Liverpool today jetted out to West Germany for the showdown with Bayern Munich with manager Bob Paisley making no attempt to play down the magnitude of the task ahead. "This is going to be one of the hardest tests we have ever had," said Mr. Paisley, who knows that Liverpool must succeed where all but one European Cup challenger has failed if they are to reach their third Champions Cup final. Only Real Madrid, who drew 1-1 in Bayern's Olympic Stadium five years ago, have avoided defeat when the Bavarian side have played at home in the premier European competition. Twenty other teams have travelled to Munich with varying degrees of hope, and all gave been beaten. But, in this semi-final second leg, Liverpool also know if they can score just once it could be crucial. Though disappointed by the goalless drew played out at Anfield two weeks ago, Liverpool had the satisfaction of keeping a clean sheet. And that left manager Paisley like a punter checking his pools coupon saying: "Any score draw will do me." A scoring draw will see Liverpool through on the away goals rule but, to achieve that, they must end their goal famine which has stretched over the last four matches. But with David Johnson now fit and partnering Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness back after missing the first leg with a back injury and Terry McDermott over the worst of the problems caused by his dislocated thumb, Liverpool have the men capable of exploiting any weakness in the Munich rearguard.

"By and large, you get a chance in every game," said Mr. Paisley "some go in, some do not. Against CSKA Sofia everything we hit went in." The Reds will be aiming for the same brand of marksmanship tomorrow night while, at the same time, keeping a tight grip on Karl Heinz Rummenigge and his henchmen in the Bayern attack. Phil Thompson, in doubt with a knee injury, was able to train this morning before the squad flew out, but Mr. Paisley said: "He is still doubtful although it is a good sign he was able to train." Colin Irwin is set to replace Thompson after missing the last six games. If Liverpool are to win through, they must break new ground because, in all their years in Europe, they have never beaten a team which held them to a draw in the first leg at Anfield. To put that in perspective, though, they have not had many opportunities because of their good win ratio in home legs. Only two teams before Bayern a fortnight ago earned draws when playing at Anfield first - Bayern, themselves, in 1971-72 and Ferencvaros in 1974-75. Both times Liverpool went out of competition at that stage but this is the third time and, as happens so often in all walks on life, the third time can be the one that changes the sequence. Bayern were without a game over the weekend. They played Nuremburg away on Thursday and won 1-0.

Liverpool made it England's night - and every Englishman's night - by reaching the European Cup Final for the third time in the Olympic Stadium here against all the odds. It is an arena that has seen its fair share of drama. But few can compare with the closing stages of this European Cup semi-final. Liverpool thought they were through and in the clear when, with seven minutes to go, they scored their goal, a move worth treasuring in the memory. It started with a kick from goalkeeper Ray Clemence which reached striker David Johnson way out on the right, who only a few minutes earlier had been hobbling with a hamstring injury. The chance brought him to life and he lobbed it forward delightfully into the path of stand-in skipper Ray Kennedy, who slid it neatly, sweetly past keeper Walter Junghans. It seemed all over. But, with just three minutes remaining, Bayern drew level. A cross from the right by Janzon skimmed from the top of Colin Irwin's head when another defender, Alan Hansen, was perfectly placed to clear it, and dropped perfectly for European Footballer of the Year, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, to reach and score. Those final three minutes must have stretched like a lifetime for Liverpool, but somehow, with the crowd baying for a Bayern winner, they held out to reach the Paris final on the away goals rule. Liverpool had to survive the cruellest blow, the loss of their brightest star, Kenny Dalglish, dangerously early in the game. It happened in the fifth minute when Bayern forward Del Haye, not, it must be stressed, a notorious hard man, lunged too far to recover a ball he had lost and took Dalglish's legs with his challenge. Five minutes later the Scottish striker hobbled off on an injured left ankle - out of a match which failed to rise to the great occasion, but which became enlivened by his substitute.

