Peter Pacult is upfront about Rapid Vienna’s plan for confronting Everton.

Rapid, he asserts, approached the 1985 European Cup Winners’ Cup final intending to “dictate the game”.

Coming up short of that ambition still smarts 35 years on.

Pacult recalls imagining the possibilities in Rotterdam and the aching “void” experienced by his team as they absorbed the reality of what unfolded.

If there was solace to be found it was in the calibre of their conquerors.

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Pacult was a 25-year-old striker in Otto Baric’s capricious Rapid Vienna team.

He was reduced by the gravity of the occasion in Holland – his own view – and withdrawn after 60 minutes.

On the pitch and watching from the bench, Pacult reached the same conclusion about Howard Kendall’s side.

“Everton were good enough to win more European trophies, absolutely,” says Pacult.

“That team hadn’t reached its zenith.

“They were good as a collective, had a lot of individual class and so much talent in all positions.”

Belief in football is a precious commodity and entering the Club's first European final Everton had it by the bucketload.

Bayern Munich had been washed away on a tide of force and emotion in the semi-final and a first league title since 1970 subsequently secured.

Talk to any of Kendall’s side and to a man they'll tell you they expected to trample all over Rapid Vienna.

It is perhaps commonly perceived today that Rapid were resigned to a one-sided final, that the Austrians were okay with turning up and swallowing their medicine as guests at Everton’s Dutch coronation.

Pacult busts that theory, relating how Rapid gained confidence and momentum as they overcame a series of imposing hurdles en route to the final.

“We did not begin the competition thinking of winning it but with every round our hunger grew bigger,” he says.

“Our objectives at the start of the season were the Austrian league and cup but in the end we wanted the European trophy, for sure.”

Everton - Howard's Way tells the full story of Howard Kendall's glorious trophy-winning team in the 1980s and tales from Merseyside during that era.

All proceeds from the documentary will go to fund The People's Place, Everton's purpose-built mental health facility close to Goodison Park.

Click here for details of how to watch Howard's Way.

In terms of scouting their final opponents, Rapid were feeding on scraps, certainly in the context of today’s unfettered access to footage from the world over.

Manager Baric was at Goodison Park to watch Everton steamroller West Ham United seven days before the final – and two days after Kendall’s team clinched the title by beating QPR.

The only times Pacult and his teammates clapped eyes on Everton, though, came when watching the Blues’ semi-final ties with a Bayern Munich side Rapid wanted to meet in the decider.

“We all counted on Bayern getting through,” explains Pacult.

“They had a really strong team but because we knew more about them and all their players, we would have preferred them as our opponents.

“But they happened to lose against the better team.

"Everton showed what a powerful side was waiting for us in the final.”

Klaus Augenthaler was captain of Bayern Munich and as a centre-half stared down the barrel of Everton’s uncompromising and incessant football in the semi-final second leg at Goodison Park.

Talking to evertonfc.com last week he recalled 50,000 Evertonians in unison chanting the name of Andy Gray.

The same Everton striker made an impression on the watching Rapid players.

“We knew Everton had a very strong squad from the games against Bayern and what our manager Otto Baric told us after watching the game against West Ham,” says Pacult.

“They were good in every part of the pitch.

“But you have to highlight Andy Gray, he could hardly be stopped.”

Gray, Valery Gazzaev of Dynamo Moscow and Pacult’s colleague Antonin Panenka were the competition’s joint top-scorers with five.

Pacult netted four times, level with Graeme Sharp and Rapid forward Hans Krankl.

Indeed, Rapid scored 18 goals in the four rounds prior to meeting Everton.

In Pacult’s opinion, however, they went into the final stripped of their “brain and lung”.

Panenka, the subtle Czech immortalised for his dinked penalty in the 1976 European Championship final, was fit enough only for a place on the bench.

Hard-running and combative midfielder Petar Brucic missed out altogether.

“We believed in ourselves,” says Pacult.

“But we knew it was going to be tough.

“We were missing two key players in Panenka and Brucic – the brain and the lung of the team.

“We couldn’t replace them. Panenka was subbed in [with 23 minutes remaining] but he wasn’t really fit.

“Brucic was suspended.

"With the two of them on board I think we would have had a bigger chance of winning.

“The game would have been more balanced.”

