Former Derby County forward Roger Davies believes that Real Madrid can recapture the spirit of the ’75 team to defeat Borussia Dortmund this week.
Madrid head into their Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Dortmund looking to overcome a 4-1 loss from the first leg.
It is a situation that has brought back memories of Madrid’s 5-1 second leg win over Derby County in the Last 16 of the European Cup back in 1975-76, which also turned around a 4-1 loss.
One of the victims of that turnaround this weeks believes that a repeat is possible for Jose Mourinho’s side.
“Whilst I don’t see Barcelona making it, I know that Madrid can recapture the spirit of ‘75 to advance to the final,” commented Davies to AS this week, before reflecting on that comeback achieved against his team years ago.
“In the first leg we did everything right. Charlie George scored a hat-trick and could have gotten more. Real Madrid were not themselves. In addition, we benefited from a couple of refereeing decisions. Pirri scored, but it was ruled out unjustly for offside. In the end, 4-1 seemed definitive.
“The night before the return leg we trained and relaxed. I would not say too much, but we looked at things
“We celebrated that we were in Madrid, in Spain, playing at the legendary Bernabeu. There was respect, but also confidence.
“The Bernabeu atmosphere was electric, I had not seen anything like it before or since. 110,000 throats screaming non-stop, relentless. A constant noise. Unbelievable.
“We ended the first half 1-0 down… The team attacked us from the first to the last. We had to push back, but we even scored to make it a feasible 3-1. I remember, at that score, Charlie crossed it and I missed the goal by inches. It seemed we had frozen under the pressure of the stadium.”