Home European cup final tickets | History | Gallery | Contact
GALLERY '60 / 1960 Decade / 1966 European cup final tickets
1966
European Cup Final (Brussels)
Real Madrid 2 vs. Partizan Belgrade
1
Real
Madrid: Araquistain,
Pachin, De Felipe, Zoco, Sanchis, Pirri, Velazquez, Serena, Amancio,
Grosso, Gento (capt.)
Scorers: Amancio, Serena
Partizan
Belgrade: Soskic, Jusufi,
Vasovic (capt.), Rasovic, Mihajlovic, Kovacevic, Becejac, Bajic,
Hasanagic, Galic, Pirmajer
Scorer: Vasovic
Inter’s
attempt to win their third consecutive European title began with
defeat in Romania. Up against Dinamo Bucharest, an early Peiro goal
had seemed to set the holders on their way, but the Romanians had hit
back to win the first leg 2-1. At half-time in the return game, the
scores remained the same, but Inter were rescued by a Mazzola penalty
and a late Facchetti winner. The quarter-finals, however, proved to
be a far easier task for Herrera’s men as they put four goals past
the Hungarians of Ferncvaros without reply in the first leg to
effectively end the tie and ease themselves into the last four.
The
first round of the 1965/66 season saw
the end of a European Cup era when Feyenoord met Real Madrid. Real recovered from a 2-1 defeat
in Rotterdam by thumping the Dutchmen 5-0 in the Bernabeu, but the
result was overshadowed by two stories. The first came in the first
leg in Holland when a challenge on Moulijn by Real’s Miera provoked
a near riot. Moulijn was so incensed by the foul that he set off
after his opponent with his team-mates joining him in the chase.
Policemen, stewards and officials raced to stop the melee, but with
supporters climbing over the perimeter fences to join in, the Czech
referee decided to stop the match until tempers had cooled. The
notable occurrence from the two games was that all but one of Real’s
six goals in the tie were scored by a certain Ferenc Puskas. Sadly,
Puskas, one of the greatest players in all of the competitions
history, would never score in the European Cup again – at least he
had gone out on a high. While Puskas’ days were numbered, however,
Real Madrid were still a major force amongst the continents
champions. Having hit Feyenoord for six, they then put seven goals
past Kilmarnock with Puskas and Santamaria making their final
European appearances for the club, before gaining revenge for their
1962/63 defeat by Anderlecht as they beat the Belgians 4-3 on
aggregate to set up a titanic semi-final clash with Internazionale
themselves.
Since the Red Star Belgrade team that reached the
1957 semi-finals and the 1958 quarter-finals, Yugoslavian teams
had made little impact on the European Cup,
but Yugoslav football was on the way up thanks to their ‘golden
generation’ which had seen the national team win Olympic gold and
reach the final of the European championship in 1960, as well as
getting to the semi-finals of the 1962 World Cup. Many of the players
that had achieved success with the national team played their club
football for Partizan
Belgrade,
Yugoslav champions in 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1965. Milutin Soskic in
goal, Farudin Jusufi at full back, Velibor Vasovic and Lazar Rasovic
in the middle and Milan Galic up front were the stars of a side that
were finally to make an impact in Europe. Their campaign began
promisingly with victories over the both the champions of France and
West Germany as Nantes and Werder Bremen were each eliminated by two
clear goals. That put Partizan through to the quarter-finals where
they would take part in a memorable encounter with Sparta Prague. The
first leg in Prague had seen Hasanagic give Partizan the lead after a
quarter of an hour, but that lead was to last little more than five
minutes and by the end of the game, Sparta had stormed to an emphatic
4-1 win which made them strong favourites to reach the semi-finals.
The Czechs, however, were blown away by Partizan’s first half
onslaught in Belgrade which saw goals from Hasanagic and Vasovic and
two from Kovacevic wipe out their first leg advantage. A further goal
from Hasanagic after the interval made it 5-0 on the night and 6-4 on
aggregate to complete a remarkable comeback.
The semi-finals
would see Partizan taking part in an emotional tie that would bring Manchester
United, in their first season back in the European Cup after the
Munich disaster, returning to the scene of their final game before embarking on that
fateful journey home. Matt Busby, who had barely survived the air
crash that had claimed so many lives, had rebuilt the Manchester
United team since 1958. United now revolved around the attacking
prowess of Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and a young Irishman by the name
of George Best. These three great players, all of whom would go on to
be named European Footballer of the Year, helped United to the league
title in 1965 and were now propelling them towards the European Cup
that they had seemed destined to win before fate had intervened some
seven years previously. Their early progress was comfortable as both
HJK Helsinki and Vorwarts of Berlin were despatched with relative
ease, but the quarter-finals posed a much stiffer task as they were
drawn against the great Benfica, who now had the great Guttman in
charge once more, and had already set a new European Cup record by
beating Stade Dudelange 18-0 on aggregate. A close but exciting game
at Old Trafford left the tie finely poised with United taking a 3-2
lead to Lisbon. With such a slender lead, manager Matt Busby
instructed his side to adopt a completely defensive strategy for the
first quarter of an hour to ensure that Benfica did not get the
emotional lift that an early goal would bring them. Fortunately for
Manchester United, his team talk was ignored by one man. After 15
minutes of the match the score in the Stadium of Light was Benfica 0
Manchester United 3 as George Best took on one of the best teams in
Europe almost single handedly and teased and tormented them into
submission. Best headed home a free-kick 6 minutes, and added another
seven minutes later, with Connelly scoring almost immediately
afterwards. With Crerand and Charlton adding further goals in the
second half, Manchester United achieved a 5-1 score line that sent
alarm bells ringing around Europe. George Best’s performance was so
inspiring that he was christened ‘El Beatle’ by the Portuguese
media and he was fully expected to help United get past Partizan
Belgrade and become the first English side to reach the European Cup
Final.