Rapid reached half-time scoreless but acutely aware they were on the ropes.

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“We agreed we had to play more aggressive, accept the duels,” says Pacult.

“Otherwise we wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Kendall’s Everton were perfectly adept at blowing teams away but met by cussed resistance had the torturous capacity to inflict death by a thousand cuts.

Fatigue would inevitably creep into opponents, mentally and physically worn down by the questions repeatedly asked of them, and Rapid Vienna’s damn burst when Gray put Everton in front on 58 minutes.

Pacult would have only a further 120 seconds on the pitch.

“I was very disappointed,” he says.

“But not because of the substitution. It was a good one.

“I was disappointed with my performance. I didn’t really turn up, couldn’t hold my level of game compared to the previous rounds.

“I was still a young player who hadn’t played in a big final.”

The previous rounds Pacult mentions are relevant because they sustained Rapid after Trevor Steven swept Everton into a two-goal lead on 73 minutes.

That Baric’s team were no patsies was underlined by their quarter-final tie with Dynamo Dresden.

The East German side won their home leg 3-0 but back in Vienna were torn to shreds, beaten 5-0 by a home team adding a growing resolve to their trademark flair.

“Dresden were an extraordinarily good team,” says Pacult.

“We failed miserably in the away game and got ran over in the second half, 3-0 was a fair reflection.

“But we didn’t show our true colours.

“Immediately after the game, I had a feeling it wasn’t over.

“In an interview, I said, ‘We will turn this around.’

“Hans Krankl told me I shouldn’t have said it.”

“But we really did turn it around.

“I scored on the rebound after Panenka’s penalty hit the post in the third minute.

“After 15 minutes it was 2-0 [courtesy of defender Leo Lainer] and right before the break I scored again for 3-0.

“We were euphoric. We knew we would win.

“Dresden were in shock and never got a foot back into the game. Panenka scored to put us in the lead and Krankl made it 5-0.

“It was a fantastic evening.”

Krankl provided the glitz in Rapid’s team.

A seriously prolific former Barcelona forward he scored in the final when the Catalans won the competition in 1979 and 12 months earlier claimed Europe’s Golden Boot to crown his first prolific spell with Rapid Vienna.

He was 32 in 1985 and – in addition to demanding extraordinary standards of his teammates, judging by Pacult’s accounts – still uber-cool in front of goal.

One-on-one with the world’s finest goalkeeper Neville Southall, Krankl finished unerringly with 85 minutes on the clock.

“We always had a goal in us,” says Pacult.

“Hans scoring was good for our self-esteem and gave us hope of recovering.

“Maybe, we thought, Everton would get nervous.”

If Rapid felt they had the potential to wriggle out of a tight spot then that belief could likely be traced back to their second-round clash with Celtic.

The Scottish side won 3-0 at Parkhead to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg.

Rapid petitioned UEFA for a rerun, however, after claims of goalkeeper Herbert Feurer and midfielder Rudi Weinhofer being struck by missiles thrown from the Parkhead crowd.

After Rapid’s initial appeal failed, UEFA relented and ordered a replay of the second match, the teams reconvening at Old Trafford for a spiteful affair.

Pacult scored the only goal and received a kick to the groin from a disaffected supporter post-match.

The departure of Rapid’s team bus was delayed by three hours for fear of an attack.

“We did not have our strongest line-up available in Glasgow and struggled to keep Celtic at bay,” recalls Pacult.

“The referee tolerated fouls that went far beyond ‘tough’.

“Celtic’s third goal, for example, was scored after an opponent went into our goalie’s legs.

“Replaying the match was the right call.

“Rudi Weinhofer was hit on the head by an object thrown from the stands. He couldn’t play on.

“We had used all of our substitutions and had to finish the game with 10 men through no fault of our own.

“The game in Manchester was very special.

“The atmosphere was heated; aggressive and hostile.

“On our way to the stadium, our bus was attacked with bottles and stones.

“During the game our goalie Herbert Feurer was attacked by a fan.

“After the game a fan kicked me to the floor.

“I had an oppressive feeling during the game.

“But the goal is a highlight for me to this day.

“Celtic hit the woodwork [Roy Aitken's shot came off the post], we grabbed the ball and I started sprinting from the edge of our box.