This was a black youngster, 22 year old Howard Gayle, who is still waiting for his first full game at any level for Liverpool. Yet his enthusiasm, dash and pace shamed many of the more experienced men around him. The attitude of general caution was understandable. The inhibiting knowledge that one goal from either side might finish it restricted both teams to extreme caution throughout much of the match, and compressed play to midfield. Liverpool recovered so well from the disappointment of losing Dalglish that it was a full 15 minutes before Ray Clemence in their goal even saw the ball, when it was headed high over by Bayern striker Hoeness. The great thing about Liverpool - perhaps their greatest - is that over the years they have become accustomed to pressure, both physical and psychological. Some of the tackling was admittedly hairy-chested, but it worked.

Liverpool jubilant manager Bob Paisley said: "This was our greatest ever performance in Europe and I did not have to motivate the lads at all. Paul Breitner did it for me with his comments after the first leg when he called us 'unintelligent' - I think we were intelligent tonight." Referring to Liverpool's injuries before and during the game, Paisley joked: "not bad for a Central League side! There was no way we could have stood extra time. That is why I pushed Ray Kennedy forward."

Ray Kennedy said: "It was superb. Everything had to go into this one game so it was muck or nettles."

Liverpool achieved what is surely the most remarkable result in all their European matches last night to become the first British club to reach three Champions Cup finals. They drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium to go through on away goals, having been held to a scoreless draw at Anfield a fortnight before. Moreover, all this was achieved after losing Kenny Dalglish at the start of the match. Needless to say the evening was, in the main, aggressively Bavarian. Even before the kick-off Liverpool's task looked as steep and forbidding as the packed, noisy banks of terracing around them. When they lost Dalglish after five minutes, the mountain began to look unclimbable. Dalglish went down after a tackle by Del'Haye, playing for Bayern instead of the injured Niedermayer, and stayed down which is always an ominous sign. Several minutes of intense treatment to his left ankle failed to bring an improvement and so, instead of playing the game with the man most likely to win it for them, Liverpool were left with the inexperienced Gayle partnering Johnson in attack. Gayle's first team career, before last night, amounted to half an hour as a substitute against Manchester City last October. Bayern showed no immediate signs of exploiting this turn of events or the weakness that already existed in the absence of Thompson and Alan Kennedy in the Liverpool defence. With Breitner dogged by little Lee - and fouled punitively by Souness soon after Dalglish's departure - they took a long time to establish any line of communication between Rummenigge and Hoeness and those behind them seeking space against a Liverpool side given added steel by their early misfortune. Playing patient, possessive football, Liverpool also kept the pace of the game deliberate and the mood in a low key. They were content to allow Bayern run themselves ragged as they tried to find a way through and something of the German's frustration began to show when Weiner charged 50 yards out of defence with the ball at his feet and attempted unsuccessfully to bludgeon a path through the middle. This, and a shot by Durenberger easily held by Clemence, was more or less all that Bayern achieved before half-time. Liverpool's attack had scarcely achieved anything more during this period, although they might have had a penalty just before the half hour when Gayle went sprawling after being tackled from behind by Durenberger. Gayle's strength and speed were of sufficient concern to Bayern for them to foul him regularly. At the start of the second half, he was brought down twice in quick succession and on the second occasion Augenthaler was shown the yellow card. Later Gayle himself was cautioned for a foul on Dremmler and in the 70th minute he gave way to Case.

As Weiner weakly played the ball back to Irwin near his own goal area - the Liverpool man was so surprised that he failed to get in a proper shot - it began to dawn on the Bayern supporters that their side might conceivably be beaten. Certainly, Bayern might have fallen behind when a long ball from Souness found Johnson starting to run free of a square defence. His shot was half blocked and then cleared. To get more width into their attack Bayern took off Durenberger and brought on Janzon to run wide on the left. However, they were more inclined to look to the fast overlapping of Dremmler on the right. Either way, with Hansen dominating the Liverpool penalty area, the Germans still found it hard to create space near the goal. Seven minutes from the end Liverpool's fondest hope and Bayern's worst fear were realised in almost absurdly simple fashion. A long clearance from Clemence found Johnson near the right-hand touch-line; by that time Johnson, with his left thigh strapped up, was limping heavily but he still managed to lob the ball square over a defender's head to Ray Kennedy who calmly brought it down before shooting low past Junghan's right hand. Now Bayern had to score twice before the finish to save themselves. Four minutes from the end they managed one goal. A centre from Janzon screwed off the head of Irwin straight to Rummenigge, who scored easily. However, for all their late effort, Bayern never came so close again and Liverpool were through.

