"We beat Malmo in the first round, which brought back good memories of beating them to win the [197879] European Cup. We were 2-0 down at half-time against Bayern in the second leg of the quarter-final, 4-1 on aggregate, and I looked at the players and decided that if we were going to go out we may as well go out in a blaze of glory."
"Against Lyon in the first leg, it was 0-0 after about 70 minutes and I replaced Andrea Silenzi and Bryan Roy with Bobby Howe and Paul McGregor. We got a penalty, which Stuart Pearce saw saved, but Paul lashed in the rebound. I went to the press conference and got hammered for taking off two internationals and putting two kids on. We'd won, but sometimes you can't win."
"When you've got two stars above your badge, that lets people know there's European history. It wasn't a weight: this was where this club belonged. Our captain, Stuart Pearce, was extremely proud of being English and representing England. Incredible person, brilliant leader. In the tunnel he'd say: We're English, we're here to dominate, we don't bow down. We had foreign players but that was his war cry and it always made the hairs on the back of the neck stand up."
Nottingham Forest beat Malmo in the first round, evoking memories of a European Cup triumph. Facing Bayern they trailed 2-0 at half-time in the quarter-final second leg but adopted an all-out approach, prepared to be eliminated in a blaze of glory. The manager selected the best available team each game, a tactic that contributed to fatigue late in the league season. In the Lyon tie he replaced internationals with youngsters, won via a rebound after a saved penalty, and faced criticism. Former players meet weekly and fans expect an electric City Ground atmosphere. Two stars above the badge reflect European history and Stuart Pearce's proud leadership united players.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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