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1977 Intercontinental Cup

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1977 Intercontinental Cup
on aggregate
First leg
Date21 March 1978
VenueLa Bombonera, Buenos Aires
RefereeNikola Milanov Doudine (Bulgaria)
Attendance60,000
Second leg
Date1 August 1978
VenueWildparkstadion, Karlsruhe
RefereeRoque Cerullo (Uruguay)
Attendance38,000
1976
1979 (not held in 1978) →

The 1977 Intercontinental Cup was an association football tie held over two legs in March and August 1978 between Boca Juniors, winners of the 1977 Copa Libertadores, and Borussia Mönchengladbach, runners-up of the 1976–77 European Cup. European Cup winners Liverpool declined to participate.[1]

Background

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As Liverpool declined to participate, Borussia Mönchengladbach was the team appointed to play the series. Due to schedule problems, the Cup was not played until 1978, with the second leg having been held more than four months after the first game in Buenos Aires.

Previously to those series, Borussia had won the Bundesliga three consecutive times (1974–77) with notable players such as Berti Vogts and Danish forward Allan Simonsen, awarded with Ballon d'Or in 1977.

As part of the preparation for the series, Boca Juniors manager, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, sent a friend of his to Borussia's training camp (pretending to be a local journalist due to his knowledge of German language) to watch the team in action. The envoy then sent Lorenzo a detailed report about Borussia's players, their technical characteristics and skills on the field.[2]

First leg

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The first game was held in La Bombonera, with Boca Juniors taking advantage with a goal by Ernesto Mastrángelo, but Borussia scored two goals for a partial 2–1 win until Jorge Ribolzi scored for the 2–2 that would be the final result.[3][4]

Match details

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Boca Juniors Argentina2–2West Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach
Report
Attendance: 60,000
Referee: Nikola Milanov Doudine (Bulgaria)
Boca Juniors
Borussia Mönchengladbach
GK 12 Argentina Osvaldo Santos
DF 4 Argentina Vicente Pernía
DF 2 Argentina Francisco Sá
DF 6 Argentina Roberto Mouzo
DF 3 Argentina Miguel Ángel Bordón
MF 8 Argentina Jorge José Benítez downward-facing red arrow 46'
MF 5 Argentina Rubén Suñé (c)
MF 18 Argentina Mario Zanabria
FW 7 Argentina Ernesto Mastrángelo
FW 21 Argentina Daniel Severino Pavón downward-facing red arrow 64'
MF 17 Argentina Carlos Horacio Salinas
Substitutes:
MF Argentina Jorge Ribolzi upward-facing green arrow 46'
FW Argentina Carlos Alberto Álvarez upward-facing green arrow 64'
Manager:
Argentina Juan Carlos Lorenzo
GK 1 West Germany Wolfgang Kleff
DF 2 West Germany Horst Wohlers (c)
DF 3 West Germany Wilfried Hannes
DF 4 West Germany Herbert Wimmer downward-facing red arrow 56'
DF 5 West Germany Berti Vogts
MF 6 West Germany Winfried Schäfer
MF 7 West Germany Rainer Bonhof
MF 8 West Germany Christian Kulik
FW 9 West Germany Karl Del'Haye
FW 10 Denmark Carsten Nielsen
FW 11 West Germany Ewald Lienen
Substitutes:
MF West Germany Dietmar Danner upward-facing green arrow 56'
Manager:
West Germany Udo Lattek

Second leg

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Ernesto Mastrángelo scoring the second goal for Boca Juniors in Wildparkstadion

In October, Boca Juniors travelled to Germany to play the second leg, with the media being sceptical about a victory there. As Borussia's stadium was being refurbished, the match played at Wildparkstadion, which was remarkable for being the stadium with the best lighting throughout Germany by then.[2]

Coach Juan Carlos Lorenzo surprised everyone when he decided to replace Francisco Sa, an experienced but slow player (with 33 years old) by younger and faster José Luis Tesare. He also put three attacking players (resulting in a 4–3–3 formation), something infrequent by those times.

