Date: Wednesday, 19th March 1975.
Venue: Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Anderlecht,
Brussels, Belgium.
Competition:
European Cup Third Round Second Leg.
Score: Anderlecht 0 Leeds
United 1
Scorers: Anderlecht: Nil. Leeds
United: Bremner.
Attendance:
37,000.
Teams:
Anderlecht:
Barth; Dockx, Broos; Van Den Daele, Thissen, Van Der Elst; Coeck, Nicolaes
(Denul), Ladyzinski, Van Himst, Rensenbrink.
Leeds United: Stewart; Reaney,
F. Gray; Bremner, McQueen, Hunter; Lorimer, Clarke, Jordan,
Yorath, Madeley.
Referee: Alfred Delacourt (Belgium).
The weather was appalling and the pitch was a sea of mud,
with great pools of water, but Billy Bremner put on a
world-class performance in the return leg of the European Cup Quarter Final
against RSC Anderlecht in Brussels
as his response to being substituted in the First Leg. He scored a masterful
goal with just fifteen minutes remaining, when he timed his run from the right
to perfection and took the ball on his chest and whipped past left-back Hugo Broos in an instant. The little Scotsman sped towards goal,
looked up as the keeper advanced and produced the perfect chip to send the ball
over the Belgian custodian’s head, leaving him helpless. The home keeper, Leon Barth,
was so impressed that he shook the Leeds skipper’s hand when he had beaten him
with the wonderful lob in the seventy-fourth minute to give United a 1-0
victory on the night, and smashed Anderlecht’s
supposed home invincibility, and a lop-sided 4-0 aggregate win to send them
through to the Semi-Final.
Jimmy Armfield had got his tactics
spot-on, leaving out Johnny Giles and Eddie Gray on a
heavy pitch lashed by rain, sleet and snow and opted for the greater defensive
qualities of Terry Yorath. It was perfectly and Anderlecht were unable
to make much progress against a superb Leeds defence
although David Stewart made excellent saves in each half. A confident Jimmy Armfield said, “After this display, we do not fear any of
the remaining sides.” There were some
fine sides that went into the Semi-Final draw with United, who were unfortunate
to be paired with the much fancied Spanish side Barcelona, while Bayern Munich of West Germany were paired with St Etienne
of France
Match Action:
The Anderlecht pitch was a
quagmire Jimmy Armfield found a muddied Allan
Clarke while Norman Hunter was even more muddy
Players:
Billy Bremner scored
the only goal