“After two passes I got the ball from [forward] Zlatko Kranjcar.

“I ran 40 metres from the centre-line to the goalkeeper.

“I played the ball as far away from him as possible and put it into the empty net.

“Later I saw on TV how close it was to hitting the [near] post.

“Hans Krankl actually told me off in the dressing room.

“But it wasn’t my fault. The ball jumped just before the shot, I didn’t hit it properly.

“Celtic they couldn’t play as hard as in Glasgow. UEFA appointed the Italian referee [Luigi] Agnolin, the best at this time, for the game.”

Rapid Vienna had overcome a crack Dynamo Moscow team in the semi-finals, dumped out Turks Besiktas in the opening round.

Little wonder they descended on Rotterdam cradling a sense of destiny, a feeling which resurfaced following Krankl’s strike.

But which was buried 60 seconds later.

Everton didn’t succumb to the nerves of Rapid’s fond imagination.

They were affronted at conceding and returned fire. The shot dispatched into the roof of Michael Konsel’s net by Kevin Sheedy proved fatal.

“The game was over,” says Pacult.

“There was too little time left to play.

“Our plan was to dictate the game. For most of the 90 minutes we didn’t.

“We knew it was going to be tough against Everton.

“The British style with a lot of duels, toughness and aggression didn’t suit us.

"We were powerful, too, but always tried to find a creative solution.

“We wanted to play like we did against Celtic: accepting the fight.

"We failed.

“Everton were much stronger and had their individual class.

“It would be unfair to highlight one player from their team. Their collective on that day was too good.”

Pacult remembers the hushed Rapid dressing room after defeat, the downbeat team dinner.

How the empty mood directly contrasted with the clamour and excitement prior to kick-off.

“The atmosphere in the ground was fantastic, 20,000 fans travelled with us from Vienna,” says Pacult.

“Rapid’s support is traditionally very good.

“Even my mother made the trip to Rotterdam. Sadly, I couldn’t gift her a win.

“It was very quiet in the dressing room. There was a void in all of us.

“We were disappointed with the loss but most of all with our performance.

“It wasn’t our best day. But that of course had a lot to do with our opponent.

“My standout memory from the whole night?

“The void and the disappointment at dinner. We all had dreamed of more.

“And we knew chances like this were not likely to return too quickly.”

Rapid Vienna went back to Austria to win their domestic cup and finish runners-up in the league.

They were Cup Winners’ Cup finalists again in 1996 but defeated 1-0 by Paris Saint-Germain.

In 1986 Pacult joined Swarovski Tirol where he won three league titles but in 2006 returned to Rapid for five years as manager.

He led the team to one championship and in 2009 oversaw two highly-charged Europa League group games against Celtic, drawing both, with Nikica Jelavic scoring Rapid’s goal at Parkhead.

“The Rapid side from 1985 was was one of the best I played in,” says Pacult.

“It ranks very highly in Rapid’s history.

“I played with world class players like Krankl and Panenka.

“Additionally, there were stars like Brucic, Kranjcar, [Heribert] Weber and the young goalie Konsel, who went on to play for AS Roma.

“Rapid won their last title to this day when I was manager in 2008.

“In the Europa League we eliminated Aston Villa twice [in 2009/10 and again the following season], once we even won at their ground.

“Those teams were also very good. Nikica Jelavic, for example, who I managed at Rapid, went on and scored his goals for Everton.”

Pacult’s itinerant managerial career has taken him around the continent, most recently to Montenegro with OFK Titograd, and included time in Germany with 1860 Munich, RB Leipzig and old foes Dynamo Dresden.

Wherever he is situated, Pacult continues to monitor Everton’s progress.

“Of course, I am still following Everton,” he says.

“They had one of the best teams I encountered in my career, they were strong in every part of the pitch.

“Once I played in Liverpool with Tirol [a UEFA Cup game in December 1991].

“I went and took a closer look at Goodison Park. Maybe I’ll come back and visit soon.

“It would be a pleasure to see Everton close up again.”

Everton - Howard's Way tells the full story of Howard Kendall's glorious trophy-winning team in the 1980s and tales from Merseyside during that era.

All proceeds from the documentary will go to fund The People's Place, Everton's purpose-built mental health facility close to Goodison Park.

Click here for details of how to watch Howard's Way.