Manager Bob Paisley said: "That's got to be our best performance ever in Europe. It was as good as when we first won the cup in 1977. It was full of character, it was not a classy performance but it was a tremendous effort. Everything went wrong for us, yet the players did everything right." On sending up Ray Kennedy late on to bolster the struggling Johnson, Paisley said: "we had to gamble because we needed a goal. We just couldn't afford to go into extra time because we had used our two substitutes. This was the club's 113th European tie and I think I am the only person who has been involved in all of them - and this was certainly the greatest ever. We had a Central League side out there and we beat the German champions."

Magnificent, wunderbar, out of this world. Never mind the cliches, I am over the moon and so would anyone else be who had travelled from Merseyside to watch Liverpool last night. We came to the Olympic Stadium in Munich with hope but also a little trepidation. Logic suggested that Bayern would be favourites to win through to the European Cup Final. But a day spent with the Reds was long enough to realise that their own determination to make that Paris date was 100 per cent. Out on the immaculate field last night, in the heart of an impressive stadium with a roof that resembles some scaly prehistoric dinosaur at rest, that determination was expressed in a superbly disciplined, controlled and, ultimately, victorious performance. Liverpool were breathtaking in their composure, their awareness and their resilience. They went into the game with the single minded drive of a man whose masculinity has been challenged, and they emerged with a result that goes down in the annals as their greatest achievement on the Continent. The only problem about the 1-1 scoreline was that it did not do enough justice to Liverpool's performance. They deserved to have won the game and that would have put a perfect gloss on their achievement. But no matter. A 1-1 draw was as good as winning and Bayern knew long before the end that it was not going to be their night. In the first half, the game was tight and slow with Bayern reluctant to commit too many men to attack and Liverpool defending efficiently without putting any venom into their counter attacks. The second half started with Liverpool producing two good chances for Colin Irwin and David Johnson and, from then on, it was a quicker tempo. But, apart from one or two scary moments, Liverpool still maintained an iron control on Bayern's attacks. Sammy Lee did a superb containing job on Paul Breitner. Karl Heinz Rummenigge repeatedly ran into the accurate tackling of the Liverpool defence and only Karl Del'Haye posed any serious threat with his pace on the right wing. Yet the story of this great result owes as much to heart and courage as to football skill. This has been a season that has taxed Liverpool's resilience to the ultimate, and so it was last night. Already without Phil Thompson and Alan Kennedy, Liverpool lost Kenny Dalglish with an ankle injury after only five minutes and, for the last 14 minutes, David Johnson was labouring with a reoccurrence of his hamstring injury.

Yet, Liverpool overcame all these problems, exemplified by the fact that it was Johnson who summoned up the strength to deliver the ball perfectly into Ray Kennedy's path, for the big fellow to smash home that golden goal with his right foot seven minutes from time. It was also a story of gambles and shrewd thinking on the Liverpool bench. When Dalglish was injured they sent on Howard Gayle to shock the Germans with his pace and skill and Bayern were lucky to get away without conceding a penalty when the surprised Dremmler felled Gayle in the box. Manager Bob Paisley gambled again when he withdrew Gayle just over an hour later following a wild tackle which earned Gayle a caution and again, the switch paid off. Jimmy Case came on, operating first in attack and then moving into midfield, releasing Kennedy for just such an opening as that which came along in the 83rd minute. A moment of personal horror for the otherwise impeccable Colin Irwin enabled Rummenigge to equalise five minutes later but that was too little, too late, for the pride of the Bundesliga. Irwin and Alan Hansen were outstanding in defence throughout the 90 minutes. Lee and Graeme Souness played vital roles in midfield and David Johnson was a hero with his running and spirit up front. And Ray Clemence, whose searching clearance paved the way for the goal, earned another tribute with a courageous save at the feet of Janzon in the last minute. It all started in Reykjavik 17 years ago. The legend has progressed with Milan, Hampden Park, Monchengladbach, Bruges, Rome and Wembley, and now another great chapter has been written. The Reds are in Paris for the European Champions Cup Final 1981.

