If anyone had reason to adopt a more cautious approach, to play a waiting game, it was the Bulgarian footballers. The outcome of the first leg would have justified such an approach. But to their credit, they refused to take it, instead choosing to attack in order to secure what they had earned after their brilliant performance in Monaco and the favorable result they had achieved there. The visitors, for their part, had no choice but to play openly and seek revenge. This determined the nature of the battle that unfolded across every part of the pitch — a battle marked by fierce challenges, dynamic moves, and attacks mainly down the flanks. CSKA “Septemvriysko Zname” were by far the more active team, committing themselves fully to attack, playing with confidence and making no calculations. They were a mature team! Their superiority was evident in every respect — technically, tactically, and in terms of determination and fighting spirit. That superiority was reflected in the two goals — the first scored by St. Mladenov, who received a pass and, without hesitation, drove the ball into the net past Stambouli; and the second by Zdravkov, who superbly converted a penalty awarded after Slavkov had been brought down. 2:0, and 4:2 on aggregate — this meant that the contest was over, that our Army Men had already cleared the hurdle of the competition's first round...

At least, that was what we thought throughout the entire first half, during which the Bulgarians dominated, playing powerful, modern football with tremendous heart. The most active players in attack were Yanchev, Tanev, St. Mladenov, and Markov, while Zdravkov, Dimitrov, and Bezinski were uncompromising in their play, especially N. Mladenov, who neutralized everyone who attempted to break through his area of the pitch. The “Princes” from Monaco compensated for their helplessness with dirty play and rough fouls, which resulted in Benoît being sent off. What could be better than enjoying a numerical advantage for the remaining 39 minutes of the match!?...

But... somehow, it seemed as though the “Whites” from Monte Carlo suddenly found themselves with more space to operate... From that moment onward, the behavior of our runners-up was strange — they allowed their opponents to seize the initiative and kept the entire stadium on edge until the final whistle. Despite leading 2:0, despite their overwhelming dominance and obvious superiority in both play and on the scoreboard, the score became 2:1, and there was a real danger that everything might come crashing down... Thank God, everything ended well. That is what matters most. In the end, the newspaper “Nice-Matin” proved to be right when, following the first match at the Stade Louis II two weeks earlier, it wrote that CSKA had indeed proved too much for Monaco to swallow. Bravo, Army Men!

Source: “Naroden Sport” newspaper, Issue No. 118, 1984.

Highlights

Memorabilia

• [1] — the names of the opposition players, referee and players that are not in our profile database are automaticaly transliterated from cyrillic and may differ from the original spelling