Stadio Olimpico, Roma, 22.06.1980
2-1 (1-0)
Hrubesch 10., 88. / Vandereycken pen 75.
Facing the Mannschaft in the final were tournament surprises Belgium, who had offered the only spark of light in what had been an equally uninspiring group. Like the Germans the Rode Duivels also came into the final unbeaten, having pipped the hosts Italy on goal difference. The Italians only had themselves to blame – while they had matched the Belgians with a win and two draws, their managing to only score one goal in over 270 minutes of football was to be their undoing.
Jupp Derwall’s side started brightly, and with some five minutes gone they signalled their intent to take the game to the opposition when Hansi Müller’s stinging left-footed drive was superbly turned around the post for a corner by ‘keeper Jean-Marie Pfaff. With just ten minutes on the clock the impressive Bernd Schuster picked up the ball on the halfway line, playing a crisp one-two with Klaus Allofs whilst continuing his diagonal run. Quickly looking up, the youngster lifted a delicate chip to the Hamburg’s burly striker Horst Hrubesch, who beautifully chested the ball down before cracking a magnificent half-volley from the edge of the area. 1-0.
Instead of resting on their early lead, the Mannschaft continued to press. Hrubesch was soon involved again, playing a neat exchange with Hansi Müller who had charged in from the halfway line before finding space for a shot. Hitting the ball first time when he probably had a few more moments to compose himself, Müller put his shot over the crossbar.
The impressive Pfaff in the Belgian goal was clearly doing his bit in keeping the German lead down to the single goal – when Schuster once again found space and midfield and launched yet another thunderbolt the man from Beveren was on hand to palm it over the bar, and he was forced to do the same again not long afterwards when Klaus Allofs had been given far too much time to charge towards goal and unleash another long range effort. On another day, Germany could very well have been three or four goals up by half-time.
The second half began more sedately, as the German team started to play the price for trying to force the pace in the first half. With their goal no longer under siege has it had been for most of the first period, Belgium started to come back into the game. In what was probably the Rode Duivels‘ first real attack of note, Club Brugge’s René Vandereycken’s stinging shot was turned around the post by Toni Schumacher – and in a spell that saw the withdrawal through injury of the brick wall defender Hans-Peter Briegel, the Belgians started to display some of the form they had shown earlier in the tournament.
They came back into the game in controversial circumstances: Frankie van der Elst was heading towards goal, when he was clipped by Uli Stielike. In what was almost a carbon copy of Germany’s game against Holland, the Romanian referee awarded a penalty when the foul had clearly taken place outside the area. There was little either Germany could do however as Vandereycken’s well-struck kick sent Schumacher the wrong way to level the scores at one apiece.
Uli Stielike clips Franky van der Elst just outside the area, only for the referee to award a penalty to the Belgians
Jupp Derwall’s side should really have been home and dry by this stage, but the equaliser provided the Belgians with enough confidence and resolve to press for a winner themselves; the final period saw the action flow from one end of the field to the other, with both sides looking to finish the game within the ninety minutes.
With three minutes left on the clock, the still-lively Schuster picked up a loose ball in the Belgian box and found space to hit the target – only to see Pfaff once more stretch out to palm the ball around the post for a corner. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge stepped up to take the Ecke, swinging it into the box and finding Horst Hrubesch who did the rest. While the Hamburg’s man’s chest-down and shot to give the Mannschaft the lead had been something of a rare gem, his second was far more typical as he rose high above the Belgian defence to nod the ball home. Having pressed so hard after equalising, the Belgians were now a spent force as Germany eased themselves through the final moments to claim their second European title.
With just two minutes remaining, Hans Hrubesch scores his second goal of the night to clinch a second European title for Germany
After the pain and humiliation of Córdoba in 1978, Derwall’s young lions appared to have restored and refreshed the reputation of what had been an ageing and ailing side. Of the twenty-two man squad, only two were over thirty and a staggering fourteen were twenty-five or under; with the likes of Kalle Rummenigge, Hansi Müller, Klaus Allofs and above all the precocious Blonde Engel Bernd Schuster leading the line, the future seemed to be looking bright for German football.
The victorious Mannschaft with the trophy. Back, l to r: Rummenigge, Schumacher, Cullmann, Schuster, Briegel, Hrubesch, Stielike, Jupp Derwall. Front: Allofs, Kaltz, Dietz, B. Förster, Müller
Germany: Schumacher – Kaltz, Stielike, Kh. Förster, Dietz (c) – B. Schuster, Briegel (55. Cullmann), Ha. Müller – Kh. Rummenigge, Hrubesch, K. Allofs
Belgium: Pfaff – Gerets, Meeuws, Millecamps, Renquin – Cools (c), Vandereycken, van Moer, Mommens – van der Elst, Ceulemans
Referee: Nicolae Rainea (Romania)
Assistants: not known
Yellow Cards: Kh. Förster / Millecamps, Vandereycken, van der Elst
Red Cards: – / –
Attendance: 47,864