Entertainment rating: 3 stars. On a night of so many heroes, it was difficult to pick out a single individual but, for me, Liverpool's top man was Alan Hansen for a superb display of skilful defensive work. Hansen, with his accurate reading of the game and his tremendous tackling ability, was the rock on which so many Munich attacks came to grief. His influence in frustrating the German advance early in the game cannot be underestimated and he was still heavily involved in keeping them out right at the death.

"You'll never walk alone" echoed from the Liverpool dressing room in the bowels of the Olympic Stadium last night. The victorious players began their post match celebrations with a medley of the Kop's favourite songs, and that set the tone for a triumphant night. Coach Ronnie Moran did his best to remind the players that they have a league match against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday but he was fighting a losing battle. Paris in the spring was the only topic of conversation on the 15 minute bus ride back from the stadium to the team's headquarters. Hero of the hour was Ray Kennedy, the man whose goal presented Bayern with a challenge tougher than their own Bavarian mountains. "Not bad, that right peg," said Kennedy, who normally uses his left leg when it comes to kicking footballs, but made the right one count when it mattered most; "it was a question of controlling the ball, trying not to rush it but, at the same time, there was a defender moving in and I knew I had to be quick." Ray Clemence said: "Maybe we have answered a few questions tonight. Certain people were saying that various individuals in our team were too old or past their best. We have proved something to the country and to the rest of Europe." Sammy Lee, given the task of shadowing Paul Breitner, said: "I was doing something which was totally foreign to me. I never got many kicks but, hopefully, he did not either. He is obviously a great player but we knew if we could stifle him they would not have anyone clever enough to create anything. Our only worrying time was for about 20 minutes in the second half when Del'Haye started getting around the back and that got the crowd going. Our fans were superb. They were great at Villa Park in the League Cup replay and they were great again tonight."

Richard Money, who helped his team reach the Final on his European debut said: "The boys were so keyed up before the game, there was a great determination that we were not going to be beaten. The last three minutes of the game were the worst three minutes of my life and also the best because I knew we were there." Howard Gayle, the 22 year old black winger who has waited so long for his chance, had a dramatic night. With only half an hour of first team football under his belt from a substitute appearance against Manchester City last October, he was pitched into this important game in the ninth minute, almost won a penalty, received a booking and was then substituted himself. "It was all a great experience for me and hearing the final whistle was the best moment of my life," he said. David Johnson, who defied injury to lay on the all-important Liverpool goal said: "When Ray Clemence kicked the ball up the field I could see Ray Kennedy making a run and I knew he was there when the ball came to me. I just tucked it into the middle and he did the rest."

Liverpool flew home today on the breakfast and champagne special from Munich with the chance to make another piece of football history. After their greatest achievement in overcoming Bayern Munich on the away goals rule to reach the final of the European Cup in Paris on May 27, Liverpool can re-emphasise their position as England's kings of European soccer. Bob Paisley's team were the first British side to win the European Cup twice, but that achievement has since been equalled by Nottingham Forest. Now Liverpool are just one game away from becoming the first British club to win the trophy three times, and that would place them even more firmly amongst the elite of European football. Liverpool also have the chance to keep the trophy in England for the fifth year running and, fittingly, they will fight it out against Real Madrid, the team which won the cup in the first five years of the competition. After last night's tremendous performance in Munich, manager Paisley said: "This has got to be our best ever European result. And this was against the Bundesliga champions. It beats anything we have done abroad before. We did not want extra time because we were shattered so we had to take a chance by pushing Ray Kennedy up front. As it turned out, everything we did was right. We should have had a penalty when Howard Gayle was pulled down. Later on, Howie ran out of steam and started retaliating but he did tremendously. We thought his pace would surprise them, which it did. Sammy Lee put Breitner out of the game and they did not have anyone else with any craft. Our two centre backs were outstanding. But the last three minutes were purgatory."

