The summer and fall of ‘62 provided a gloomy reminder to European football that the epicentre of the game remained in Brazil. Led by Garrincha, the Seleção would lift their second World Championship in Chile. Spain, coached by Helenio Herrera and featuring Puskás, Gento, Del Sol and Suarez, amongst others, would finish bottom of their group. Di Stéfano would not kick a ball for Spain because of injury, and he would retire having never played a World Cup match. The Italians would also not progress out of the group stage with their tournament overshadowed by the Battle of Santiago, which saw two players sent off, and police entering the field as Chile defeated the Azzuri 2-0. It led to the referee Ken Aston inventing Red and Yellow cards, which would make their debut in Mexico 1970. England and West Germany would advance further, but bow out at the Quarter-Finals with the teams from behind the Iron Curtain the best performers from the continent. Hungary, the USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, all progressed through the group stages with the Czechs beating Yugoslavia in the semis. Despite Masopust putting the Czechs ahead in the final, they were quickly pegged back and lost 3-1. Vava and Didi, now back in Brazil with Botafogo starred alongside Garrincha.

Pele, who was injured after the second game of the World Cup, was back to full fitness for the Intercontinental Cup final which, which would see his Santos side take on Benfica and Eusébio. He scored twice in the first-leg held at the Maracanã as Santos won 3-2.

Benfica, of course, had a formidable record at the Estadio da Luz, yet to lose a home game in the European Cup. They had picked up some World Cup memorabilia were now managed by Fernando Riera who had an outstanding summer leading his native Chile in their run to third-place.

The European Champions were humbled in emphatic circumstances. In a game he described as the greatest performance of his career, the 21-year-old Pele was sensational. After 75 minutes, Benfica were 5-0 down, Pele scoring three and creating another. The highlight was his third, in which he nutmegged Eusébio, beat a couple of other helpless men in red, and converted the rebound after his initial shot. Sceptics who suggest st. never did it in Europe would do well to watch the highlights.

30 teams entered the 1962/63 European Cup. For the first time, an Albanian side would compete with the Army club FK Partizani Tirana entering the competition after the communist leader of the country, Enver Hoxha, fell out with the Soviet Union, and chose to ignore their continued boycott of European Competitions. It would be four seasons before Torpedo Moscow would become the first Soviet team to play in the European Cup.

The British Challenge in the 1962/63 season came from two unlikely sources. North of the Border, Bob Shankly, brother to Bill, had led Dundee F.C. to their first ever (and to this date, only) League Championship. Shankly had scored a coup by picking up Gordon Smith from Hearts, and the ageing forward would combine brilliantly with their young target man, Alan Gilzean. Anchored at the back by future Arsenal and Manchester United defender Ian Ure, Dundee had been built to be a lethal counter attacking team, and Shankly’s approach would be a perfect fit for European Football.

South of the Border, Alf Ramsey had capped a meteoric rise for the East Anglian club Ipswich Town by winning the title. Ramsey, appointed in 1955 with Ipswich in the Third Division South and had taken his team to the summit of the English game with an innovative tactical approach, elements of which he would later replicate for England in the victorious 1966 World Cup campaign. Ramsey, the player, had won 32 England Caps one of which was against Hungary in 1953 and he a was member of Arthur Rowe’s Push and Run Spurs side alongside Nicholson, with whom he formed a formidable partnership on Tottenham’s right side. As a coach, however, Ramsey preferred a more pragmatic style, perhaps understandably given the quality of player available at the level in the third division. His major innovation saw him turn journeyman inside-forward Jimmy Leadbetter into a deep lying winger. Leadbetter’s deeper positioning allowed him to receive passes from the defenders unchallenged as full backs were afraid to follow him that high up the field. As he advanced and the full back began to exert pressure, Leadbetter would clip balls into space vacated for the strike duo of Ray Crawford and Ted Phillips (believed to have the hardest shot in football), to run onto. It was a strategy that perplexed opponents and saw them march up the table. After Burnley collapsed over the final part of the season, The Tractor Boys won 10 of their last 16 to steal the title in the last week.

The opening game the 1962/63 season however presented an ominous sign that Ipswich’s innovative setup had been figured out. Nicholson’s Spurs beating them 5-1 in the Charity Shield. In the European Cup preliminary round they made light work of Maltese Champions, Floriana, winning 14-1 on aggregate with Crawford grabbing 5 goals in the second leg. In the second round they drew AC Milan. This was Milan’s second appearance in the competition since they reached the final in 1958 and they were hoping for better than their last outing, a humiliation at the hands of Barcelona.

