‘It was the best punch of my life’: When Liverpool captain Graeme Souness became the enemy of bloodthirsty Bucharest

The most celebrated punch in Liverpool history was thrown by Graeme Souness on 11 April 1984. It landed out of sight of the referee and the Kop. Almost no one saw it, least of all its recipient. “I heard it,” Alan Kennedy said. “A thud. I just saw a red blur and heard a boom.”

The act of violence on Lica Movila, the Dinamo Bucharest captain, sparked a series of events that turned the villain of the piece into a hero. “It was classic Souness,” Steve Nicol said.

The former Liverpool captain recalls the incident with relish. “It was the best punch I delivered in my life,” Souness said.

The first leg of the European Cup semi-final against the Romanian champions had been tight before the incident. Dinamo were quick, skilful and rugged. Sammy Lee gave the home side a 1-0 lead after 25 minutes but the game was in the balance with 20 minutes left. When a Liverpool attack broke down, Dinamo pushed forward following the clearance. Left behind, on the edge of the area, was Movila. His jaw was broken. In the Cold War terms of the era, Souness had gone nuclear.

The visiting side had been niggly. “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.”

Everyone knew what was brewing. “Movila was warned,” Kenny Dalglish said. “Graeme told him that if he pulled his shirt again he’d get it. He got it.”

Kennedy winced at the memory. “He turned into Souness and that probably made it worse,” he said. “How the ref didn’t see it I’ll never know.”

By the time the official stopped play, the man his team-mates called Champagne Charlie was 40 yards away with his hands on his hips. Souness pointed to his wrist, indicating to the referee to stop his watch, suggesting that the injured party was play-acting and time-wasting.

“I'm not saying it was a bit naughty but it was a bit… well, a bit... let’s just say Movila wasn’t happy,” Kennedy said.

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None of the Dinamo party were happy. When the game finished with Liverpool retaining their slender lead, Movila was waiting on the sidelines to point out his assailant. “He was standing at the mouth of the tunnel with a towel around his head and his face packed with ice,” Souness said. “There were two big fellas, one either side of him. They looked like cops. They were scowling at me.”

In Nicolae Ceausescu’s authoritarian state, secret police accompanied teams during European away trips. Souness was not daunted, though. “It was all a bit of a laugh,” he said. “Well,” he reconsidered. “Not for him.”

The return leg was two weeks away. Would things be so funny behind the Iron Curtain?

Few westerners went to the eastern bloc during the Cold War. Life was very different. “Bucharest and around the ground were very grey and full of grey people,” Kennedy said. “There were lots of military personnel standing round, people in uniform. You never felt entirely welcome.”

At the airport, a crowd formed an angry reception committee. “People were screaming at us,” Nicol said. “It took us a while to realise that it was all about Souness. Everyone was waiting for Charlie.”

Once the penny dropped and the players understood that their captain was the hate figure, the squad knew exactly how to act. “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 took it in his stride, even if he tried to deflect some of the abuse. “They 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.”

The Liverpool captain knew exactly what to do. “I looked around and pointed to Alan Kennedy,” he 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 baiting was relentless. “When we went downstairs at the hotel, there’d be people waiting around and we’d all point to Charlie,” Nicol said. “’Here he is, here he is!’ We were loving it.”

It continued right up until kick-off. “We were warming up on the pitch and every time a ball was passed to him the crowd went mad booing,” Nicol continued. “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.”

There were 60,000 people in the stadium and the hate for Souness was clear. Maintaining the 1-0 lead in rainy, windy and hostile conditions looked a big ask for Liverpool. The Dinamo players made it clear what to expect before the kick off. “Their 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.”

The assault began. “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.”

Dalglish looked on in awe. “He rode everything they threw at him,” he said. “Lesser men would have folded.”

The rest of the team had enjoyed their fun at the captain’s expense before the game but now they rallied round. “He understood the pressure and coped with it,” Kennedy said. “He needed his team-mates, though. We made sure he always had an option so he never got caught in possession.”

Dinamo were fixated on Souness but after just 12 minutes he found himself unattended after a corner was cleared. He showed the Romanians the other side of his game. The Scot was a fine passer of the ball and this time he produced a diagonal, delicate, angled effort into the path of Ian Rush in the area. The Welshman buried the chance and Dinamo’s hopes with it. The tie was effectively over. The only question was whether Souness would emerge in one piece from the renewed assault.

Dinamo pulled one back before half-time but it was never close. Rush made it 2-1 with six minutes left but the home side had long given up hope. They merely wanted to punish their opponents. “Some of the tackles were horrible,” Kennedy said. “This guy took me out near the touchline and I ended up about 10 yards off the pitch when I landed. I thought, ‘I’m not going to get caught by these again.’ We were all under pressure.”

At the final whistle, the captain’s socks were shredded but the victory was intact. Romanian soldiers and policemen made throat-cutting gestures at the midfielder but he did not care. Dinamo were unable to exact revenge on Souness.

“They were never going to get him,” Kennedy said. “He was far too clever for them.”

In the dressing room, even the normally taciturn Joe Fagan was excited. The 63-year-old first-year manager was slow to praise his team and had seen it all in his 24-year Anfield career. Now he called for silence. The players wondered what was coming until Fagan erupted. “You f*****g beauties,” he screamed.

Liverpool were through to their fourth European Cup final. Souness had once again proved his worth and would again in the final. “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.”