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by David Lacey © The Guardian
Liverpool reached the threshold of their fifth European Cup Final last night and now the game in Brussels on May 29 promises to be the confrontation that the occasion demands. While the patience, precision and ultimately the sheer power of Liverpool's football were taking them to a 4-0 victory over the Greek champions, Panathinaikos, in the first leg of their semi-final at Anfield, Juventus were winning their home leg against Bordeaux by just one goal less and by all accounts playing superbly. Thus there is already the prospect of Dalglish pitting his wits against Platini in the Heysel Stadium and Rush taking on some of the world's most accomplished defenders as Liverpool seek to win the trophy outright; an honour so far achieved only by Real Madrid. Since Liverpool are not in the habit of surrendering four-goal leads in Athens or anywhere else, this is not idle speculation. Yet there were moments during the first half when they were in danger of being frustrated to the point of desperation by a nine-man Panathinaikos defence that marked man for man and based their resistance on the commanding figure of Mavridis, who towered above Rush like Polyphemus. Dalglish gave another masterful performance. These days he seems to go into matches with a compass and set square, ready to work out all the angles and tangents in order to find space amid the tightest defences. He initiated Liverpool's first penetrative attack after 10 minutes and Wark neatly chested the ball through to send Rush clear. Normally, the Welshman snaps up such chances with scarcely a moment's thought. But this time he shot wide and Anfield began to wonder whether it would be one of those nights. Malcolm Allison, the alpha and omega of Manchester City, was reported to have advised Panathinaikos on the way to approach the game. Since his City defence in its latter days often seemed to be organised according to the theory of Pythagoras, there seemed to be some logic in this. Indeed Panathinaikos defended well for a time and might have done better had Pythagoras been playing in goal instead of the hesitant Laftsis, whose failure to hold the ball began their downfall. First, however, Anfield had to suffer one of Grobbelaar's aberrations. Two minutes after Rush's miss the Liverpool goalkeeper allowed a 30-yard drive from the Argentinian Rocha to slip through his arms by the right-hand post and the ball rolled over the line. But the Dutch referee had spotted another Panathinaikos player standing offside and so the goalkeeper's blushes were spared. For half an hour Liverpool poured forward with movements of patience and poise and no one was more patient or poised than Dalglish. Still they could not find a way through. Ultimately, however, MacDonald's penchant for long, low powerful shots achieved the breakthrough they wanted. Early in the game Laftsis had nearly allowed a shot from MacDonald to beat him and in the 35th minute he could only push a 25-yard drive from the former Leicester player on to a post. Wark pounced on the rebound to score his 24th goal of the season for Liverpool. Laftsis received a grateful round of applause from the Kop at the start of the second half, but Liverpool could not afford to let the matter rest there. Suddenly Rush found the way to shake off his Cyclops and he virtually settled the tie with goals in the 48th and 49th minutes. Dalglish instigated the movement which led to Whelan finding Rush unmarked in front of goal as he scored with a downward header, then Lee intercepted a Greek clearance before centring promptly for Rush to dash unmarked through the middle and score Liverpool's third. For a time after that Liverpool, with Dalglish, Wark, Lee, Whelan and Macdonald finding space at will, threatened to score half a dozen. However, Panathinaikos were able to get some shape back into their game. Grobbelaar did well to hold a shot from Saravakos on the line and a corner from Rocha swung in sharply from the right and rebounded from the outside of the near post. Lawrenson was a little fortunate to get away with two crude tackles on Saravakos in the penalty area and it seemed that Panathinaikos would at least prevent the holders scoring again. But with five minutes to go Dalglish took a free-kick on the right, spotted Beglin making a long run on the opposite wing and swung the ball precisely on to the young left-back's head. Beglin completed his first European appearance with a resounding header and now even Liverpool will find it hard not to look forward to the Final before the formalities of the semi-finals are complete.
Match article courtesy of
by John Osborne © The Liverpool Post

Two devastating minutes of pure gold from Liverpool striker Ian Rush virtually assured the European Champions of their fifth Final appearance at Anfield last night. Rush's double-barrelled blast demonstrated yet again why he is the most feared striker in Europe as Liverpool surely made the semi-final second leg trip to Athens in a fortnight's time an academic exercise. But angry Panathinaikos coach Jacek Gmoch warned that his side will gain revenge. He stormed out of Anfield incensed by the decisions of Dutch referee Jan Keizer and, shaking with emotion, insisted: "we will have revenge in Athens. It will be the game of my life. I am very upset. We will see who plays the better football in the second leg - without that referee". Panathinaikos, the best Greece has to offer, proved tough nuts to crack initially, but once John Wark had given Liverpool a first half lead with his 24th goal of the season, it was plain sailing. Within four minutes of the restart Liverpool reduced the former champions to tatters. First Ronnie Whelan made space down the left to cross for Rush, who slipped marker Kostas Mavridis to head home the simplest of chances. The match had hardly restarted before Panathinaikos defender Nikos Karoulias, capped 95 times by Greece, committed an atrocious error under no pressure. Little Sammy Lee dispossessed the horrified Greek and laid the ball off to the again unmarked Rush who beat the goalkeeper with ease for his 22nd goal of the season. Wark's opener had arrived in the 35th minute, just when the man-to-man marking of the Greek champions was beginning to frustrate the silky skills of Dalglish and company. Kevin Macdonald rifled the ball on to a post via goalkeeper Thomas Laftsis and Wark, following up, tucked it away. Wark's strike was nothing less than Liverpool deserved for a powerful first half display.

Joe Fagan's men began at a cracking pace with MacDonald letting fly from fully 25 yards, which caught the experienced Greek international keeper unawares. He failed to hold the Scot's scorcher but scrambled the ball gratefully into his arms at the second attempt dead on the line. Next it was the turn of Rush who screwed the ball across the face of the goal after an exquisite chest down from Wark straight into his path. MacDonald, buzzing in midfield, returned to the front line once more this time launching a stinger which produced a superb reflex save from Laftsis. There were just too many legs in the way as Dalglish followed in and the ball ricocheted rather fortunately to safety for the gritty Greeks. Rush almost opened the scoring after 32 minutes, heading into the side netting from a Dalglish free kick. The only scares for Liverpool and an otherwise redundant Bruce Grobbelaar were when Argentinian Juan Rocha had a goal disallowed for offside and put a shot against the post. Dalglish and Wark went desperately close to adding to Liverpool's tally in the second half before Jim Beglin, deputising for the injured Alan Kennedy, rose majestically to meet Dalglish's swerving free kick with a bullet of a header six minutes from time to round off a complete Liverpool performance.

Liverpool manager Joe Fagan said: "I am delighted with the scoreline and I never expected us to get four goals, but it is nice to have them. It is not over yet; however, it is only half time. We overshadowed Panathinaikos tonight but I think they will play a lot better in the second leg, and it will be a different game in Athens". Fagan added that Beglin had received a knock on the calf but commented: "After that goal of his I think he will be all right".

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