Gipo Viani who had coached the team in 1958 had moved upstairs to become Technical Director and in the summer of 1961, Nereo Rocco was appointed manager. Rocco had made his name leading little Padova to a third place finish and shared Viani’s appreciation of a sweeper. Rocco enjoyed red wine and conversation but was a harsh disciplinarian and loved most of all to win. He made an immediate impact as Milan won the Serie A title ahead of Inter, scoring 83 goals in 34 matches. There was certainly plenty of attacking flair in their side but Rocco was a disciple of catenaccio and with Viani also on the staff, there was no question on the overall philosophy of the team.

Only captain Cesare Maldini and forward Jose Altafini remained of the squad that played Barcelona in 1959. Added to the team were two members of the Italian side that had finished 4th in the Rome Olympics of 1960. Giovanni Trapattoni came through the youth ranks at Milan and was described as ‘the complete master of ball control’^ as well as being a renowned man-marker. Trapattoni’s teammate in the Olympic side was Gianni Rivera and he joined Milan from his hometown club Alessandria. He had made his debut as a 15-year-old, and become the second-youngest goalscorer in Serie A history. Known as the ‘Bambino D’Oro’, Rivera would replace Juan Schiffano to became the creative hub of Rocco’s side with Jose Altafini becoming the perfect target for his ‘willowy, stroked passes.’^ Altafini grew up in Brazil in an Italian community and played for Brazil in the 1958 World Cup, under the name Mazzola, because of his resemblance to Valentino Mazzola. Following Rocco’s decision to sell Greaves he picked up another Palmerias player, the playmaker Dino Sani as his replacement. It would be a pivotal moment despite his shortcomings, as John Foot noted in Calcio:

‘More or less immobile on the pitch, he was known as il campione che cammina – ‘the walking champion’. Brera memorably wrote that ‘he could no longer run, so he trotted’. Sani nonetheless was a fine passer of the ball and superb at organizing the midfield in front of his defence. He was certainly not a replacement for Greaves, but Rocco didn’t want another striker.’^

Greaves and Altafini may have been too similar and Sani was more than happy to play the provider role alongside Rivera.

Like Ipswich, Milan cruised through the first round, defeating Union Luxembourg 14-0 on aggregate. Ahead of the clash, heavy rain in northern Italy had turned the San Siro pitch into a mud bath and kept the spectators away with only 7,500 thousand attending the first leg. Missing one half of their dynamic strike duo with Phillips out injured, Ramsey’s men were no match for the Italians. Paulo Barison scored twice in the first 15 minutes, before Sani added a third in the second half. According to Ipswich centre-half Andy Nelson, Milan ‘were up to all the cynical stuff, pulling your hair, spitting, treading on your toes’^ in a familiar tale of British against the cunning crafty foreigners. Ipswich won at Portman Road 2-1 but only after going a goal down to another Barison strike. Within a few months Ramsey would leave to join England. Ipswich’s days in the European Cup were over but they did achieve European success in 1981, when Bobby Robson led them to the UEFA Cup. Milan beat Galatasaray comfortably in the quarter-finals and would face the remarkable Dundee in the semi-finals.

In their opening fixture, Shankly’s men destroyed West German Champions Köln 8-1, in an astonishing result. Whilst the Bundesliga, the fully professional West German league would not commence until 1963, Eintracht Frankfurt had proven that their clubs could compete at the highest level and of course, only eight years previously, West Germany were crowned World Champions. Prior to the game Köln’s Yugoslav manager Zlato Cajkovski had predicted a win as ‘our defensive football is decadent’^, but it was Dundee who did the indulging. They were 4-0 up within 25 minutes, an incredible opening and at half-time they led 5-0. The fifth was scored by Smith who became the first man to score for three different clubs in the competition. Of note however was the injury to the German goalkeeper Fritz Ewart when he collided with Alan Cousin in the second minute and collapsed on the pitch. He got to his feet and resumed play but was taken off at half-time with Dundee were five goals to the good. In the return leg, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, the reigning German Footballer of the Year, returned and after Dundee’s goalkeeper Slater went off injured, things became nervy for a period as Köln were 4-0 up with 40 minutes remaining but Taysiders managed to hang on for an 8-5 aggregate win.

At Dens Park they were formidable and Gilzean hit a hat-trick in a 4-1 win against Portuguese Champions Sporting, following a 1-0 loss in Lisbon. This put them into the last eight, where they would face Anderlecht. The Belgians had caused the other sensation of the preliminary rounds when they knocked out Real Madrid. Playing possession football combined with an aggressive offside trap, Anderlecht were lucky to get Real prior to the start of the Spanish season and secured a 3-3 draw in the Bernabéu. In Brussels, the bespeckled Armand Jurion struck from the edge of the box with five minutes remaining to knock Di Stéfano and Puskás out. The result sent shock waves throughout Europe and surely confirmed that Real were no longer a force to be reckoned with. More on that later.

