established myself in the first team. There were other players that were trying to take positions, including Colin Irwin, Richard Money. So, I was always under pressure but I came up with the goods so that was nice.”
He continued: “To be fair, I was quite greedy, I was always wanting to have a go and wanted to at that particular time no matter what. I think it was Cortes who came in and tried to bundle me outside the area, but as I was so close to the inside box, if he'd have hit me, I'd have gone down, and it would have been a penalty anyway. Phil Neal or McDermott would have taken that.
“I'll never forget as it looked like I was going to go down, David Johnson screaming at me, saying, 'Pass the ball! Pass the ball!' I thought to myself, 'Not at this stage'. My first reaction was to hit the ball anywhere towards the goal and fortunately it went in.
“The goalkeeper took a chance that I was going to go for the far post, but it went in the near post, hit the far post and went in the back of the net. But that moment in time will stay with me forever, because of what happened a few minutes later when we were picking the European Cup up. My first medal in the competition.
“It was a dream come true for me because in many ways, I might not have played in the game as Bob Paisley the manager had a couple of tactical decisions to make, whether I was fit enough, and he gave me a chance to do it.”
As Liverpool prepare to face Real Madrid in the European Cup final in Paris once again, Klopp has had to contend with a number of injury scares in the final weeks of the season, with Fabinho, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Divock Origi and Thiago Alcantara all suffering setbacks and having to prove their fitness ahead of the showpiece occasion on May 28.
Fortunately for the Reds, it was only the Belgian and Spaniard missing from their midweek open training session ahead of the final, with the Reds still confident that the latter can return to face Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
Kennedy found himself in a similar situation back in 1981, after suffering a fractured wrist which ruled him out for six weeks and left him facing a race against time to return for the final. Fortunately for the defender, he made his return on the final day of the First Division season against Man City, however, he still had no idea if he had done enough to convince manager Bob Paisley to start him until the day of the game.
“I only realised on the day of the game that I'd be playing in the final as I had an injury to my wrist and the manager felt I needed more time to recover,” he explained. “But he gave me the chance to play in the game, so I was very grateful for him to do that.
“Bob Paisley was worried about what players he was going to play. He had several options at left back and centre forward with Dalglish - I don't think Kenny was fully fit for that game but he wanted to play him because of his experience.
“It was close to six weeks that I was out, but I played a game for Liverpool a week before the actual final against Manchester City and I thought I did okay. I didn't have any issues with the wrist, but maybe the manager was thinking otherwise as he had some very good replacements.
“They were very last minute in those days, particularly Bob Paisley. He wanted to keep his cards close to his chest and didn't want to give Real Madrid any thought that I might be playing.
“We had a couple of other options, Irwin and one or two others moved out of position but in the end, he went for me. I think it was about an hour and half or so before the game, so it was rather late!”
Over 40 years on from that 1981 showdown in Paris and the lasting memory for fans is obviously Kennedy’s run into the box and finish. Yet for the man himself, his lasting memory of the occasion is rather different.
“The main memory was the pitch! We trained on that pitch, and we complained saying it wasn't fit for a European Cup final, but they just shrugged their shoulders,” he recalled. “They didn't water the pitch and didn't even cut the grass!
"At the time we were brilliant passers of the ball and Real Madrid weren't, so our concerns were how that pitch favoured them a little bit. The stories are important to the background to it, especially telling people about the pitch that we played on.
“Everybody think it's bowling green and it's beautiful, but that pitch was one of the worst I've ever played on. All the players said that too.
“I think they'd played rugby on it a few days beforehand, hadn't cut the grass, made sure it was flat, the lines weren't painted on properly. I'm not sure what those lines were painted with actually as the ball kept bouncing up from them!”
He continued: “Everything was going against us that season. In terms of reputation, Real Madrid, with what they'd achieved, were seen as the favourites, but Liverpool's record was as good as anybody's.
“We'd won it in ‘77 and ‘78 and Nottingham Forest had a couple of wins around that time too. British clubs had a good record and we wanted that to continue. But when those odds are so stacked against you, you come out fighting. We had characters like Graeme Souness, Ray Kennedy, myself, Phil Neal and we knew no matter what, we'd eventually win the game.
“Bob Paisley set his stall out early on in European competition. We'd had a difficult run-in quarter finals and semi-finals - a tough route to the final no doubt, but we always used to say as a Liverpool player, once you make it to a final you have to go on and win it. Coming from Newcastle, winning anything was just incredible.
