AS SAINT-ETIENNE 1 LIVERPOOL FC 0

European Cup quarter-final first leg

3 March 1977

Liverpool: Clemence, Neal, Jones, Thompson, Kennedy, Hughes, McDermott, Case, Heighway, Toshack (Johnson 81), Callaghan. Subs not used: McDonnell, Smith, Fairclough.

Goal: Bathenay (78).

May 1976. Hampden Park, Scotland. An invasion of 20,000 fanatical football followers dressed in green took over the Glasgow venue. But they weren't Celtic FC fans.

AS Saint-Étienne, champions of France in 1974 and 1975, had reached a first ever European Cup final where they would face West Germany's FC Bayern Munich, champions of Europe in 1974 and 1975. No French team had ever won the European Cup, but les Verts [the Greens] were widely considered to be the most exciting French outfit seen since the corset was invented.

AS Saint-Étienne carved out plenty of chances, but the closest they came to scoring at Hampden was when Dominique Bathenay hit the crossbar. FCB won 1-0, Franz Roth netting a free-kick winner.

Even so, the Frenchmen were anticipated to be THE next great European side. A third consecutive French Ligue 1 title (their eighth in 13 years) was won and now Bob Paisley's Liverpool FC, the 1976 UEFA Cup winners, stood in their way of a place in another European Cup semi-final. And, ahead of the first leg in France, the Reds were hit by a major problem.

Star striker Kevin Keegan, Hamburger SV-bound at the end of season, suffered a knee injury – that turned out to be related to a hamstring problem – ahead of the game and was ruled out. “If I played I could really break down,” he told the Liverpool ECHO after failing a fitness test. “I'd only be able to play like George Graham – watching the ball go by.”

Paisley knew a tough task lay ahead against a side unbeaten at home for four years: “I rate St Etienne as highly as any team we have met in Europe,” he said, “but over the two legs I'm confident we'll get through.”

Midfielder Terry McDermott, who hadn't started a game for over a month, was drafted in and Liverpool FC also had to deal with an ear-splitting din created in Stade Geoffroy-Guichard with howls of “allez les Verts, allez les Verts,” ringing out at kick-off.

Around 1,500 travelling Kopites made the trip to the Loire region of central France and saw their team take the sting out of the hosts in the opening 10 minutes. Attacker Dominique Rocheteau, a 22-year-old with long hair and pop-star looks, was considered the new darling of French football, but was marked so well by Joey Jones that his influence on the game was minimal. At the other end, the Reds created chances with the best falling to centre-back Phil Thompson, who headed a cross narrowly wide when given space inside the box.

It was a similar story after the break and in the 70th minute winger Steve Heighway sped down the right, skipped away from his man and clipped the ball past en-rushing ‘keeper Ivan Ćurković only for the ball to come back off the post.

Ten minutes later, AS Saint-Etienne conjured up a fortunate winner when right-back Gérard Janvion mis-hit a cleared corner back across goal and the ball bounced nicely for Dominique Bathenay to tap in at the near post.

'Phew They Won' read the headline in French newspaper L'Aurore the next morning, while Liverpool FC skipper Emlyn Hughes was full of praise for the travelling Kop: “For the first 10 minutes they were the nosiest crowd I've ever played in front of, but we got on top of them so much that you could hardly hear them and a small group of our fans in one corner made more noise than all the French put together.”

So the Reds had a 1-0 deficit to overcome and if Emlyn thought it was noisy in France then what was to follow in the second leg at Anfield was on a different level altogether…

LIVERPOOL 3 ST ETIENNE 1

European Cup quarter-final second leg

16 March 1977

Liverpool: Clemence, Neal, Jones, Smith, Kennedy, Hughes, Keegan, Case, Heighway, Toshack (Fairclough 74), Callaghan. Subs not used: McDonnell, Kettle, McDermott, Johnson.

Goals: Keegan (2), Bethany (51), Kennedy (59), Fairclough (84).