Where Puskás and Di Stéfano failed, Smith and Gilzean had no such problems. In front of 65,000 at Heysel, a record for a football match in Belgium. Dundee won 4-1 in a win that may have surpassed the Köln result. At Dens, despite Anderlecht leading for most of the game, two late goals from Cousin and Smith saw them into the last four, equalling the achievement of Hibernian and Rangers, and Manchester United and Spurs for that matter. But, like those sides before them, Dundee could not break through the glass ceiling of the semi-finals.

In a sign of the times, Shankly refused to scout Milan ahead of the match as ‘I could very easily confuse myself and I don’t want to confuse my players.’^ At half-time in front of 78,000 in the San Siro, Shankly’s confidence appeared well placed as the Scots were holding their own. After Dino Sani had put Milan ahead, Cousin had equalised and the teams entered the break on level terms. Shankly complained at half-time to Spanish referee Vicente Caballero, that goalkeeper Bert Slater was being blinded by camera bulbs on high crosses, an issue that had affected Ipswich in their tie as well. Nothing was done and Dundee would concede four goals in the second half all from crosses into the box. The flashes can be clearly seen from the highlights, but Slater’s decision making may certainly have been a factor. Caballero ‘was found to have accepted extravagant gifts from the Italian club during another game and was banned from officiating pending charges of bribery’ according to Dundee’s official website. In the return leg, Dundee would score a famous victory thanks to a Gilzean trademark header, nine minutes from time but the fairytale was over. Dundee would never scale such heights again, although remarkably, 21 years later, their city rivals, Dundee United, would equal their achievement, and they too would fall to Italian opposition, in controversial circumstances. Milan though, were back in fashion and in the final, for the second time in five years. Again, they would face the holders.

Guttmann had left Benfica after the Amsterdam triumph in a dispute over his next contract. He would infamously curse the club on his departure, stating: ‘Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champions again.’ Oblivious to this potential hoodoo, the club focused on making it three-in-a-row and had received a bye to the first round where they played Swedish champions IFK Norrköping. As in previous years, they relied on their dominance at the Luz, winning 5-1 at home following a 1-1 draw away with Eusébio scoring a hat-trick. In the quarters a 2-1 win at home, was enough to carry them past the much fancied Dukla Prague. Coluna scoring a double, with the winning goal coming in the last five minutes. They would come up against unlikely opponents, Dutch Champions Feyenoord in the last four. Feynoord’s run was unspectacular, though their achievement most certainly was. A gritty side known for a defensive approach, the key players were Eddy Pieters-Grafland in goal, Coen Moulijn the leftwinger described by Cruyff as an ‘exceptionally talented footballer’ and the ‘steamrolling right half’^ Reiner Kreyermaat known for his deadly set-pieces.

In the preliminary round, against Servette they secured a handsome 3-1 win in Geneva, yet found themselves 3-0 down back in Rotterdam, with only a minute left on the clock. A penalty converted in the 89th minute by future chairman of the club Gerard Kerkum forced a play-off in Dusseldorf. After a 1-1 draw in regulation, goals from Frans Bouwmeester and Cor van der Gijp, led them to a 3-1 win and a first round tie against Vasas.

They would again need a play-off to get by the Hungarians, this time in Antwerp, winning the decider 1-0. In the quarters they shocked Reims, winning 1-0 in France with Kreyermatt scoring from long range. A 1-1 tie in the Netherlands was enough to earn a semi-final with the holders.

In Rotterdam, Benfica were without Germano (injured for the rest of the season) and Águas (given a free transfer) and left with a 0-0 draw. Feyenoord fans giddy with the possibility of seeing their team reach the European Cup Final, travelled 1600 strong via two ships the Groote Beer and the Waterman to Lisbon. Unfortunately like every other club that didn’t have Pelé in their side, their dreams died in the Estadio Da Luz. Goals from Eusébio, Augusto and Santana gave Benfica their 3-1 win. Their run was over, but Dutch football was beginning to make its mark.

In another sign that perfidious Albion was waking up to its earlier hostility, the final was held at Wembley. In the centenary year of the Football Association, UEFA had agreed to play the final in London. The kick-of time of 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon, a beautiful afternoon though it was, did not assist in ensuring a bumper crowd and the stadium was half full with only 45,000 in attendance.

Rocco sprung a surprise in his line-up, dropping the tournament’s top scorer Paolo Barison for Gino Pivatelli. A striker in his younger years Pivatelli had enjoyed a stellar career, notably Serie A top scorer in the 55/56 season when at Bologna, the only Italian to achieve the accolade in the 50s but by ‘63, and now 30, his pace and sharpness had left him and his main role in the side was as a defensive option. His job, therefore, was to man-mark Coluna, cutting off Eusébio’s supply chain. The decision, in retrospect, doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Benfica were the best team in Europe with the best player in Europe. Winners of the conquerors of Real Madrid in ‘61. Vanquishing Real a year later, in case there was any doubt still lingering. Adjusting your team’s balance to null the threat of their chief creator and one of the continent’s elite playmakers seems like a logical decision for Rocco to make. An awareness that you might not be able to go toe-to-toe, hell for leather against a better side. After all, Real tried it a year before, with a better team and look how that went.

