Contrary to expectations, the hosts started too calmly in this European Champions Cup match. The „reconnaissance“ lasted relatively long. Soon the Yugoslavs turned their attention to the right towards Cebinac, whose technique and speed immediately made an impression. In the sixth minute, we shuddered. Galic found himself alone against Naydenov and Rakarov with a risky tackle managed to knock the ball away from him at the decisive moment.

The hosts' dominance did not last long. The Army defense held back the initial pressure, and this calmed the entire eleven. And it started to get hot for Shoshkic: after a breakthrough by Kolev, the ball reached Tsanev, who hesitated for a second and missed an ideal opportunity to score. Then the Yugoslavs settled for longer in „enemy territory“. But their attacks were not so forceful. However, we must immediately point out that the combined defense of the Army players was very flexible and easily eliminated the dangers.

Carried forward, the Belgrade players thinned out their defense considerably. This created opportunities for counter-attacks. Thus, in the 23rd minute, CDNA scored a goal, which was an exact copy of the first goal in Sofia. Only this time the scorer was Tsanev. However, Kolev – our best forward of the match – was undoubtedly responsible.

The success of the Army players encouraged them. They started playing even more confidently, but at times got carried away with individual actions. „Partizan“ again moved into the opponent's field. Twice the Army goalkeeper amazed the local audience with his sorties (unlike in Sofia, they were completely purposeful and effective). In the 36th minute, he saved a powerful volley from Vislavski right by the post... However, the others in front of him also played successfully. Stankov stuck closely to Galic and significantly reduced his combat effectiveness; Panayotov, with clearly defensive functions, showed enviable mobility; Rakarov reliably intercepted the opponents who had slipped away. And Yakimov, Kolev, and Rankov often helped their comrades from behind and at a convenient moment immediately counter-attacked.

Zeipel started the second half. The Army players seemed to invite their opponents into their half. The Belgrade players exposed their rear. This was used by Yakimov, who in the 48th minute applied his „specialty“. He successively outplayed Vasovic and Jovanovic, found himself against Shoshkic, and when we expected him to fully satisfy his peculiar appetite for „deception", he surprised us. From about 15 meters, with a powerful shot, he directed the ball under the very crossbar – 2:0 for CDNA.
Only now did the hosts get alarmed. Galic became more active, Baic moved to the right, and the defender Yusufi played as a second winger. But the Yugoslavs tried to break through the center, where the block was densest.

In the 70th minute, Galic was left uncovered for a second. He received the ball from Vasovic, tricked Kovachev with a feint, and past Naydenov's dive, reduced the score to 1:2...

And again a counter-attack by our players... Now Kolev outplayed two men. Shoshkic met him, but saw his back. Vukelic and Mihajlovic came to the goal, but they had to save their net at the cost of the most severe punishment – an eleven-meter penalty. Vukelic punched away Kolev's powerful shot. Penalty! Kovachev and Shoshkic stood against each other. The Bulgarian ran up, the goalkeeper dived to the right, and the ball ended up in the opposite corner – 3:1 for CDNA in the 80th minute. In the last minute, Panayotov, again after a counter-attack, made it 4:1.

The Bulgarian footballers won decisively. The entire team contributed to this, and most of all Naydenov, Rakarov, Stankov, Panayotov, and Kolev. The refereeing was very good.

source: Newspaper „Naroden Sport", issue no. 2225, 04.10.1962

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