Madjer's back-heel: FC Porto beat Bayern to win the 1987 European Cup

With about 13 minutes left in Vienna on the evening of 27 May 1987, FC Porto were still losing. Bayern Munich had led since the 25th minute, and in a stadium full mostly of Bayern supporters the European Cup seemed on its way to Munich for the fourth time.3 sources3 sources

Then Juary, a Brazilian forward sent on at half-time, broke into the Bayern penalty area and pulled the ball across. It came off a defender and ran along the goal line. Rabah Madjer, an Algerian, had already run towards the near post expecting a cross, so the ball arrived behind him.3 sources3 sources

With his back to goal and a defender on the line, Madjer let the ball run between his legs and flicked it in with his heel past Jean-Marie Pfaff. By the time the Bayern defenders turned to watch it cross the line, the city of Vienna's history wiki notes, he already had both arms in the air.3 sources3 sources

Minutes later Madjer beat a defender on the left and crossed for Juary, who scored the winner. A club that had never won anything in Europe was champion of Europe, 25 years after Benfica's second title in Amsterdam.3 sources3 sources

Until 1987 Portugal's European football glory belonged to Lisbon. Benfica had won the European Cup in 1961 and 1962, and Sporting the Cup Winners' Cup in 1964. FC Porto, from the country's second city in the north, had first played in a European competition in 1956 and taken part for 31 years without a trophy.3 sources3 sources

The change began in 1982, when Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, the club's former director of football, was elected president. His campaign slogan asked members to vote for him if they wanted 'a strong Porto in Portugal and in Europe'. By his own account he enlarged the Estádio das Antas from 65,000 to 90,000 places, and in 1984 Porto reached the Cup Winners' Cup final in Basel, losing 2–1 to a Juventus side with Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi and Zbigniew Boniek.3 sources3 sources

That summer the club's great coach of the period, José Maria Pedroto, was seriously ill. According to Diário de Notícias, it was Pedroto who persuaded Pinto da Costa to hire his former pupil Artur Jorge, then 38. Born in Porto in 1946, Artur Jorge had been a prolific centre-forward for Académica and Benfica, had studied German philology at Coimbra, helped found the players' union in 1972 and published a book of poems. Porto won the league in his first two seasons.3 sources3 sources

The country around the club was changing too. Portugal had joined the European Economic Community on 1 January 1986. In an anniversary text in 2024, FC Porto described itself in 1987 as a club 'from a small city in a poor country' that beat 'a sporting and financial colossus'.2 sources2 sources

Porto entered as Portuguese champions of 1985-86 and began with a 9–0 home win over Rabat Ajax of Malta in September 1986, Fernando Gomes scoring four. The second round was harder: they lost 1–0 in Czechoslovakia to TJ Vítkovice and turned it round with a 3–0 win at the Antas.2 sources2 sources

Brøndby of Denmark went out 2–1 on aggregate in March 1987, Madjer scoring at home and Juary away. In the semi-final Porto beat Dynamo Kyiv, whose striker Igor Belanov had been voted European Footballer of the Year for 1986, 2–1 at home and 2–1 in Kyiv. In the return leg Celso and Gomes scored in the first 11 minutes.2 sources2 sources

Bayern were the clear favourites. Under Udo Lattek, who had coached the club to its first European Cup in 1974, they led the Bundesliga by six points over Hamburg and had knocked out Real Madrid 4–2 on aggregate in the semi-final. Bayern's captain on the night was Lothar Matthäus, and their side also included Andreas Brehme and Dieter Hoeneß.4 sources4 sources

Porto's preparations went wrong 13 days before the final. On 14 May, ten minutes into training at the Antas, Gomes caught his boot in the turf making a sliding tackle and broke his left fibula at the ankle. The club doctor, Domingos Gomes, ruled him out for at least four months. Lima Pereira, the Brazilian striker Casagrande and Jaime Pacheco were also injured. Bayern had their own absentee: their regular captain, Klaus Augenthaler, was suspended.4 sources4 sources

Juary later told Diário de Notícias that for two weeks Artur Jorge and his assistant, Octávio Machado, kept telling the players that Bayern were very strong and that losing narrowly would be a good result. In Vienna, he said, they switched on the television to relax and it showed nothing but Bayern. Madjer remembered it differently: on the eve of the match, he recalled, he said it was 50-50 and that Porto would win 2–1 the next day.3 sources3 sources

The Prater stadium had opened in 1931 as Austria's national stadium and had just reopened, renovated and roofed, in October 1986. It had already staged the European Cup final of 1964. Alexis Ponnet of Belgium refereed the 1987 final. RSSSF gives the crowd as 56,000 in one table and 57,500 in another, the figure the Vienna wiki also uses; the German Football Association's database gives 62,000, the number of seats after the renovation.5 sources5 sources

For 45 minutes the script held. Matthäus drove Bayern on, and after 25 minutes Ludwig Kögl, only 1.71 metres tall, headed them in front after a lapse in Porto's defence. A Bola wrote later that Porto looked afraid: of Bayern's players, of their coach and of a stadium full of their fans.3 sources3 sources

What happened at half-time has become club legend. Paulo Futre, Porto's winger, said on the coach's death that Artur Jorge told the dressing room that they had 45 minutes to make history. Juary remembers him asking each player his age and telling them to go out and play 'like Porto'. Then, Juary says, the coach added that they could see the beast was not as fearsome as he had made out.3 sources3 sources

The Bayern dressing room argued too. Dieter Hoeneß, playing his last match for the club, recalled that Lattek wanted to keep pressing, but the defenders persuaded him to sit back and counter-attack. 'For once in his life he listened to the wrong people,' Hoeneß said.1 source1 source