Five weeks after crushing Benfica in Lisbon, Manchester
United took to the field in Belgrade where they were unable to
reproduce the form that they had shown in the quarter-finals. They
did have early chances, but they were missed and, as the game wore on
Partizan took control and with Best playing with a heavily strapped
knee, United were unable to respond. Just after half-time, Jusufi
crossed from the Partizan right and with goalkeeper Gregg caught in
the no mans land between goal and ball, Hasanagic headed home. Almost
at once, the English side appeared to have equalised, but Connelly’s
goal was disallowed for offside. Then, on the hour, Vasovic, who had
received the Yugoslav player of the year award before the game,
played in Becejac who swept the ball home to make it 2-0. From then
until the final whistle it took all United’s defensive strength to
keep the deficit down to two and keep them in with a chance of
progressing. Ultimately, the tie was won by Partizan in Belgrade.
With Best unavailable for the second leg as he awaited a cartilage
operation, Manchester United could only find the net once and that
was courtesy of their opposing goalkeeper Soskic who palmed a low
cross into this own net late in the game. That was sufficient for
Partizan to complete a surprise victory that sent them into the
European Cup Final against one of the giants of European
football.
In the other semi-final there was another surprise
as Inter’s grip on the European Cup was
finally broken.
Real Madrid might have been without most of their giants of the past,
but a new generation had emerged which would achieve what no other
side had managed for nearly three seasons as they knocked Herrera and
his team out of the competition. Both legs were as tight and low
scoring as would be expected. The first game in Madrid was decided by
a single Pirri goal for Real. In Milan, Amancio increased the
Spaniards aggregate lead on twenty minutes. Although Facchetti pulled
a goal back to ensure a nail biting final ten minutes, Inter were out
while Real went forward to their eighth final in the competitions
eleven year history.
Without legends such as Di Stefano and
Puskas, the Real Madrid side that took to the pitch for the European
Cup Final in Brussels was very different to that which European
football fans had grown used to over the previous decade. Composed
almost entirely of young and little known players, including five who
had come up from the youth team, the youngsters looked to Gento,
the one survivor from the 1956 winning side and now the captain,
to provide the experience that they so lacked. And they certainly
needed character to cope with the rampant Partizan side that surged
forward from the first whistle. With their half back line of Becejac,
Rasovic and Vasovic dominating the play, the Yugoslavs took control
of the game and limited their more illustrious opponents to
occasional breakaways. Galic, Partizan’s outstanding forward who
had obtained special release from the army to play in this his first
game of the year, squandered two first half chances, while a
Hasanagic effort hit the crossbar. The strong Partizan defence was on
top of the Real attack during the first half and at half-time the
game remained goalless. The Yugoslav domination continued after the
break and, on 55 minutes, they gained some reward. Galic’s
persistence on the wing gained Partizan a corner and as Hasanagic
nodded back Pirmajer’s kick, the captain Vasovic rose to power the
ball home.
Partizan finally had the goal that their play had
deserved, but that only served to shock Real into life. Real Madrid’s
young players shook off their nerves and, inspired by Gento in
midfield, now threw caution aside and, although it left them
vulnerable to the counter attack, Partizan were unable to respond.
Within 15 minutes Real were level as Amancio, having been sent clear
by Grosso’s pass, drew Soskic from his goal to glide the ball home.
The Spaniards were now in the ascendancy and it took them only five
more minutes to take the lead as Serena hit a shot out of the blue
from 30 yards out that flew into the top corner of the net. Partizan
were now unable to hit back and the Spanish giants were able to see
out the rest of the game with relative ease to claim their sixth European
title. The few policemen around the perimeter were unable to stop the
Spanish supporters streaming on to the pitch to celebrate another
famous win for Europe’s most famous team.
Partizan may have
come close to a famous victory, but they had now missed their chance
as the side was immediately broken up with their star players heading
west. Soskic went to Cologne, Galic to Standard Liege, Rasovic to PSV
and Vasovic, who had scored in the final, was transferred to Ajax
where he would come to feature again in the story of the European
Cup. In Madrid, meanwhile, Real celebrated yet another European
triumph, this
time with a team entirely composed of Spanish players.
Many may have considered them to be a spent force in European
football, but their sixth title in eleven years had proved otherwise.
Despite the best efforts of the continents top teams, Real Madrid
ruled over Europe once again