1977 Intercontinental Cup

As Liverpool declined to participate, Borussia Mönchengladbach was the team appointed to play the series. Due to schedule problems, the Cup was not played until 1978, with the second leg having been held more than four months after the first game in Buenos Aires.

Previously to those series, Borussia had won the Bundesliga three consecutive times (1974–77) with notable players such as Berti Vogts and Danish forward Allan Simonsen, awarded with Ballon d'Or in 1977.

As part of the preparation for the series, Boca Juniors manager, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, sent a friend of him to Borussia's training camp (pretending to be a local journalist due to his knowledge of German language) to watch the team in action. The envoy then sent Lorenzo a detailed report about Borussia's players, their technical characteristics and skills on the field.[2]

The first game was held in La Bombonera, with Boca Juniors taking advantage with a goal by Ernesto Mastrángelo, but Borussia scored two goals for a partial 2–1 win until Jorge Ribolzi scored for the 2–2 that would be the final result.[3][4]

Match details

21 March 1978

Boca Juniors	2–2	Borussia Mönchengladbach
Mastrángelo  16' Ribolzi  51'	Report	Hannes  24' Bonhof  29'

La Bombonera, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Nikola Milanov Doudine (Bulgaria)

Boca Juniors

Borussia Mönchengladbach

GK 12 Osvaldo Santos DF 4 Vicente Pernía DF 2 Francisco Sá DF 6 Roberto Mouzo DF 3 Miguel Ángel Bordón MF 8 Jorge José Benítez  46' MF 5 Rubén Suñé MF 18 Mario Zanabria FW 7 Ernesto Mastrángelo FW 21 Daniel Severino Pavón  64' MF 17 Carlos Horacio Salinas Substitutes: MF Jorge Ribolzi  46' FW Carlos Alberto Álvarez  64' Manager: Juan Carlos Lorenzo

GK 1 Wolfgang Kleff DF 2 Horst Wohlers DF 3 Wilfried Hannes DF 4 Herbert Wimmer  56' DF 5 Berti Vogts MF 6 Winfried Schäfer MF 7 Rainer Bonhof MF 8 Christian Kulik FW 9 Karl Del'Haye FW 10 Carsten Nielsen FW 11 Ewald Lienen Substitutes: MF Dietmar Danner  56' Manager: Udo Lattek

Ernesto Mastrángelo scoring the second goal for Boca Juniors in Wildparkstadion

In October, Boca Juniors travelled to Germany to play the second leg, with the media being sceptical about a victory there. As Borussia's stadium was being refurbished, the match played at Wildparkstadion, which was remarkable for being the stadium with the best lighting throughout Germany by then.[2]

Coach Juan Carlos Lorenzo surprised everyone when he decided to replace Francisco Sa, an experienced but slow player (with 33 years old) by younger and faster José Luis Tesare. He also put three attacking players (resulting in a 4–3–3 formation), something infrequent by those times.

The plan designed by Lorenzo was a real aim so Boca Juniors scored three goals for a 3–0 (Felman, Mastrángelo and Salinas) at the end of first half.[5] Nevertheless, during the first 15 minutes of the match Borussia played much better than Boca Juniors but the German match could not score a goal in despite of their dominance over the rival.[2]

One of the key players of the match was Darío Felman, who also scored a goal. Felman, on loan to Valencia CF by then, had not attend the first game in La Bombonera but Alberto J. Armando convinced him to play the second leg. Felman gave Ernesto Mastrangelo a precise pass to score the second goal of the match.[2]

At the end of the match, Borussia manager, Udo Lattek stated that "Boca Juniors was a more mature and intelligent team than us".[2]

Match details

1 August 1978

Borussia Mönchengladbach	0–3	Boca Juniors
	Report	Felman  2' Mastrángelo  33' Salinas  37'

Wildparkstadion, Karlsruhe

Attendance: 38,000

Referee: Roque Cerullo (Uruguay)

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Boca Juniors

GK 1 Wolfgang Kneib DF 2 Norbert Ringels DF 3 Wilfried Hannes DF 4 Horst Wohlers  46' DF 5 Berti Vogts MF 6 Carsten Nielsen MF 7 Hans-Günter Bruns MF 8 Christian Kulik FW 9 Allan Simonsen FW 10 Helmut Lausen  72' FW 11 Rudi Gores Substitutes: MF Winfried Schäfer  46' MF Ewald Lienen  72' Manager: Udo Lattek

GK 1 Hugo Gatti DF 4 Vicente Pernía DF José Luis Tesare DF 3 Miguel Ángel Bordón DF José María Suárez MF 17 Carlos Horacio Salinas MF 5 Rubén Suñé MF 18 Mario Zanabria FW 7 Ernesto Mastrángelo FW 9 José Luis Saldaño  46' FW 11 Darío Felman Substitutes: FW Carlos Veglio  46' Manager: Juan Carlos Lorenzo

Boca Juniors' captain, Rubén Suñé, raising the trophy. At his left, president of the club, Alberto J. Armando

Boca Juniors's victory was acclaimed throughout Argentina, even by supporters of rival clubs. It was the first intercontinental title for the club and the third for a big five club of Argentina after the victories of Racing and Independiente in 1967 and 1973 respectively.

After their return from Germany, Boca Juniors players went directly to the club so they had to play Newell's Old Boys in the Metropolitano tournament, which would be finally won by Quilmes.[2]

Nobody believed in us. I sent an assistant to spy on Borussia's preseason and that helped me draw conclusions. I knew they were going to be tough and that I had to put a fast team on the field

— Juan Carlos Lorenzo, after winning the Cup.[5]

• 1976–77 European Cup
• 1977 Copa Libertadores