JOE FAGAN's first season in charge at Anfield ended in the most astonishing fashion in Rome's magnificent Olympic Stadium.
The Anfield manager was reduced to the role of helpless spectator as the destiny of the most coveted trophy in club football was decided by a cruel penalty shoot-out.
The climax to the 1984 European Cup he had always dreaded became a reality as the Reds and Italian champions AS Roma remained deadlocked at 1-1 after 120 nerve-jarring minutes.
Amid scenes of high drama it was Alan Kennedy who again emerged as Liverpool's unlikely hero.
Fagan said: "We have to abide by the rules of the competition and it may have been too difficult for a replay to be arranged in circumstances like these.
"I don't believe that a final such as this should be settled over two legs. Major events like this have to be settled on a neutral ground and as far as we were concerned, this was a neutral ground tonight.
"I scarcely felt sorry for Roma as I would for say a club losing a cup final, but someone has to win whether it is on penalties or not, and I am delighted we managed to do that tonight.
"We did not allow the leading players of Roma, and Falcao in particular, to play to their potential. We did that by closing the space down on them.
"Prior to the game all the players were told that whoever was close to Falcao was to close him down.
"This has been the most difficult of our four European Cup wins and when the whistle blew at the end of extra-time, I went to the team and told them I was proud of them all, no matter what happened in the penalty shoot-out."
Roma coach Nils Leidholm admitted: "We were beaten by a team that was even stronger than we anticipated: a team that had its tactics correct. I am sorry that we had to lose it this way. Perhaps it would be better if we went back to when the final was settled by a replay."
