Football Journey: October 2020

The UEFA Cup. Say whatever you like, but this was Spanish year – finalists in every European tournament. Winning was another matter...Barcelona failed, Atletico failed... but Real Madrid did not fail. The road to the final was not easy – at least compared to their opponents. Real faced Borussia Moenchengladbach, tough at the moment Xamax Neuchatel, and Inter Milano at the semi-final. 1. FC Koln was luckier – they met Sporting Gijon in the first round, tough, but beatable, and then the next stronger opponent was in the ¼ finals – Sporting Lisbon, a team like Gijon – tough, but beatable. Then in the semi-finals it was one thing to meet Inter and quite another to face KSW Waregem from Belgium. 1. FC Koln was perhaps a bit lucky, but the West German club football was in its twilight years – not superior at all. Werder and Hamburger SV were eliminated in the first round and by insignificant opponents at that (Chernomoretz Odessa and Sparta Rotterdam). Borussia was no longer the great team of the 1970s – true, they managed fantastic home win against Real Madrid – 5-1 – but only to lose 0-4 in Madrid. The Germans were at least shaky, so Real was seemingly the favourite at the final. They had the stronger squad too – 1.FC Koln in its current version was seemingly weaker squad than the one they had 5-6 years ago. Schumacher, Allofs, and Littbarski was all they had... Bein was still in the early years of his career, not yet a star. Against them perhaps only Real's goalkeeper Agustin was ordinary player. The rest, if not great stars, were at least national team material, but the attack was on another level: Butragueno, Sanchez, and Valdano with Santillana ready to step in as substitute. Frankly, Koln was clearly going to depend on German character against a team without a weak line, outclassing Koln by far. Then again... the Germans never give up and could roll over anybody and Spaniards were too easily given to brutality, destroying their football. That was traditional wisdom. Which seemingly was right until the 30^th minute in the opening leg in Madrid – Allofs scored and Koln was leading. Soon everything changed and in the 89^th minute Santillana scored his goal to make it 5-1 Real. The final was practically over before the second leg.

Final 1st Leg, Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, 30 Apr 1986, att 85000

Real Madrid (2) 5 1.FC Köln (1) 1
29' 0-1 K: Allofs
38' 1-1 RM: Sánchez
42' 2-1 RM: Gordillo
51' 3-1 RM: Valdano
84' 4-1 RM: Valdano
89' 5-1 RM: Santillana

Real Madrid: Agustín; Salguero, Solana, Camacho; Martín Vázquez (Santillana 81), Míchel, Juanito, Gordillo; Butragueño, Sánchez, Valdano
1.FC Köln: Schumacher; Geils, Gielchen, Steiner, Prestin; Geilenkirchen, Hönerbach; Bein (Hässler 70), Janssen; Littbarski (Dickel 83), Allofs
Referee: Courtney (England)
For some reason the second leg was played not in Koln, but in (West) Berlin, but the low attendance was guaranteed no matter the venue after the terrible loss in Madrid – 1. FC Koln was written off. Down, but never out... may be Real was not fully motivated by now, but 1. FC Koln went to play. And they won 2-0. They did whatever then could, may be even more than that, for frankly... it seemed impossible Gielchen, Geilenkirchen, Pisanti to overcome Camacho, Michel, Butragueno. Koln had something like 5-6 strong players when Real had no enough spots in the team for all the talent at their hands and great names had to sit at bench. That was the reality and only miracle could give Koln the cup.

Final 2nd Leg, Olympiastadion, Berlin, 6 May 1986, att 15000

1.FC Köln (1) 2 Real Madrid (0) 0
22' 1-0 K: Bein
72' 2-0 K: Geilenkirchen
Real won 5-3 on aggregate

1.FC Köln: Schumacher; Prestin, Gielchen, Geils (Schmitz 83); Geilenkirchen, Steiner, Bein, Hönerbach, Bein; Janssen (Pisanti 58), Littbarski, Allofs
Real Madrid: Agustín; Chendo, Maceda, Solana, Camacho; Míchel, Gallego, Valdano, Gordillo; Butragueño (Juanito 88), Sánchez (Santillana 20)
Referee: Valentine (Scotland)

Good campaign for 1. FC Koln, but they destroyed in the first leg of the final and the brave second leg was not enough. Thus. 1. FC Koln was unable to put its name along the great West German clubs and probably rightly so – as sturdy and determined the team was, it was not a great one. There were very few outstanding players – may be against another opponent the Germans could have extracted victory, but Real Madrid was too mighty at the moment.

The winners. Standing, left to right: San Jose, Agustrin, Gordillo, Camacho, Maceda, Salguero, Gallego, Valdano, Chendo. Crouching: Butragueno, Martin Vazquez, Michel, Hugo Sanchez, Solana, Luis Molovny – coach.
It was not an easy campaign, especially after Borussia Moenchengladbach won 5-1 in the first leg of the 1/8 finals, but Real came back with vengeance on every occasion, at the end eliminating every opponent on the road. This season the 'Vulture Squadron' – 'La Quinta del Buitre' -was born and even with some strained personal relations, it was formidable team with so much talent, some had to stay on the bench. Real won a second UEFA Cup in 2 years and was it another club, this team would have been instant legend – but it Real and the UEFA Cup was hardly considered great success: the measure was the European Champions Cup – not winning it meant failure... However, it was still very positive sign, for the club was winning in Europe after a very long dry years and not by accident either. It was Real Madrid, though... UEFA Cup was not enough and Molovny was replaced with Leo Beenhakker right after winning the cup. The victory was perhaps most important to aging Camacho and Santillana, whose whole careers were frustrated by lack of international success – at last they won on European stage and twice in a row, a confirmation of quality and also a justice to both great players, even if coming late.