Forty Years On Since 'The Punch': The Greatest Moment In Liverpool's History That You've Never Seen
Four decades ago, Dinamo Bucharest came to Anfield. Lica Movila was the away side's main man in the European Cup. Until, that is, Graeme Souness's stealth missile of a fist smashed the Romanian's jaw
Today is the 40th anniversary of ‘The Punch,’ the greatest incident in Liverpool’s history that you’ve never heard about. It was a mad moment in a crazy two months that were full of preposterous situations.
If it wasn’t for Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour and the chase for a treble, the events of four decades ago might have been discussed more in recent weeks. The possibility of three trophies in 2024 is much worthier of attention than the triple successes of 1984 but there are some things that should not be forgotten.
The Punch is one of them. Here, you should be directed to a YouTube video to watch it. There is none.
Nobody saw it. There were more than 36,000 people in Anfield that night. No one, except the man who threw it, understood what happened. Not even the recipient.
It was the first leg of the semi-final of the European Cup. Liverpool were facing Dinamo Bucharest. In the two seasons since they were last champions of Europe, they had been knocked out by sides from eastern Europe. Going behind the Iron Curtain was no fun.
The Cold War was raging. Ronald Reagan, the American president, was obsessed with the Soviet Union and its satellite states. His pet monkey, Margaret Thatcher, gibbered her support from London. Sport was another of the proxy battlegrounds of the East-West conflict.
At Anfield there was little thought of politics. But Liverpool had been ejected from Europe’s most prestigious competition twice in two years, by Widzew Lodz of Poland and CSKA Sofia, the Bulgarian side. Facilities in Britain were basic enough in 1984. They were much rougher in the sphere of Soviet influence.
A decade earlier, Kevin Keegan, a Liverpool hero, had been beaten up at Belgrade airport by Yugoslav border police while on England duty. That helped add to the sense of danger in the wild east. A decade after Keegan's beating, the madness started in the north west.
Dinamo were everything Liverpool feared. They were talented, direct, quick and rugged. Sammy Lee put the home side ahead after 25 minutes but it felt like a tenuous lead. The visiting side were rapid on the break and putting pressure on the Kop goal as the game reached its final quarter. Their captain, Lica Movila, was causing particular angst.
So Graeme Souness dealt with him.
Souness had a mean streak a hit man would kill for. He was known as ‘Champagne Charlie’ and the Scot exuded stylish arrogance. When Liverpool cleared a corner at the Kop end in the 72nd minute, Souness decided it was time to put Movila in his place. He smashed the Romanian’s jaw.
“It was the best punch I ever threw,” Souness told me with pride in his voice.
“I heard a ‘thunk’ but didn’t see it,” Kenny Dalglish said. Steve Nicol, who was on the bench, claims he saw a blur but can’t be certain. The entire Kop, following the ball, missed it. Movila didn’t see it, either. Neither did the referee.
The official stopped the game because the Dinamo captain was lying motionless on the floor. Souness, a picture of innocence, was 40 yards away, shaking his perm as if he didn’t understand the holdup and pointing to an imaginary watch to indicate to the official that Movila was timewasting.
The game had been niggly throughout, but the Liverpool captain had gone nuclear. “Movila was the worst of the lot,” Souness said. “He kicked everything that moved and three times caught me with punches off the ball. I’d had enough.”
“He was warned,” Dalglish recalled. “Charlie told him if he pulled his shirt again he’d get it. He got it.”
Alan Kennedy had a better sense of what happened than most. “He turned into Souness and that probably made it worse,” the left back said, wincing at the memory. “How the ref didn’t see it I’ll never know.”
Dinamo were furious. At the final whistle, Movila stood at the entrance to the tunnel with an ice-packed towel around his head. “There were two big fellas, one either side of him,” Souness said. “They looked like cops. They were scowling at me. It was a bit of a laugh.”
During Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship, secret police travelled with teams – a common practice with eastern European sides. They had marked Souness’s card for the second leg.
With a slender 1-0 lead, Liverpool travelled to Romania two weeks later. The players recall that their reception in Bucharest was the most hostile they’d experienced. “At the airport, a crowd was screaming at us,” Nicol said. It was unnerving – until the Liverpool squad realised they were just extras in their captain’s drama. “It took us a while to realise that it was all about Souness,” Nicol said. “Everyone was waiting for Charlie.
“Once we twigged it was all about him, that was it,” Nicol continued. “We got on the coach and we were pointing at him, directing the mob towards where he was sitting so they could bang on the window. We were all laughing at him and pointing. It went on for the whole trip.”
Souness is not easily intimidated but even Champagne Charlie had a moment where he wondered whether this time he’d gone too far. “The crowd were banging on the coach,” he said. “I was sitting there and suddenly this fella came to the window and his face was level with mine. That must have made him about seven foot tall. He was a giant. He was making gestures like he was gouging eyes out.”
But the Scot was used to outwitting opponents. “I looked around and pointed to Alan Kennedy,” Souness said. “He had a moustache and curly hair and was about my size. He could easily have been mistaken for me if you didn’t know. ‘That’s Souness,’ I was saying to the giant, shaking my head and directing him to Alan. ‘Not me, him.’”
The rest of the team were having none of that. “Wherever we went, we pointed him out to the mob,” Nicol said. “When we went downstairs at the hotel, there’d be people waiting around and we’d all point to Charlie. “‘Here he is, here he is!’ We were loving it.”
The stadium was filled with 60,000 fuming Bucharest fans. Every one of them was furious with Souness and let him know. “We were warming up on the pitch and every time a ball was passed to him the crowd went mad booing,” Nicol said. “Pass to any of us, silence. Pass to him, frenzy. We were warming up with about five balls and every time he got rid of one we’d knock another to him. Five balls were pinging in to him and the crowd were going mental. He was stepping over them, launching them long, anything to stop them going wild. We were all laughing, trying to make it worse.”
“Souey, of course, didn’t give a shit,” Kennedy said. “He was absolutely loving it. Loving it.”
The Dinamo players were looking for revenge. “Their [replacement] captain had played up front at Anfield,” Souness said. “He was of similar shape and size to me and had curly hair. He was aggressive during the coin toss and then dropped deep into midfield. He pointed to himself and then me as if to say, ‘it’s between us now.’ I gave him a thumbs-up.”
They tried to maim Liverpool’s skipper. “A couple of players had a pop at him,” Kennedy said. “But he got a couple of them back. He was good at doing bits and pieces off the ball if he needed to. It was pretty fierce. Every time Graeme got the ball their whole team were out to get him. But he was just too good for them. They couldn’t close him down. He was too clever for them.”
“He rode everything they threw at him,” Dalglish said. “Lesser men would have folded.”
Instead, Dinamo folded. After 12 minutes Souness fed a delicate pass into the box and into the path of Ian Rush to score the goal that ended the tie as a contest. The home team equalised before half time but it was never close and Rush added another goal in the second period to send Liverpool to the European Cup final in Rome. Dinamo were half the team without their captain.
By the final whistle, Souness’s socks were in shreds. Soldiers and policemen made throat-cutting gestures at him but Champagne Charlie did not care.
“He was the greatest captain,” Nicol said. “He would always say, ‘If they want to play, we’ll play. If they want to fight…’
"He wasn’t losing any fight.”
With Roma waiting in the final at the Italian club's home stadium, the fighting was far from over. But this Liverpool team packed a proper punch. Just ask Movila.
This is a great story, brilliantly told Tony.