As the shimmering glory of Arsenal’s 1989 title triumph began to fade, George Graham faced the minor disappointment of being unable to pit himself and his team against Europe’s finest. The ban on English clubs from European competition, following the Heysel disaster in 1985, had another season to run.
The following year, English clubs were allowed back into European competition but Arsenal failed to qualify, after a disappointing title defence. Champions Liverpool were serving an additional one year ban so again, there were no English entrants into the European Cup. Aston Villa were England’s sole representative in the UEFA cup but surrendered a 2-0 first leg lead and were knocked out by Inter Milan. Manchester United fared rather better. The first English club to play in the European Cup Winners Cup in five years, took home the trophy - after beating Barcelona in the final.
The following year, English clubs were allowed back into European competition but Arsenal failed to qualify, after a disappointing title defence. Champions Liverpool were serving an additional one year ban so again, there were no English entrants into the European Cup. Aston Villa were England’s sole representative in the UEFA cup but surrendered a 2-0 first leg lead and were knocked out by Inter Milan. Manchester United fared rather better. The first English club to play in the European Cup Winners Cup in five years, took home the trophy - after beating Barcelona in the final.
The European Cup, however, was the real thing. There was genuine excitement in North London, and more widely across the country, at Arsenal’s return to the world’s top club tournament in 1991. “To Arsenal has fallen the privilege of attempting to revive the prouder traditions of English involvement in the European Cup which were shattered in the Heysel tragedy of 1985,” was how David Lacey put it in The Guardian.
Arsenal had been exceptional in 1990/91, losing only one match all season. They were worthy champions. After their title defence in 1989/90 fell away, George Graham identified two players he felt would significantly improve his team at both ends of the pitch, bringing in David Seaman and Anders Limpar, as well as promoting David Hillier and Kevin Campbell from the youth team. On their way to the title, Arsenal outscored the 1989 team - and conceded half as many goals: just 18. All four players made key contributions.
In the build up to the 1991/92 season, Graham appeared to be in danger of repeating the mistakes he made with his last title defence, particularly given that Arsenal would have the additional challenge of European matches. In his programme notes in the first match day programme of the season he wrote: “Last season, Kevin Campbell and David Hillier again proved the value of our youth policy. Everyone knows I want to strengthen our squad. But I’m not going to reach for the cheque book, whatever the cost; certainly not when we have some potential gems coming through the ranks.”
Graham felt confident that this team was ready to take on Europe - a view shared by the media and most Arsenal fans. It was only once the league season started in disappointing fashion - with a draw and two defeats - that he started to bring in further reinforcements. Those two defeats meant that before the end of August, Arsenal had lost more league games than they did in the entire 1990/91 season - and gave the manager serious cause for concern.
By the time Austria Vienna visited Highbury on 18 September, Arsenal’s league form had recovered somewhat but the Austrian champions had some European pedigree - they had reached the 1978 European Cup Winners Cup Final, where they lost to Anderlecht, and six members of their squad had represented their county at Italia 90, just a year before.
Highbury could be a very special place for a big evening game - the tight pitch, with the fans just a few yards away from the action, seemed even more intimate under the floodlights.
Arsenal were wearing their famous ‘bruised banana’ yellow shirts. This was a rare case of Arsenal’s away kit being worn at home. In the event of a kit clash - and in this case it was Arsenal’s and Vienna’s white shorts which were the issue - it was common in European football for the home side to wear their second kit. (Arsenal also wore yellow at Highbury in the next round against Benfica, and also against Torino in their run to the European Cup Winners Cup final in 1993). UEFA later changed the rules, to place this responsibility on the away team.
Arsenal started well and appeared to get the breakthrough their attacking play deserved, when Alan Smith seized on a poor backpass and was fouled. Lee Dixon stepped up to take the resulting penalty but crashed it against the bar.
However, the Gunners did make the breakthrough before half-time. Anders Limpar’s corner from the left was cleared back to him, and with the centre-backs still in the box, (and no doubt with George Graham’s coaching ringing in his ears), the Swede didn’t try to beat his man, just made enough space for an inswinging cross. Tony Adams challenged for the ball, and it bounced kindly for Andy Linighan, who connected cleanly with a low left-footed shot to score his first goal for Arsenal.
The narrow half-time lead gave little clue of the whirlwind of attacking football that would follow in the second half. Five goals were scored in 16 astonishing second-half minutes. Alan Smith claimed four of them, two either side of Andreas Ogris’ strike for Vienna.