“St Etienne was cash on the gate as usual,” recalled playwright Dave Kirby in the book ‘Here We Go Gathering Cups In May’. “We got there about 5 o'clock and couldn't believe the crowds. The back of our queue for Flagpole Corner was up by the Annie Road.

“About 7 o'clock I was wedged half in and half out of a turnstile when the bell [to signal full capacity] went off. There was loads of pushing, shouting and swearing. I held out my arm to a bizzie [police officer] and let out a harrowing Oscar-winning scream: 'ahhhh, me legs'. He panicked and pulled me through, then the door slammed shut. Every button on my Wrangler shirt had popped and I lost a shoe, but I was in.”

Not everybody got so lucky. An estimated 6,000 people – many with stand tickets unable to access the Kemlyn Road turnstiles due to the huge queues, and scores of the 6,000 St Etienne fans who had travelled over from France – were locked out of a heaving Anfield. The 55,043 inside were about to witness a classic on a night that Bob Paisley predicted would rival the 3-1 European Cup semi-final victory against Inter Milan in 1965.

“I remember going on the team bus to the ground from the Adelphi Hotel and when we got to Anfield Road there were so many people and there was such an atmosphere I got this feeling that something special was going to happen,” recalled striker David Fairclough. “There was something different about it.”

Kevin Keegan was back in the Liverpool FC side but les Verts were without Argentine hardman Osvaldo Piazza – aka 'the Beast' – through suspension after he'd received his second booking of the competition for a knee-high challenge on Ian Callaghan in the first leg. Within one minute and 42 seconds the difference that was to make for both sides became apparent.

From Steve Heighway's short corner, Keegan whipped in a cross-come-shot from an acute angle that sailed over goalie Ivan Ćurković head into the top corner. Game on. And spontaneous chants of 'allez les Rouges' rang around the ground.

AS Saint-Etienne, whose supporters were clad in green and white wigs and had brought air-horns and klaxons with them, weren't about to lie down though and Dominique Rocheteau, who hadn't endeared himself to Kopites by declaring in a pre-match interview “the club I want to play for is Manchester United, they are the most famous British club,” had a goal disallowed for offside before being denied by Ray Clemence, who was wearing an un-numbered yellow jersey due to his normal green shirt clashing with the visitors' strip.

Midfielder Jimmy Case also had a strike chalked off for a foul and six minutes after the interval AS Saint-Etienne were level, Dominique Bathenay beating Clemence with a vicious, swerving shot from around 25 yards out.

The goal prompted Bob Paisley to leave his seat in the director's box and make his way to the dugout to chat with assistant manager Joe Fagan. Moments later, Fairclough was sent out to warm up, but it wasn't long before the Reds were ahead again.

Striker John Toshack knocked right-back Phil Neal's diagonal pass into the path of Ray Kennedy and, from just inside the box, the left-sided midfielder fired a first-time right-footed effort into the Kop-end net, which had so much toilet roll hanging in the back of it you'd have sworn the Andrex puppy had been working overtime.

One more goal was still needed, so on came Fairclough for Toshack. And then, with six minutes to play, Kennedy lobbed the ball forward. “And Fairclough is onside,” exclaimed ITV commentator Gerald Sinstadt. “This now could be interesting… Fairclough! Super sub strikes again!”

3-1. Bedlam. Anfield erupted volcano style as 50,000 Reds bounced up and down singing “we shall not, we shall not be moved, we shall not, we shall not be moved, just like the team that's gonna win the European Cup, we shall not be moved.”

Another ear-drum bashing cheer greeted the final whistle as Liverpool FC reached a first European Cup semi-final since 1965. “It was like Inter Milan all over again,” said Paisley, “even the score. “The players and I want to thank our fans for their magnificent support. It made a big difference.”

The Reds went on to reach the final in Rome, where they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 to become champions of Europe for the first time. A lot has happened in the 47 years since, but Liverpool FC v AS Saint-Étienne will forever remain one of Anfield’s greatest nights.