For a club of Arsenal’s size, it is surprising that they have not had more success in Europe.
Incredibly, Arsenal have only won two European trophies: the Fairs Cup in 1970 and the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994. It was so long ago that neither of them existed anymore. And perhaps that explains why, 32 years later, The Copenhagen Miracle still doesn’t get as much recognition as it deserves.
It remains an unexpected and surprising European victory, marked by defiance, determination and a glorious performance.
Arsenal were vastly outclassed by the forces of Parma, who boast one of Europe’s best striking units in Thomas Brolin, Faustino Asprilla and Gianfranco Zola, while George Graham’s heroes lacked a major weapon.
Ian Wright was suspended. John Jensen was injured. Martin Keown was absent after failing a fitness test in the second half. David Seaman required injections after breaking two ribs in preparation for the final. David Hillier, perhaps the club’s best man-marker, tried unsuccessfully to prove his fitness in a preliminary game two days earlier.
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Instead, Alan Smith and Steve Morrow, one of the club’s all-time great players and top scorer in both title-winning seasons 1989 and 1991, were two of the key players in Arsenal’s last European triumph.
Luis Enrique’s side start as favorites and boast a formidable attack centered around Ousmane Demebele and Hviča Kvaratschelia, which could provide inspiration and even a fairy tale to prepare Arsenal to face Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on Saturday.
But everyone at the Parken Stadium will truly believe that this generation at Arsenal has a chance.
Arsenal return in the European Cup Winners’ Cup (Image: Gary Prior/ALLSPORT)
“Parma was definitely the favorite to win,” Moreau said. “We were definitely the underdog, but the team performance that night was unbelievable.”
Smith said: “I see a lot of similarities. Yeah, I would have expected Arsenal to win more European trophies and they were close to it, but that didn’t happen. But now that Arsenal have won the league, they’ll be a bit freer to go into the game. That might help.”
“I don’t see why not. I love Arsenal. The difficult part is over with the Premier League title, but it would be great to win the Champions League.”
Former Arsenal manager Graham has built his own successful dynasty since taking over in 1986. The Littlewoods Cup followed a year later. And the club’s greatest night of all time was winning the title at Anfield in 1989. Morrow was on the traveling team while Smith scored that night.
Moreau, of course, scored in the 1993 League Cup final, after which Tony Adams dropped him in the post-match celebration. They also won the FA Cup, achieving a double domestic cup title and qualifying for the Cup Winners’ Cup. By then Graham had acquired Wright and Arsenal were becoming more of a cup team.
The semi-final defeat of Torino and Paris Saint-Germain sparked the song “1-0 for Arsenal”, which fans sang to the tune of Go West by the Pet Shop Boys.
“For the European games, we always came on the Monday before the Wednesday and worked on it,” Smith said. “We went to 4-4-2 on Saturday and then we all had in mind what we had to do. George was very tactically strong.”
“I remember the night before. Parma looked like a million bucks when they trained on the pitch in a stadium in Europe. They went into the game first, as the Italians always do, and we were like tramps with our training kit.”
“And I think they looked at us and thought, ‘Who is this mob?'” And then there was the podium. It was in the corner and had the words “Parma Winner” written on it. And we thought, “Gosh, that was a while ago.”
“But we just realized then we had an Arsenal winner on the other side, so you can see they just turned things around accordingly.”
Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman (left) and teammate Paul Davies celebrate with the trophy (Image: Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty Images)
“George was very thorough, revisited everything and really talked about the threats that could pose to us,” Morrow said.
“And after a while, I realized a lot of it was focused on me. So he says, ‘Okay, Steve, Thomas Brolin, he likes to run from deep in the midfield.’ So, please, watch his runs. You’re going to have to pick him up.”
“In that case, Zola will start high but drop deep. He will play exactly the hole I wanted, so I will have to mark him well.
“Oh, Faustino Asprilla. His strength is that he loves to drop deep and he loves to run to our defense. So make sure you block him too.”
“And I think it was Merce (Paul Merson) next to me. He said, ‘Good luck, Steve.'” And then everyone started laughing a little bit, so it brought a little bit of entertainment and lightened the mood a little bit. ”
Arsenal responded. However, there were only 19 minutes left. The ball fell to Smith. “Their defender Luigi Apolloni derailed the clearance with an overhead kick that hit me in the chest.
“I hit it well and it flew. Was it my best? I’d probably have to say 89. But it’s right there.”
“Obviously, people ask me about ’93 personally, obviously because of everything that happened there, but I enjoy talking more about ’94,’ and if you ask me what my most memorable game was, I think that’s the one I’d most like to talk about,” Morrow said.
“And for all the reasons you just talked about, I was most satisfied. There was a huge opportunity for us. The quality of the opponent was top class.”
Steve Bold (left) and Paul Merson celebrate with the trophy (Image: Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Moreau currently works at FIFA as a Talent ID coach. He briefly discusses Georgia, describing Kvaratskheria as a “national hero”.
Smith works in the media as a highly respected pundit for Sky. Bearing in mind that Smith scored the winning goal in Arsenal’s last European success, it’s hard to believe he won’t be there on Saturday.
Smith returned to Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium to watch Arsenal lose on penalties to Galatasaray in the 2000 UEFA Cup final. They also lost in the 2006 Champions League final and the 1980 Cup Winners’ Cup final.
“Six years later, I went to the Parken Stadium to watch the final against Galatasaray, and it was a **** match. I was working at the Telegraph and writing the manuscript,” he recalls.
“When the final whistle blew, I couldn’t line up to file and ended up on my hands and knees covered in dust. So I sat next to another journalist, Martin Samuel, and said, ‘Can I use your connection point?’
“He said, ‘Yes, yes,’ and I said, ‘Fucking hell. Five years ago you were scoring the winning goal, and now you’re on your knees trying to make the connection. Oh my God, where did I go wrong?’
Arsenal’s Alan Smith celebrates with trophy
The celebrations lasted long into the night in Copenhagen (Image: Popper/Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Morrow knows Mikel Arteta’s Graham well.
“Yes, for sure. I worked at the academy when Mikel was a player and he was always interested in young players. I knew he would be a good coach, but I just didn’t think he would be a good manager.”
Smith believes that if Arsenal win the double it would be the club’s biggest achievement ever. “It would be the best of all time. You can’t deny that. And I think the players know that and they will go down in legend as the team who had the best season ever.”
Morrow believes the success of 1994 hasn’t been given enough credit. And he really wants to see them win this weekend.
“It was a great accomplishment at the time,” Morrow said. “I think it’s really strange that this club hasn’t won more games in Europe.
“But if they do that, they’ll definitely be on par with the Invincibles. That would be an incredible accomplishment.”
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