1981/82: Home sweet home for Barcelona

FC Barcelona 2-1 R. Standard de Liège
Camp Nou, Barcelona

Teams had won the title in their own city, but FC Barcelona became the first to win it in their own stadium. Udo Lattek’s side produced an erratic campaign but, after a 1-1 draw in London, a single goal by Allan Simonsen defeated Tottenham Hotspur FC in the semi-final and allowed the Catalans to play ‘at home’ in a final which acted as dress rehearsal for the inaugural game of the FIFA World Cup.

Quini strikes scoring note
Simonsen and fellow winger José ‘Lobo’ Carrasco were the key providers for one of the legendary goalscorers in Spanish football – Enrique Castro ‘Quini’. It was to be his goal which decided the title. Their opponents were a talented R. Standard de Liège side which had Michel Preud’homme in goal; Eric Gerets and Walter Meeuws in defence; Guy Vandersmissen and Arie Haan in midfield; and an attack which included Simon Tahamata and the Swede, Benny Wendt – implacably marked by ‘Tarzan’ Migueli in the final. Having convincingly beaten FC Porto in the quarter-finals, Standard knocked the defending champions, Dynamo Tbilisi off the podium by beating them in Belgium and in Georgia to earn their place in the final.
Most of the 110,000 fans in the Camp Nou were stunned when Vandersmissen put the ‘visitors’ ahead after only seven minutes. But Simonsen scored a crucial goal just before the break and, 17 minutes into a second half which wouldn’t have won Fair Play awards, Quini profited from a quickly-taken free-kick by Simonsen to score the winner. Meeuws was sent off and Barcelona won the trophy for the second time.