Most mediocre final in European Cup history

[ale]

Old enough to watch it. And appreciate the decisions that went against Leeds. And appreciate their record in the years prior to 1975. And also that Munich were holders of the cup with the majority of World Cup winners in their team. So it was something of a surprise to learn today that in 1974/5 Leeds finished 9th in England & Munich 10th in Germany. Has there ever been a European final at highest level between such low level of League placings?

[San Bernardhinault]

Surely Red Star against Marseille is the most mediocre match (although I think they were both champions of their respective leagues in that year, so I'm already cheating).

[delicatemoth]

That Liverpool-Milan one where Liverpool came back from three down - hadn't both teams finished a dizzying 4th in their leagues to qualify? A UEFA Cup final in all but name.

[Sits]

Surely Red Star against Marseille is the most mediocre match (although I think they were both champions of their respective leagues in that year, so I'm already cheating).

That’s what I expected this thread to be about. And that was the game which sprang to,mind; more etched in my memory than so many good ones.

[ursus arctos]

Red Star-OM was champagne football compared to PSV-Benfica

[ale]

Apologies. In starting thread was not expecting comments on the quality of the final itself. Red Star Marseille was indeed abject but both were champions of their leagues that year. Leeds Munich was 9th against 10th & cant recall two such lowly positions contesting the highest game in European football.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Stop, stop this right now. This is an unlicensed European Cup thread until such time as Alex Anderson graces it with his presence.

[Satchmo Distel]

1975 is the record for the criteria in the OP. I recall us doing it on the European Cup records thread.

[Foot of Astaire's]

Forest's two triumphs were pretty dour affairs iirc

[ale]

1975 is the record for the criteria in the OP. I recall us doing it on the European Cup records thread.

Wasnt aware of that. And carrying the conversation further the fact Leeds ended up 9th a year after being champions is no surprise given their upheavals. Not being so familiar with Bundesliga and lacking the inclination to google how did Bayern end 10th in the middle of 3 straight European Cup wins & major contributors to national team success of era

[Satchmo Distel]

This seems to summarize what happened with Bayern:

There had been an impending feeling of complacency about this Bayern side though. The team had become fat and lazy, they had virtually won everything there was to win and the leading players had also added World Cup medals two months ago. This total lack of motivation was coupled with a ridiculous preparation phase. In order to earn money, Bayern played countless friendly games all over Europe with the result that no serious training sessions could be held. Paul Breitner had left the club only a month ago to join Real Madrid and the Beckenbauer/Müller tandem was simply too tired to make a difference at that stage of the season.

But what had not changed was that every team Bayern had to face in the Bundesliga was still highly motivated especially when it became known that Bayern were highly vulnerable. All that culminated into Bayern’s domestic downfall that season. If not for Maier, Beckenbauer and Müller, the team would have been relegated at the end of the season. That is how drastic things had gotten in the end. It was only in European Cup games that the whole side’s concentration and motivation was up to old standards and thus surprisingly this troubled and tired Bayern side managed to repeat its European Cup triumph of the previous year. Their contradictory performances were also indicative of a team on its decline and no longer able to maintain the same level of performance across all competitions.

http://bundesligafanatic.com/2012110...end-of-an-era/

[ale]

Forest's two triumphs were pretty dour affairs iirc

Most were. This was strange thing of being able to watch just the one live game every season & English telly ignoring football outside UK. Saw the 3 Ajax victories & 3 Bayern victories as stand alone finals. And on which you could never make a case for either team being among the greats of clubs save for the runs of trophies. Might be doing Ajax a disservice due to youth but none of the finals seemed to have any drama or expectation. Bayern were the other extreme the replay against Atletico aside. And even at age of 12-14 realised Atletico were the pantomine villians in UK after the Celtic games while the next two saw Bayern cast in that role.

[diggedy derek]

Surely Liverpool Tottenham 2019 is in with a shout? Barely Championship standard.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

If the criterion of the OP is overall league placings, I'd say Bayern-Leeds must at least be matched by the 1995 Cup-Winners Cup that saw Real Zaragoza (7th in Spain) beat Arsenal (12th in England).

[Sporting]

Juventus - Milan in 2003 was dire.

[Jah Womble]

'Most mediocre' to me suggests 'neither much good nor hopelessly bad'.

In which case, I'd plump for something like Barcelona/Utd in 2009.

[imp]

Nope, it was definitely Liverpool v Tottenham. For professional players, mediocre is the lowest standard. They can not be absolutely shit, like Sunday league players. They can merely play as low as they can go, which in the case of last year's final honestly looked like a poor fourth division game. For players of that quality and salary in that big a game, 'mediocre' is very, very bad.

Sure, Red Star v Marseille was boring, but from what I remember, Red Star put on a faultless defensive display, which was obviously what they set out to do. Not that I've any intention of watching it again to find out for sure.

[Jah Womble]

I get what you're saying but can't entirely agree, given that players performing below-par can sometimes dish up an entertaining match almost by accident. (Admittedly, that doesn't often happen in European finals.)

I'd agree that last year's final was grim stuff indeed. And not just because of the outcome.

[G-Man]

Juventus - Milan in 2003 was dire.

That is the winning answer. It was an insult to football.

[Gert from the Well]

The strange thing about Juventus - Milan was that domestically they were both excellent teams to watch, IIRC Nedved and Pirlo (or Costa) were both injured and that may have contributed to a game that only rivals Ipswich - Wimbledon in 93/94 for inducing record levels of boredom..

[Simon G]

If the criterion of the OP is overall league placings, I'd say Bayern-Leeds must at least be matched by the 1995 Cup-Winners Cup that saw Real Zaragoza (7th in Spain) beat Arsenal (12th in England).

If we're going to other European competitions then Middlesbrough v Sevilla in the 2006 UEFA cup saw the teams finish 14th and 10th respectively.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The strange thing about Juventus - Milan was that domestically they were both excellent teams to watch, IIRC Nedved and Pirlo (or Costa) were both injured and that may have contributed to a game that only rivals Ipswich - Wimbledon in 93/94 for inducing record levels of boredom..

That and they're all in their mid thirties and barely able to move. The problem looking back like this, is that football is developing and improving so incredibly quickly, that if you go back more than five years, you usually find yourself watching something that looks more like masters football than modern football, even if the match you were watching would have been considered a vision of the future, at the time. That game was the dying spluttering cough of old school Serie A, made possible by the big three absorbing the best old players of the next tier, who had all simultaneously gone bankrupt.

[kokamoa]

Surely Red Star against Marseille is the most mediocre match (although I think they were both champions of their respective leagues in that year, so I'm already cheating).

Was it as terrible as Barcelona-Steau Bucharest in 1986? 0-0 after extra-time and Steau won 2-0 on penalties. ITV showed it live and had to keep putting the News at Ten back as this borefest grimmed on. Kevin Keegan on co-commentary duties was making jokes about it.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Barca-Steaua at least had that compelling underlying tension that here were Barcelona, in Spain, about to win their first ever European Cup, managed by El Tel, and all they had to do was beat a team with a name hardly any English commentators could agree how to pronounce. It was like the European Cup final equivalent of one of those 1970s FA Cup finals where a first division team of internationals lost to a second division side that included a teacher and a postman.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Was it as terrible as Barcelona-Steau Bucharest in 1986? 0-0 after extra-time and Steau won 2-0 on penalties. ITV showed it live and had to keep putting the News at Ten back as this borefest grimmed on. Kevin Keegan on co-commentary duties was making jokes about it.

That was a truly dreadful game. I was in Barcelona that night, as the team were playing down in Seville. I've never seen a city so miserable.