“It's all about the mental side of it. Most of the lads realised the scale of the job, we were in a cup final so nobody was going to be daft on having a few drinks before the game. We felt as though we could have a drink afterwards though. It was generally a pint of beer rather than a pint of wine so I'm not sure how we got labelled as drinking too much.
“You know what, Bob Paisley said he never had one drink and I know he didn't as he wanted to savour the moment. Some of his players didn't want to savour the moment and they wanted to enjoy themselves. So, they indulged in alcoholic beverages, let's just say that!”
Saturday’s final between Liverpool and Real Madrid will be the third time the two sides have met in a European Cup final, with the La Liga outfit controversially coming out on top in Kiev most recently back in 2018. Meanwhile, they also knocked the Reds out in the quarter-finals last year, and will be looking to win the Champions League for the fifth time in nine seasons.
Ancelotti’s men have got to Paris the hard way this year, having to come from behind to beat Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Man City. Yet the aura around them remains as strong as ever, as Liverpool go in search of revenge for that 2018 final loss.
And, unsurprisingly, Kennedy is backing his former club to come out on top and follow in his footsteps in the French capital.
“I must admit I was really impressed by Real Madrid against Manchester City,” he said. “I thought they played a really attacking game, put them under pressure, made them make mistakes and consequently they got their reward.
“Whether they can do that against Liverpool remains to be seen. But I just love the way Liverpool have been playing, I love the way players have fitted into positions, whether it's the left-hand side of midfield with Diaz or Mane playing down the middle or Salah coming in, I love the way they work as a team and break teams down.
“It will be fascinating to see how Madrid's back line cope with Liverpool's forward threat. Liverpool is up there right now as one of the best teams we've ever seen.
“But Karim Benzema, he's really come alive in this competition. He is what a centre forward should be all about. He's mobile, gets in the right positions, is strong, quick and Real Madrid plays to his strengths. It'll be fascinating to see how Virgil Van Dijk, Matip and the rest cope with that threat.
“Real Madrid have an aura about them, but Liverpool had this aura for me back in the eighties. It's taken a while to get it back, but we've got there under Klopp. These two teams are almost impossible to separate - it's on a knife edge.
“I just think it will be great to watch, magnificent to play in. When I was there 40 or so years ago, only 52,000 could get tickets into the stadium and you could sell that twice or three times over easily, so I feel sorry for those wanting to go who will miss out on an incredible night. I'm really looking forward to the game and expect a 2-1 victory to the red men.”
A lot of talk in the build-up to this year’s final has been around Mohamed Salah, with the forward set to face off against Benzema, his main Ballon d’Or rival this season, in Paris. The Egyptian has admitted he wants to set the record straight against Real Madrid after he was infamously forced off injured in the first half when the two sides met back in 2018.
Meanwhile, with his contract set to expire in 2023, his long-term future on Merseyside remains uncertain, with the 29-year-old revealing earlier this week that while he doesn’t know if he’ll agree new terms with the club, he’ll at least see out his current deal at Anfield.
Kennedy is hoping for a breakthrough in negotiations between club and player after the Champions League final, admitting Liverpool face a virtually impossible task in trying to replace Salah.
“I obviously want Salah to stay at Liverpool,” he said. “We need him, but we need him at his best. Some of his performances this season haven't been up to his very, very high standards.
“Sometimes he doesn't score or create, and people have a go at him, but I want him to stay as he's got a lot more than what others can offer. To replace Salah, you're looking at upwards of £100m pounds and I'm not sure who's even out there right now who comes close.”
Despite struggling for goals in 2022, Salah still finished the season by winning his third Premier League Golden Boot after scoring against Wolves on the final day of the season. Meanwhile, left-back Andy Robertson was also on the scoresheet against Bruno Lage’s side.
So could the Scotland captain do it again, on the biggest occasion, and follow in Kennedy and Tsimikas’ footsteps by becoming a match-winning left-back? As fond of Robertson as the former Red, he isn’t putting money on it.
Yet he does think Liverpool’s number 26 is part of a defence which is one of the best in the Reds’ history, with Kennedy rating one player even more highly than Salah.
“I'm not sure about Robertson being the hero,” Kennedy chuckled. “He doesn't get forward into the positions I did, which was mostly just outside the box, but he does think who is in a better position than him and how can he get the ball to them.
“I love his forward runs. He makes a move then goes. You can't stop him. He makes the run and sees it the way I saw it. Get the jump on the right winger and make the move before they can even react. I love the way him and Trent play.
“The goalkeeper is the unsung hero in all of it though, I think. The team is very, very well led by Alisson, he's been such an inspiration to the players. He talks to them, tells them how to play, where to go, what to do, it's a very good back four. That could rival my team from back in the day.”
