THEY shared a common mission, to bring home the European Cup. But the men who made up the Liverpool party travelling to the 1984 final approached the journey to Rome on different headings.
For the team captain Graeme Souness, Rome was a farewell appearance in red. The Scottish international was about to move on to Sampdoria after seven brilliant seasons.
He wanted to win the European Cup for a third time, and for the first time as captain. But more than anything he wanted to see the trophy in the hands of Joe Fagan.
Souness later explained: "As players, we were desperate to do well for Joe Fagan in that season.
"It was Joe who did most of the talking and day-to-day communication with the players during the years Bob Paisley was in charge. We all recognised Bob for the manager he was - a genius.. But we had a tremendous respect for Joe as well."
For Kenny Dalglish there was a sense of injustice that Liverpool were being asked to play the game on the home ground of their final opponents AS Roma.
But Dalglish reckons it worked in Liverpool's favour. He argues: "It could have intimidated the Italian players a little bit, all of that expectation to see them win at home. The fans put them under pressure."
Liverpool's vastlyexperienced coach Ronnie Moran, who thought he had seen everything, watched in astonishment and then appreciation as Bruce Grobbelaar danced around during the penalty shoot-out to unnerve Roma's Graziani into a decisive miss.
Moran says: "Not much has been made over the years of the way Bruce comically wobbled his legs during the penalty shoot-out. But it put the Roma players off completely.
"Then again, if Bruce had told us beforehand that he was going to start larking about during a penalty shoot-out at the European Cup final, he would have been hit in the head."