Smith’s first was a simple finish following a brilliant attacking move. Lee Dixon beat his man on the right and chipped a short, lofted pass infield to Paul Merson. Merson - no stranger to the spectacular - took the ball on his chest and hit a fine volley from about 25 yards. It was an eye-catching strike, and the Vienna goalkeeper could only palm the ball back into the centre of the goal where Smith gobbled up the chance with gleeful efficiency.
Smith’s second was fairly rudimentary - a long Nigel Winterburn throw was flicked on by Linighan, and Kevin Campbell held off a defender, giving Smith room to slot the ball home from close range. Next came Ogris’ goal for Vienna - a fine finish after a mistake from Linighan. The Highbury crowd became slightly jittery, in response to what could have been a crucial away goal.
However, Smith’s hat-trick was sealed less than ten minutes later with a picture-book goal. Smith himself started the move with some tidy play in midfield. He passed it on to Winterburn, and the left-back found the overlapping Merson. Never a man to use his left-foot unless absolutely necessary, Merson picked out Smith with a beautiful cross with the outside of his right boot, and Smith crashed a diving header high into the net.
A minute later, Smith’s perfect night got even better. The ball once again fell kindly to him, this time after Valov saved Campbell’s shot. The scoring was complete when Limpar - the only non-Englishman in the Arsenal side - beat the hapless Valov at his near post.
All four of Smith’s goals had been scored in front of a heaving North Bank. The North Bank, which had stood relatively unchanged - bar the addition of a roof, and it’s subsequent re-build following bomb damage in World War 2 - for 80 years, would be demolished at the end of the season to make way for an all seater stand following the Taylor Report directives.
“It was a great night to admire the strengths of English football; Pace, skill at speed, determination, resilience. We imposed our style on them, and some of our football was excellent,” was George Graham’s assessment of the performance, and he singled out Smith, Adams, Campbell and David Rocastle - who was adjusting to an unfamiliar central midfield role that season - for praise.
Alan Smith’s four goal haul was rather amazingly matched that same evening by Dean Saunders, who scored four for Liverpool against Kuusysi Lahti on their own return to Europe in the UEFA Cup. The Arsenal striker’s performance had been criticised by England manager Graham Taylor when he played for his country against Germany a week earlier, where he had been well shackled by Guido Buchwald and Jurgen Kohler. To be fair, these were recent World Cup winning defenders, and Smith had built on his Golden Boot winning season with a very decent start to 1991/92: six goals in Arsenal’s first eight league games.
Either side of thrashing the Austrian side, Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 4-1 and Sheffield United 5-2. The Gunners had scored 15 goals in eight days - Smith had scored six of those.
How did Arsenal respond to this display of awesome attacking power? They went out and bought Ian Wright!
Ultimately, Arsenal’s European adventure would end in disappointment. Unseeded, the Gunners faced a tricky, but winnable, tie against Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Benfica in the second round. The first leg in Lisbon went well, with Arsenal securing a creditable 1-1 draw thanks to Kevin Campbell’s strike. It was a high class goal, created by the sort of nimble skill and swift incisive passing from David Rocastle that suggested Arsenal had a good chance of advancing far into the competition.
David Lacy wrote in the Guardian: “It was always felt that Arsenal would go far in Europe this season if they could impose their daunting style on opponents unused to the strength, stamina and directness of English teams.”
Arsenal were also on fire in the league, in part buoyed by Wright’s ebullient start. However in the second leg against Benfica, Arsenal’s weaknesses were exposed.
“In the return at Highbury we got stuffed, overrun, outplayed, and it was all over,” said Nick Hornby in Fever Pitch.
The Gunners started brightly. Merson’s outrageous long-range shot was turned on to the bar by the goalkeeper Barros, and from the resulting corner, the unlikely figure of Colin Pates seized on a loose ball to score his first goal for Arsenal. The game was perhaps a little too open though, and Benfica equalised through Isaias before half-time.
In terms of chances, the second half was even - the home side maybe even edged it. But Benfica’s superior ability in tight situations saw them comfortably through in extra time. Goals from Vassili Kulkov and that man Isaias again dumped Arsenal out, and gave Benfica their first victory at an English ground.
“Against the Austrians, we had squeezed and battled in the familiar style that had won us the league title and they were not good enough to deal with it. The Portugese were stronger altogether,” was how Tony Adams remembered it.
George Graham had work to do. He set about turning Arsenal into a successful cup team, and replaced some of his more creative players (Anders Limpar and David Rocastle) for more workmanlike midfielders (John Jensen, Ian Selley). The next time he matched himself up against European opposition, he would not make the same mistakes; ushering in the era of ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’, beating Torino, Paris Saint-Germain and Parma on the way to winning the 1994 European Cup Winners Cup.
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