Injured skipper Phil Thompson watched the game from the bench and said: "This showed the character of Liverpool Football Club. So many people were writing us off and it made the game even harder when Kenny Dalglish had to come off. Last night it was true grit. That is the only way to describe it. Everyone's hearts must have been the size of the ball they were playing with. The lads were magnificent. Everyone said that we were the worst team out of the four semi-finalists but that only spurred the lads on and it always will do. Paris in May sounds nice and we are all looking forward to it." Liverpool said an ironical "thank you' to Bayern captain Paul Breitner for the part he played in getting them tuned up mentally for last night's match. The Reds had been haunted ever since the first leg by Breitner's assertion that they were an "unintelligent" team. These words were pinned up on the Anfield notice board for over a week prior to last night's game and Mr. Paisley said: "Because of that, they did not need any extra words from me. Breitner said just the right thing to get us going." Liverpool's vital tactical adjustment in playing Sammy Lee as a personal shadow to Breitner was only revealed to the player concerned ten minutes before the start. Said Mr. Paisley: "I did not tell Sammy until ten minutes before the start that I wanted him to do that job because I did not want him to be worried about it."

There are some debts which cannot be paid with money. Liverpool presented British soccer, British sport, British people with that sort of bill in Munich's Olympic stadium on Wednesday night. The only way we can repay them is with our thanks, gratitude and pride. No one, apart from Liverpool manager Bob Paisley and the combination of boys and men he patched up to send out against Bayern Munich can truly appreciate how much their success demanded from them in terms of skill, experience, maturity. Liverpool did so well it merits being spelled out again. A goal against them early in the game could have become the pebble which dislodged the avalanche. It could have ruined their dreams of a third European Cup Final. No one, realistically, expected them to achieve it and we should all be walking a wee bit taller because they did. They were forced, by the situation of a 0-0 draw in the first leg at home, to operate defensively, defiantly - but it was never a timorous retreat. For Bayern players, it must have felt as if they were up against a pack of hungry, angry dogs. I cannot resist the temptation of singling out an example; Bayern's most important individual player, their captain Paul Breitner, who usually makes things tick from their midfield. But not this time. Not on Wednesday when Liverpool drew 1-1 to win on the away goal rule.

Even when Breitner got past the yapping, snapping terrier of Sammy Lee in the midfield, where most of the battle was fought, he came up against a snarling, biting Alsatian called Graeme Souness. Paisley, who does not normally take pleasure in the downfall of an opponent - he has been in football long enough to know, like Kipling, that victory and defeat are both impostors - found a small, special, slightly spiteful delight in the way Breitner's arrogance was brought to its knees. I cannot better Paisley's own comment: "Big mouth will now have to shut up." Before last night's match, the Bayern skipper had described the Liverpool's players and tactics with a variety of uncomplimentary adjectives including "stupid" and "unintelligent". Breitner was in no doubt his own team would win. He knows different now. Whether Liverpool will eventually go on to beat Real Madrid in the final next month is a separate argument which should not be allowed to disturb the euphoria of the moment. If Liverpool do not achieve their niche in soccer history, it will bring special grief - and the consolation of some financial benefit - to one fan who, in the early hours of yesterday morning in Munich was offering even money that his team would go further than Aston Villa in next season's European Cup. Neither team are there yet!

Brilliant Liverpool rammed the words of Bayern Munich skipper Paul Breitner down his throat as they marched to the European Cup Final. Breitner had branded the English champions "dull and unintelligent" to an impartial Italian journalist before their second leg of the semi-final in Munich. And that same Italian remarked with heavy sarcasm "so the stupidos are going to Paris" after Liverpool's battling 1-1 draw had earned them a place in the final on May 27. That away goal proved vital after the 0-0 draw at Anfield two weeks ago, which had sparked Breitner's comments. Liverpool's boss Bob Paisley, who reportedly pinned Breitner's "insults" to the Anfield dressing room door, added his own tribute to the German's ill. timed outburst. "Sammy Lee quietened the big mouth. He won't be so keen to speak again," said Paisley.