As Miguel Delaney notes in his superb piece about the game in The Blizzard: ‘The great misconception about catenaccio, however, is that it was a fundamentally negative approach. It was not; it was an inherently pragmatic one.’ ^

It was this pragmatism, the adjustment of tactics to stifle an opponent, the rejection of Corinthian ideals of ‘may the best team win’ that so offended the sensibilities of European football.

Milan, in their all-white shirts, started on the front foot, but Benfica grew into the game and on 18 minutes the deadlock was broken. Coluna took hold of possession in his own half, clipped a ball forward to Torres (Águas 6ft 3, replacement), who flicked it on for Eusébio. At first he seems offside, but slowly Maldini the sweeper, comes into view. Eusébio eats up the green grass, separating himself from the chasing Trappatoni. As he enters the inside-right channel of the box, he strikes across goal from a tight angle and the ball cannons in off the post. It is pure Eusébio. Power, pace and a ruthless finish. An iconic picture captures the moment the ball has just left Eusébio’s foot. He is caught in motion, in the air, right arm pointing to the sky, left outstretched facing the green Wembley turf, his left leg tucked behind, his right pointed and bent slightly at the knee. His marriage of athleticism and technique perfectly illustrated. Trappatoni watches on forlorn, knowing the fate about to befall his team. At that moment, if they didn’t already know, Milan were made fully aware of the magnitude of their task.

For Trappatoni, surprisingly, it would be an image he would also admire, noting in 2014 following Eusébio’s death: It is a picture I have in my book of memories that shows Eusébio starting to run powerfully from midfield, and I run right to him. But he was much faster than me and scored an amazing goal, and I realized that it was impossible to stop Eusébio.’^

As they were being overrun, Rocco’s coaches on the field, Maldini and Trappatoni, who would become great coaches in their own right, made a tactical switch. The captain instructed Trappatoni to man mark Eusébio, relieving the Peruvian Benitez of the task. Despite being outrun earlier for the goal and no match physically for Eusébio, Trappatoni got close, and denied space. The other alteration made was to absolve Rivera of much of his defensive responsibilities. Suddenly the balance of the game changed, with Rivera creating three good chances for Altafini but the Brazilian was wasteful in front of goal, and Benfica led at the half 1-0.

The match was decided in a 10-minute period early in the second-half. In the 58th minute Rivera’s attempted shot was blocked but fell to Altafini, on the 18 yard line. He took a touch to control and hit a swivelling half-volley into the far corner, past Costa Perriera to put Milan level.

With the game up for grabs Pivatelli received the ball on the half way line on the left side of the pitch from Sani. The balding Brazilian continued his run but Pivatelli’s return pass was easily intercepted by Coluna, setting in motion a Benfica counter attack. Pivatelli recognizes the danger, immediately pressing the ball, but Coluna is too quick for him. Rivera had stated that Pivatelli had ‘practical intelligence, common sense and was extremely intuitive’^ and he demonstrated all three of these traits by tripping Coluna and stopping the attack in its place. In today’s parlance, it would be considered a tactical foul but the naked display of doing whatever it takes to win, was the philosophical clash of the two styles in microcosm. This was a world away from Real v Eintracht, three years earlier in Britain’s other footballing cathedral.

The bigger impact over stopping the counter-attack and the possible goal, was the injury Coluna sustained. He would receive treatment on the sideline and would be diagnosed with a broken foot. Benfica were down to ten men, and though he would hobble back onto the field for the last ten minutes, he could not contribute in any meaningful way.

On the 68th minute the holders won a corner which Milan cleared to the halfway line. Instead of sending the ball back where it came from, Benfica tried to play their way out of trouble. Rivera, ever alive to possibilities, nicked in and sent Altafini clean through on goal with only the keeper to beat but the Brazillian fluffed his lines and Costa Pereira blocked his shot. Fortunately, he poked home the rebound and sent the Cup to Italy for the first time.

Benfica’s run was over and it seemed Guttmann’s curse had worked, for a season at least. Riera would be fired and they would pick another Hungarian, and former Milan coach, Lajos Czeizler to coach them in the 63/64 season. For Eusébio, it was his first appearance at Wembley, he would return twice more in the next five years.

Three days later, on a Saturday afternoon at the same venue, 100,000 would witness Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Leicester City in the FA Cup Final. Matt Busby, who along with many of his Babes was denied the chance to take on Milan in 1958, was on the way to building a new team.