Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen. As thousands upon thousands of Arsenal fans took planes, trains and automobiles (and possibly boats) to reach the Danish capital for the 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup final against Italian club Parma, could the club end their 24-year wait for a European trophy?
It was clear to see why Ladbrokes had Arsenal priced at 3/1 to win against their expensively assembled opponents. Already without the suspended Ian Wright, George Graham's preparations would be hit further when Martin Keown, John Jensen, and David Hillier were then ruled out through injury.
"The greater the odds against us, the better we seem to perform," Graham noted on the eve of the match, a statement that could easily be applied to Graham's Arsenal and the club throughout its history. Being favourites is all well and good, but experiences against Swindon, Ipswich, West Ham, Valencia and Luton had scarred many Arsenal followers.
Yet even the most optimistic fan would recognise that the final against Parma looked a daunting prospect. With millions pumped into the club funded by the company Parmelat, Parma had taken a shortcut to success in much the same way as Blackburn, Chelsea and Man City would do.
Coached by Nevio Scalia, the club reached Serie A for the first time in 1990, qualified for Europe in 1991, and then won the Italian Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in 1992 and 1993 respectively. Containing the attacking talents of Faustino Asprilla, Gianfranco Zola and Tomas Brolin, and five of Italy's World Cup squad, it was little wonder that Parma were 10/11 favourites.
"Asprilla, Zola and Brolin may give Graham's team a footballing lesson, but the final is more likely to be dominated by defences," David Lacey wrote in his Guardian preview. "In which case it would be most unwise to write off Arsenal." A battle between the irresistible force and the immovable object awaited.
If Arsenal needed a twelfth man, then the crowd inside the Parken stadium certainly helped. Easily outnumbering Parma fans, the ground was turned into Highbury for the day, with the atmosphere throughout growing as the belief filled the air.
In front of David Seaman and the classic back four of Dixon, Bould, Adams and Winterburn, Arsenal's midfield trio of Paul Davis, Ian Selley and Steve Morrow, would be tasked with smothering Parma's supply to their feared front three. With wide men Kevin Campbell and Paul Merson often dropping back to help, Alan Smith would plough a lone furrow up front.
Immediately Parma were on the front foot, with a brilliant Bould tackle denying Asprilla in the first minute, and Brolin heading on to the roof of the net shortly after. Campbell did go close from a corner, but when the forward dallied on a chance when through on goal, it looked costly.
With Arsenal temporarily out of shape, Asprilla surged forward, finding Zola who in turn found Brolin. Hammering an effort past Seaman, Gooners everywhere breathed a huge sigh of relief when the ball rebounded off the post and to safety. And then after 20 minutes came the moment that Graham and all Arsenal fans had hoped for.
Dixon's floated ball was miskicked in comical fashion by sweeper Lorenzo Minotti, his bicycle kick landing at the feet of Smith. The Arsenal forward drew back his left foot, cracking in a stunning strike from just outside the box, the ball kissing the post before nestling into the back of the net. Delight on the face of Smith. Ecstasy in the stands.
The goal was a welcome boost for Smith. In his autobiography Heads Up, Arsenal's match winner openly admits to the struggles he had been going through at the club, a key player in Arsenal's two title-winning triumphs feeling on the periphery since the arrival of Wright.
"This goal, after all, felt like a port in a storm after so many testing days when the whole business of football lost its appeal," Smith reveals. "Because when that ball hit the net in Copenhagen, it was like turning back the clock to 1991, a much happier time when these kinds of moments, these sort of feelings, regularly came around."
One-nil to the Arsenal. Graham's dream scenario and a chant that would become the soundtrack for the evening. Before half-time, Seaman would pull off a fine save from Zola – not bad considering the keeper was playing with a painkilling injection for a cracked rib – and Dixon may have been lucky to avoid giving away a penalty. But Graham's masterplan was 50 per cent complete.
The rest of the evening was naturally a nail-biting affair. But try as they might, Parma simply could not find a way through. That mighty back four simply would not break. There were some scary moments – Parma had a goal ruled out for offside – but in truth Arsenal broke the spirit of their opponents. In hindsight you do wonder at what point Parma realised they would not score.
The celebrations in the Danish capital started as soon as the final whistle sounded, although Arsenal's players were understandably frustrated that they were flying home on the same night. For Graham the ends justified the means. Grinning from ear to ear, he had plotted his way to European glory. Little did we know that by the following February, Graham's trophy-filled reign at Arsenal would be over.
"His teams may not win hearts, but they do win trophies," Lacey wrote in his match report, as Graham revelled in his achievement. Yes, the final was not a classic, and for the neutral it was hardly entertaining. But for Arsenal fans celebrating that triumph on May 4, 1994, it was a night that they will never forget.
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