Certainly, Breitner had no answer to the combined force of Lee and Graeme Souness as Liverpool landed a final meeting with Real Madrid, who beat Inter Milan 2-1 on aggregate. Paisley showered praise on his patched up side, who had successfully overcome the loss of Phil Thompson and Alan Kennedy plus a shattering fifth minute ankle injury to Kenny Dalglish. Liverpool must hope the damage to Dalglish is not too serious while Thompson would also expect to play in the final. The interesting selection is at left-back, where Richard Money has replaced broken-wrist victim Alan Kennedy. Kennedy, whose namesake Ray cracked the all-important goal after 83 minutes, was originally ruled out for the rest of the season, but he now has a five-week target.

Liverpool flew home today on a wave of champagne - and landed in a city gripped by European Cup fever. Up to 20,000 Anfield fans, wives and girlfriends are expected to travel to Paris for the final against the Spanish legends Real Madrid on May 27. "It has been unbelievable," said a spokesman for M and D Travel of Liverpool "I feel as if I have had the whole of the Kop on the phone this morning. This is going to be a real biggy - bigger than Rome - and this time a lot of wives want to go too, perhaps because it is Paris in the spring." Liverpool General Secretary Peter Robinson is to fly to Paris tomorrow to sort out arrangements for the final. Mr. Robinson warned that the ticket problem could be acute as Liverpool will only have a 12,000 allocation. "We will do everything we can to obtain extra tickets," he said. Liverpool's victory against all the odds in Bayern Munich's Olympic Stadium was rated as the club's best performance in their 113 game European football history. Bob Paisley, back in Liverpool, admitted with a chuckle: "It is not a bad achievement, to say the least." Mr. Paisley, who has set a unique record by becoming the first English manager to reach three Champions Cup finals as well as one UEFA Cup Final, added: "It is very pleasing to be in the Final again. A good many managers in the game will never have this opportunity. The Final against Real Madrid will be just as thrilling as the other two - and, hopefully, just as successful. But it has still got to be played for. We have to make sure the attitude and approach is just the same as they were last night."

It was bacon, black pudding and champagne at 35,000 feet as the Red's Aer Lingus charter flight jetted home from Munich first thing this morning. Air traffic controllers from London and Manchester flashed their congratulations as the team winged overhead. Phil Thompson took the microphone and announced: "This is your ex-captain speaking." His message was one of congratulations to the players who did the job on the park last night and that brought rapturous applause.

Munich police said that last night, during the game, seven Liverpool fans were arrested - five for pick pocketing, one for resisting arrest and one for theft. They were expected to be brought before a judge tomorrow. But, apart from those isolated incidents, the fans behaved themselves last night according to the British vice consul in Munich. Extra police had been drafted in to deal with the fans after the trouble of the previous night when 31 arrests were made after youths rampaged through the city streets. These 31 were due to appear before the judge in Munich today and most were expected to be fined heavily and then released. But the two charged with grievous bodily harm after an alleged attack on a newspaper seller, and those charged with theft, face a longer wait in jail. The vice consul said they would be remanded for trial and it would be some time before their cases came to court.

Masterpieces of good timing is as valid a way as any to describe the European Cup and UEFA Cup semi-final triumphs of Liverpool and Ipswich in the context of this week's renewal of the qualifying process for the 1982 World Cup. A better moment to demonstrate the continuing superiority of English clubs over their West German counterparts could not have been chosen, and morale should not be a problem as England, Scotland and Northern Ireland attempt to make further progress towards the finals in Spain. The injuries to such as Mariner and Dalglish have clouded the picture somewhat, but England, who meet Romania at Wembley, and Scotland, who pay Israel at Hampden Park, still ought to benefit. Even Northern Ireland, at home to Portugal, will not have been unaffected by last week's manifestations of the resilience of British football. That is the theory, anyway. Whatever it will work out in practice remains to be seen. Maddeningly, in the cases of England and Scotland in particular, an apparently unbridgeable gulf continues to exist between the performances of the leading club sides and those of the national sides that provide the players. Indeed, the victories of Liverpool and Ipswich could be said to have strengthened the argument for having just one team to represent the British Isles in international football. Bob Paisley, Liverpool's manager, is in no doubt that his club's careful blend of English and Scottish players has been a vital element in their success over the years.