The plan designed by Lorenzo was a real aim so Boca Juniors scored three goals for a 3–0 (Felman, Mastrángelo and Salinas) at the end of first half.[5] Nevertheless, during the first 15 minutes of the match Borussia played much better than Boca Juniors but the German match could not score a goal in despite their dominance over their rival.[2]

One of the key players of the match was Darío Felman, who also scored a goal. Felman, on loan to Valencia CF by then, had not attend the first game in La Bombonera but Alberto J. Armando convinced him to play the second leg. Felman gave Ernesto Mastrangelo a precise pass to score the second goal of the match.[2]

At the end of the match, Borussia manager, Udo Lattek stated that "Boca Juniors was a more mature and intelligent team than us".[2]

Match details

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Borussia Mönchengladbach West Germany0–3Argentina Boca Juniors
Report
Attendance: 38,000
Referee: Roque Cerullo (Uruguay)
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Boca Juniors
GK 1 West Germany Wolfgang Kneib
DF 2 West Germany Norbert Ringels
DF 3 West Germany Wilfried Hannes
DF 4 West Germany Horst Wohlers (c) downward-facing red arrow 46'
DF 5 West Germany Berti Vogts
MF 6 Denmark Carsten Nielsen
MF 7 West Germany Hans-Günter Bruns
MF 8 West Germany Christian Kulik
FW 9 Denmark Allan Simonsen
FW 10 West Germany Helmut Lausen downward-facing red arrow 72'
FW 11 West Germany Rudi Gores
Substitutes:
MF West Germany Winfried Schäfer upward-facing green arrow 46'
MF West Germany Ewald Lienen upward-facing green arrow 72'
Manager:
West Germany Udo Lattek
GK 1 Argentina Hugo Gatti
DF 4 Argentina Vicente Pernía
DF Argentina José Luis Tesare
DF 3 Argentina Miguel Ángel Bordón
DF Argentina José María Suárez
MF 17 Argentina Carlos Horacio Salinas
MF 5 Argentina Rubén Suñé (c)
MF 18 Argentina Mario Zanabria
FW 7 Argentina Ernesto Mastrángelo
FW 9 Argentina José Luis Saldaño downward-facing red arrow 46'
FW 11 Argentina Darío Felman
Substitutes:
FW Argentina Carlos Veglio upward-facing green arrow 46'
Manager:
Argentina Juan Carlos Lorenzo

Aftermath

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Boca Juniors' captain, Rubén Suñé, raising the trophy. At his left, president of the club, Alberto J. Armando

Boca Juniors's victory was acclaimed throughout Argentina, even by supporters of rival clubs. It was the first intercontinental title for the club and the third for a big five club of Argentina after the victories of Racing and Independiente in 1967 and 1973 respectively.

After their return from Germany, Boca Juniors players went directly to the club so they had to play Newell's Old Boys in the Metropolitano tournament, which would be finally won by Quilmes.[2]

Nobody believed in us. I sent an assistant to spy on Borussia's preseason and that helped me draw conclusions. I knew they were going to be tough and that I had to put a fast team on the field

— Juan Carlos Lorenzo, after winning the Cup.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Intercontinental Cup 1977 by Osvaldo Gorgazzi at the RSSSF
  2. ^ a b c d e f El primer Boca campeón del mundo, Página/12, 1 Jul 2018
  3. ^ Lo que pasó la primera vez... Archived 2018-08-01 at the Wayback Machine by Ramiro Scandolo, Olé, 21 Mar 2018
  4. ^ La inolvidable visita a la Bombonera Archived 2018-08-01 at the Wayback Machine, Fox Sports, 17 Feb 2017
  5. ^ a b A 40 años del día que Boca conquistó la cima del mundo por primera vez by Pablo Lisotto, La Nación, 31 Aug 2018