Barcelona 1
Dundee Utd 2
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (2nd Round 1st Leg)

Match Report

It took just 3 minutes for Norwegian ace Finn Seemann to crash a 30 yard shot just over the bar, but the game soon fell into a pattern of Barcelona having most of the ball, with United hitting dangerously on the break.

After near things for Gallego and Benidez, Billy Hainey wrote his name into the record books by becoming the first Dundee United player to score in a European tie, and gave the men from Tannadice a shock 1-0 lead. A great moved that was started by Ian Mitchell was finished of with an excellent well taken low shot from Hainey, which drew applause from the Spanish fans. As the match went on, Barcelona just couldn't break down the well organised United defence, and United continued to threaten with every break away, with Mitchell and Hainey both coming close before half time. When Barcelona did finally manage to breach the United defence their finishing let them down, with Gallego, Bereda, Rife and Zaldua all either missing chances or having goalkeeper Sandy Davie keep their efforts out.

When the second half began, Barcelona had obviously targeted Finn Seemann as United's main danger, and in the opening 10 minutes, Seemann was continually fouled, with Barcelona's Uruguayan defender Benidez the main culprit. But in 58 minutes the Norwegian winger fed the ball in front of Hainey, who was brought down in the box by Torres and the Yugoslavian referee pointed to the penalty spot. After the Barcelona players protests where eventually waved away, Seemann slotted home the spot kick.

However, the drama continued when the referee ordered a retake. Finn Seemann stepped up once again, and remained the coolest man on the park to put the ball beyond Barcelona keeper Sadurni and make it 2-0 to United.

The Spaniards, now sensing they were in trouble, started to get desperate and eventually pulled one back when Josep María Fusté headered home a Benidez cross with 8 minutes left. United's defence - marshalled by skipper Jimmy Briggs and the magnificent Doug Smith and Lennart Wing - stood firm, and with five minutes to go Orjan Persson was fouled whilst attacking the Barcelona goal, which led to an exchange of punches in the Barcelona penalty box but nothing more.

The final whistle blew and United earned an unbelievable victory, becoming the first British club to win a competitive match in Spain. The small band of pioneering United supporters who made the journey invaded the dressing room to celebrate with their team, before heading out into the streets to dance the night away with the locals!