Given the fiercely independent attitude of the four home countries, however, to re-open the Great Britain team issue is to deal in futility. Not only that, there is no guarantee a representative side of that nature would be any more immune from the problems which handicap the four separate national teams. Prominent among those problems is the excessive size of the football league, the exhausting length of its season and the inflexibility of its fixture list. Little time is allowed for the perfecting of players' technique or for national teams to practice together in advance of international matches. West Germany, and most other countries in the world, do not suffer these disadvantages. Perhaps that is one reason the West Germans are able still to construct a highly successful national side despite having to draw upon players from a domestic league that has become distinctly modest in quality. Mind you, one is bound to wonder what effect the destruction of Bayern Munich and Cologne will have on the confidence of the West Germany when they face Austria, the other powerful side in group one, at home on Wednesday. Liverpool certainly left a lot of long faces behind in Munich's Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night. They did so by proving that, in certain circumstance, British technique is not necessarily inferior to that of Continental football, that Bob Paisley is a remarkable manager, and that Liverpool are a club of massive European experience and formidable will-power. The touch and vision of Graeme Souness, for instance, was equal to anything produced by Breitner and Rummenigge; the only outstanding players that Bayern possess.

But the claustrophobic marking of Sammy Lee and Alan Hansen ensured that it was very little indeed, Rummenigge's late equaliser not-withstanding. As for the decisive away goal scored by Ray Kennedy a few minutes earlier, that was pure Roy of the Rovers. Even now, it seems fanciful to say that, with extra time looming, Liverpool down to 10 fit men and all the substitutes used up, the hobbling Johnson should hook Clemence's long clearance across goal for Kennedy to shoot precisely with the right foot that just makes up the pair usually. There ought to be honourable mentions too for Terry McDermott who subdued his attacking instincts to work like a shire horse in midfield, and for Colin Irwin, Richard Money and Howard Gayle, the reserves who responded so magnificently to the responsibility heaped upon them by the injuries that deprived Liverpool of Phil Thompson, Alan Kennedy and, five minutes into the match, Kenny Dalglish. One of Paisley's tactical masterpieces was his choice of Gayle, and not the more likely lan Rush, as Dalglish's replacement. He explained afterwards that Bayern, who had Liverpool watched closely, knew nothing of the black youngster, and added with a mischievous twinkle "I thought I'd bring on a dark horse".

Surprise packets of Gayle's type are missing from an England squad which Ron Greenwood has filled with experience for the return match with Romania, a crucial game in view of the 2-1 defeat in Bucharest last October, and a worrying one because of England's indifferent form this season. Another defeat could be a prelude to disaster in the summer, when England play Switzerland and Hungary away from home in the space of eight days. Emerging from their winter break, Hungary beat Spain, winners by 2-1 at Wembley in March, 3-0 in Barcelona the week before last. So, anything less than a victory for England at Wembley will be a cause for concern. Two 2-1 tour defeats in Israel and Denmark recently suggest that Romania have not wintered as well as Hungary but the recall of Dinu, a seasoned defender or defensive midfield player, indicates that the Romanians intend to make winning as difficult as possible for England. They will probably be content with a draw but the inclusion of Campeanu, top scorer in Romanian football last season, the strength and mobility of Camataru at centre forward and the pace on the flanks of Crisan and Raducanu all threaten England with the unthinkable. It is time to remember Munich and Cologne and to pray.

Note: the results of the international matches were England 0-0 Romania (England had no Liverpool players in the starting line up, Terry McDermott came on as a substitute in the second half). Scotland 3-1 Israel (Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness played for Scotland, Avi Cohen played for Israel). Northern Ireland 1-0 Portugal. West Germany 2-0 Austria.