Artur Jorge replaced the midfielder Quim with Juary at the interval, and Porto were quicker and more direct at once. Midway through the half he took off the left-back Inácio and sent on the midfielder Frasco. Futre ran at the Bayern defence again and again, António André covered the left side, and Frasco took over the midfield. Bayern, without Augenthaler, could not hold them.3 sources3 sources

Madjer was hurt in the move that brought the equaliser and went off to be treated on the touchline by the club doctor. Porto kept the ball while he recovered. Limping, he came back on, took a pass on the left from the Brazilian defender Celso, beat a defender and crossed for Juary, who met it with a right-foot volley.3 sources3 sources

João Pinto, captain in Gomes's absence, lifted the cup. Juary did not join the lap of honour. He went straight to the dressing room for a shower, wanting only to get home to Porto, and told Diário de Notícias nearly 30 years later that he first touched the trophy on the plane, when it sank in that they were champions of Europe.2 sources2 sources

In Munich the defeat was a trauma. Bayern had booked a banquet for 450 guests at the Marriott on Vienna's Parkring, with filet mignon and morels on the menu. Lattek complained that he could no longer take responsibility for what some of his players did on the pitch, and left at the end of the season. The general manager, Uli Hoeneß, called it the worst defeat of his life.1 source1 source

In Portugal the honours piled up. The club magazine, Dragões, ran the headline 'A Europa é azul e branca' (Europe is blue and white) in its June issue and listed congratulations from, among others, the Soviet embassy and the crew of the cod-fishing ship Senhor dos Mareantes. Cavaco Silva's government awarded the club the Grand Collar of Sporting Merit, and the mayor of Porto, Fernando Cabral, gave medals of merit to Gomes, Pinto da Costa and Artur Jorge.1 source1 source

At a dinner for the champions at the casino in Póvoa de Varzim, the former Benfica president Fernando Martins drew applause by telling the room not to let their president get away. He had reason to worry. Two days after the final Pinto da Costa had told L'Équipe that he would stop at the end of the season, because he had kept his promises and could not go on working ten hours a day for the club.2 sources2 sources

He stayed for another 37 years. The team, though, broke up quickly. Artur Jorge left for Paris to coach Matra Racing, a club backed by big money, and came back to Porto in 1988 after things went badly in France. Tomislav Ivić took over as coach.3 sources3 sources

Futre went to Atlético Madrid. Pinto da Costa later explained that his contract had allowed a transfer abroad for a release fee of about 200,000 contos. In May 1987 the Spanish businessman Jesús Gil, who wanted Futre for Atlético, arrived in Porto ready to pay it by cheque. By then Porto had agreed a new contract with Futre that removed the clause, and they spent three weeks negotiating better terms. Futre joined Atlético in July 1987, for a club-record fee, and finished second to Ruud Gullit in that year's European Footballer of the Year vote.3 sources3 sources

As European champions Porto played for two more trophies in the months that followed. In the European Super Cup against Ajax, Rui Barros scored after five minutes in Amsterdam on 24 November 1987 and António Sousa scored the only goal of the second leg at the Antas on 13 January 1988.1 source1 source

In between came the Intercontinental Cup, played as a single match in Tokyo between the European champions and the winners of South America's Copa Libertadores. On the morning of 13 December 1987 the city woke up white. Pinto da Costa later said the sun had shone the day before, and that Peñarol of Uruguay, who had never played in snow, did not want to play. A postponement would have moved the match to March or April, the busiest part of Porto's season.4 sources4 sources

He argued the other way. The Austrian referee, Franz Wöhrer, was undecided, and Pinto da Costa reminded him that he was due to retire on 31 December, so a postponed match would go to someone else. The game went ahead. Ivić thought the snow would hurt Peñarol's short passing more than Porto's counter-attacks, and had his players training at 7 in the morning and lunching at 10 to adjust to Japanese time.2 sources2 sources

Gomes, back from the injury that had kept him out of Vienna, put Porto ahead three minutes before half-time. Viera equalised for Peñarol ten minutes from the end. In the 110th minute, deep into extra time, Madjer lobbed the goalkeeper from long range; the ball slowed in the snow but crossed the line. Porto won 2–1 before a crowd of about 45,000.3 sources3 sources

Madjer was named man of the match and won a car, a Toyota Carina II. The original idea was to sell it and share the money among the players, but Pinto da Costa insisted on keeping it, and it is now displayed in the club museum.1 source1 source

After Vienna, Porto came to dominate Portuguese football. Before 1987 it had won eight national league titles in nearly half a century; in the ten seasons that began in the 1990s it won seven, including five in a row from 1994-95 to 1998-99. Benfica remained the club with the most titles overall.2 sources2 sources

Europe followed. Under José Mourinho, Porto won the UEFA Cup in 2003 and the Champions League in 2004, beating Monaco 3–0 in Gelsenkirchen and, in UEFA's words, reclaiming the trophy for the first time since 1987. A second Intercontinental Cup followed in 2004 and the Europa League in 2011. FC Porto counts six international trophies won since the night in Vienna.3 sources3 sources

Benfica kept coming close. A year after Vienna, Benfica lost the 1988 European Cup final to PSV Eindhoven on penalties, and in 1990 it lost the final to AC Milan in the same Prater stadium.3 sources3 sources

The men of 1987 are now part of the club's memory. Artur Jorge, remembered as the first Portuguese coach to win the European Cup, died in February 2024 at 78; the club said he would be as unforgettable as that night in Vienna. Pinto da Costa lost the presidency to André Villas-Boas in 2024 after 42 years and died in February 2025, aged 87.3 sources3 sources