O'Neill recalls Forest European Cup victory

With the Champions League final between Barcelona and Juventus taking place in Berlin on the same day as the Republic of Ireland's pre-match press conference ahead of their first senior international meeting with England in over two decades, Boys in Green boss Martin O'Neill was invited to reflect on his own European Cup success with Nottingham Forest in 1980.

After enduring a strong line of questioning on off-field matters from the members of the media in the Radisson Hotel near Dublin Airport, O'Neill – sitting alongside Sunderland defender John O'Shea – was offered a reprieve when asked about the second of Forest's back-to-back European Cup successes under Brian Clough.

“Do you want me to talk about it?” O'Neill replied when the subject was brought up, before adding wryly, “Yes of course, absolutely, from start to finish even. I'll start in the morning!”

Injury meant that O'Neill was an unused substitute in Forest's first ever European Cup success against Swedish side Malmö FF the season before. O'Neill's replacement in the side that night was the first ever £1 million footballer, Trevor Francis. Clough had signed Francis from Birmingham City in February of that season and UEFA rules meant that the 1979 final would be his European debut for Forest on the right wing – at O'Neill's expense.

With the Kilrea man looking on from the sidelines, Francis raced into the penalty area just before half-time to meet an outswinging cross from Forest winger John Robertson and connect with a now iconic stooping header to give Forest a 1-0 lead. They wouldn't lose it and Clough had gotten his hands on his first European Cup.

O'Neill's disappointment would have been immense, but he wouldn't have to wait long to rectify it. One year later, Forest would take on Hamburg in the setting of the Santiago Bernabéu – and this time it was Francis who was injured and O'Neill would start the game, turning in a performance worthy of the occasion in the process.

“I played really well in the game,” O'Neill told the media with a little smile. “Even Brian Clough said I was brilliant. I eclipsed John Robertson!”

Robertson was one of the most feared wingers in Europe at that time and would, years later, serve as an effective assistant manager to O'Neill at a number of clubs – most notably Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa. It was Robertson's 20^th minute goal which sunk the Kevin Keegan-led Germans to give Forest another 1-0 win in the final of Europe's elite club competition.

“That was the most important thing, yes,” O'Neill replied when asked about being named in the starting line-up for the 1980 final by Clough. “When he pulled me aside and said, 'Who should I pick for the other ten?' and I thought that was brilliant.

“It was a great evening, one of the best evenings of all time, honestly. Seriously, as a club to win the European Cup, something that Real Madrid were winning way back in those days. It's obviously called the Champions League now. It was fantastic, [a] really, really unbelievable moment to win.”

The Ireland boss went on to describe Forest's preparations for the game against Hamburg – or lack thereof.

“We'd spent the previous week [away], the club had taken us off to Majorca with no curfew every single day while the Germans and Kevin Keegan were in a training camp,” explained O'Neill. “We won the game 1-0. I suppose if they had equalised at any time they might have beaten us about 21-1, but they didn't. We won the game and it is one of the great moments of my life.”