The Class of 1971
By: Antonios Theodosis
The class of 1971 is one that is well known amongst Greek football fans around the world. After all, this was the side that played an advanced type of football adopted from some of Europe’s best clubs, and as a result reached the European Cup final. To this day no other Greek club has matched this feat, it is an achievement that Greek football fans, regardless of club affiliation recognize as something monumental.
There were several variables that ultimately led to this team making the European final. One of the first and most important being the appointment of Hungarian manager and Real Madrid legend Ferenc Puskas, who took over as manager in 1970. Puskas revolutionized the mentality within the locker room at Panathinaikos, with club legend Antonis Antoniadis noting that Puskas gave the players a winning mentality and a sense of belief while playing on the European stage. Although he was not the first to introduce the 4-3-3 to Panathinaikos, Puskas utilized the system almost perfectly finding the right balance in order to get the most out of talisman Antoniadis and allowing the midfield general Mimis Domazos to be the main playmaker in the midfield. Puskas was an incredibly vital piece to Panathinaikos’ emphatic run in 1971 and it should be noted that he worked incredible magic providing knowledge from an outside perspective and bringing the absolute best out of his players. He is quoted as telling the players during the campaign that their opponents had two legs just like they did and that they had nothing to fear.
Another important piece to the 1971 Panathinaikos team was the previously mentioned Antonis Antoniadis. Standing at over six feet tall, “o psilos” or “the tall one” proved to be an extremely important player for Panathinaikos, and I would personally argue that he was the most important player for Panathinaikos in 1971. Antoniadis proved to be extremely lethal in front of goal, finishing the European Cup competition as the top scorer and finishing only one goal behind Gerd Muller for the European Golden Shoe. Antoniadis’ goals proved to be extremely vital, especially in the semi-final against Red Star Belgrade which saw Antoniadis find the back of the net twice and help Panathinaikos go through on away aggregate score. Antoniadis scored a goal in almost every game for Panathinaikos in Europe in 1971, only failing to score in the second leg of the quarter final against Everton and in the final against Ajax. In total, Antoniadis found the back of the net ten times in the 1971 campaign proving to be a key asset to the team’s incredible run.
You cannot mention the 1971 team without mentioning Mimis Domazos, who some consider to be Panathinaikos’ greatest ever player. Domazos, nicknamed “the general” was exactly that, a general in the midfield. His ability to read the game and link up with Antoniadis up top was yet another essential piece to the team’s success. Antoniadis was finding the back of the net, but it was Domazos who was finding him and playing him through. The pair formed a deadly partnership in the European campaign and it was a combination of Puskas’ formula with the 4-3-3 and exploiting Domazos’ incredible playmaking ability in the midfield with that of Antoniadis’ prolific ability in front of goal. Domazos’ reputation as “the general” can be harkened back to this campaign which proved to be something incredible and to this day never matched.
Although Antoniadis and Domazos were linking play from the midfield into the final third and scoring, it was Takis Ikonomopoulos who was doing his part by keeping the opposition from scoring. Ikonomopoulos was nicknamed “the bird” by his teammates as he was known to pull off incredible acrobatic saves under the sticks for Panathinaikos. Ikonomopoulos proved to be an important piece in the campaign, especially in the quarter final against Everton. The experienced shot stopper was able to hold onto a 0-0 draw in Athens after an incredibly difficult match at Goodison park which ended 1-1 and allowed his side to go onto the semi-final. Although he conceded two goals in the final against Ajax, Ikonomopoulos was quite unlucky on the first goal as it had deflected off of a defender and went in. Regardless, his heroics under the sticks throughout the campaign highlight just how important he was for Panathinaikos and the run they made that season.
Last, but not least it is important to mention that this Panathinaikos side was composed entirely of Greeks. The whole squad from top to bottom was Greek, with the exception of the manager. Every European match Panathinaikos played in 1971 saw eleven Greeks on the field all at once. This is something that is not even imaginable in today’s world of Greek football, but at that time proved to be something important. All of these players were able to build chemistry which translated into some incredible, yet hard-fought wins. It was only Puskas who had the experience of making deep runs in Europe from his time as a player, but the team proved that when Greeks are united, they can do some incredible things.
It is without a doubt that what the class of 1971 achieved was nothing short of remarkable. The landscape of Greek football today makes something like this seem impossible to replicate. The legendary Sir Alex Ferguson has stated that besides Euro 2004, the incredible run of Panathinaikos in 1971 is Greece’s best achievement in football. There were so many moving pieces that had to align perfectly in order for a run like this to materialise. It should go without mentioning that regardless of what club you support, there is no doubt that what Panathinaikos achieved during this time changed Greek football and put Greek clubs on the map in Europe.
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(All images labeled for reuse: taken from Commons.Wikimedia.org)
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