european cup 1960/61
preliminary round: red star and juventus out of the race
upset after 2-0 1st leg win...
the sixth edition began with some surprises. hearts of midlothian, top 30 club and scottish champions, had no chance against sl benfica, while 4th placed club red star belgrade was equally powerless in the matches against ujpesti dosza; the hungarians finally adding to their fine domestic form on international turf. the first norwegian participation was also remarkable, as fredrikstad eliminated dutch champions ajax amsterdam. cska sofia, a solid top 20 club, upset italian champions juventus with a memorable 4-1 2nd leg home match, coming back from a 0-2 loss in torino. and finally it is worth mentioning that jeunesse esch, 27th in the official current rankings, did not stand a chance against french giants stade de reims, number 6 on our list. it would be interesting to follow fc barcelona's path in the tournament, but the first few games already had many talking points.
round of 16: the end of an era
el classico in the european cup!
november 23, 1960. a day for the history books. 120,000 barca-fans have gathered in the camp nou, waiting for the 2nd leg match of what was then the first round of the european cup. real madrid were coming, and they were not feared - after all, barcelona had beaten real many times under legendary argentinian coach helenio herrera, and now had hired former juventus coach brocic, from yugoslavia, to try to win the european cup. they would have to eliminate miguel munoz's eleven, winners of the 1960 european cup. the first leg had ended 2-2, and at the end of this great match, brazilian evaristo scored the second goal, making it 2-0 for barcelona. real madrid were eliminated for the very first time out of "their" competition, and an era would end. since 1960, the galacticos have only added four titles to those first five, in 54 years.
the other big duel was between english champion burnley and french giants stade de reims, which the brits decided in their favor thanks to a 2-0 home win. young boys bern, third in the current rankings, crashed out to hamburger sv - a surprise, but not that big of a surprise.
these events left fc barcelona as the only top ten club left in the competition, as clear favorites. the other four top 10ers had been eliminated after only two rounds, and even the three further clubs in the top 20s had been eliminated: erzgebirge aue (to rapid) and cska (upsed by ifk malmö from sweden) in this round, juve in the previous one.
here, some impressions (in spanish) from the classico.
the other big duel was between english champion burnley and french giants stade de reims, which the brits decided in their favor thanks to a 2-0 home win. young boys bern, third in the current rankings, crashed out to hamburger sv - a surprise, but not that big of a surprise.
these events left fc barcelona as the only top ten club left in the competition, as clear favorites. the other four top 10ers had been eliminated after only two rounds, and even the three further clubs in the top 20s had been eliminated: erzgebirge aue (to rapid) and cska (upsed by ifk malmö from sweden) in this round, juve in the previous one.
here, some impressions (in spanish) from the classico.
quarterfinals: the favorites survive
uwe seeler in action against burnley
there were only three top 30 clubs left in the draw. sl benfica of portugal wasn't one of them, but they had played themselves into strong position after scoring 12 goals in 4 matches. the 6-2 win over ujpesti dosza was emphatic enough to be heard around europe, and this time around, they played danish champions agf, following a 3-1 home win with a 4-1 away triumph. striker josé águas scored three times in these matches, reaching the incredible mark of 8 goals in 6 matches. rapid wien, one of the top 30s, made no mistakes against malmö and moved on comfortably to the semis, for the second time ever. fc barcelona had no problems eliminating the czech champions spartak hradec kralove, confirming their ambitions to take it all; and hamburg came out on top in two tough clashes versus burnley, the english champions. both in the competition for the first time, the english managed a seemingly comfortable 3-1 home win at turf moor after leading 3-0, but gert dörfels goal proved vital: in hamburg, the locals went up 2-0, but burnley scored early in the second half. dörfel responded right away with his second goal in these matches, and legendary hsv striker uwe seeler managed his second on the night, putting the germans through to the semis.
semifinals: kocsis buries hamburg's dreams
9 seconds between hsv and the final...
the most important match might have been barcelona's home win over real madrid, eliminating the five-time champions. but the most exciting must have taken place in hamburg, april 26, 1961. evaristo had decided the home match for the spaniards, but a 1-0 was pretty thin. after a goalless first half, tensions grew - but before 70 minutes had been played, uwe seeler followed up an earlier goal to make it 2-0 hamburg, thus virtually eliminating the spanish favorites. after all, real was out; but only two teams had ever won european competitions, and barcelona was the other one. it wasn't until the very last moments of the match, with catalan attacks to force the playoff match (at the time there was no extra time or penalty shootout), when sándor kocsis had his great moment. the hungarian had played for honved until 1957 and scored 75 goals in 68 matches for the hungarian national team, at the time one of the very best in the world. he became barcelona's answer to real's puskas, and he was the 1954 world cup top scorer (and silver medalist to germany). this was his late revenge: his goal caused a third match in brussels a week later, which was again won by a sole evaristo goal. barcelona had made the finals, and were favorites to beat benfica, who had eliminated rapid wien with two more josé águas goals and not much of a sweat.
the final: deja vu for sandór kocsis
barcelona in bern. ready to win?
the 1954 world cup can be summarized by what is referred to as "the bern miracle", when the german outsiders upset the highly favored hungarian side, unbeaten for years. that final took place in wankdorf stadium, in the swiss capital. and so would this final. sandór kocsis, hero of the semis, was present in both events and longed for a better ending. he had scored in all world cup matches 7 years earlier, but he had failed to do so in the final. this time, it would be different. after 20 minutes, the barcelona side went up 1-0, with kocsis leaving his mark. would things be different this time? after 90 minutes, they weren't. benfica had turned the match around, initiated by josé água's 11th goal in the competition. they made it 3-1 as early as 55 minutes into the match, and all that barcelona were able to accomplish was a second goal. another 2-3 loss in a final in bern - deja vu for poor kocsis!
benfica had scored in every match, and 6 out of 9 games ended with at least 3 goals by the portuguese team. suddenly, portuguese football was en vogue, after all they had broken the spanish spell. they were led by hungarian coach bellá guttmann, a jew who had played in the usa and managed ac milan, even coaching brazilian giants sao paulo fc for a while. guttmann had come directly from league rivals fc porto, after he had given them the league title overcoming benfica. his triumph now was also the biggest moment in his career thus far.
meanwhile, long faces in barcelona. little did they know that this title would elude them for so long, having been so close! it would take them over 30 years to finally present this trophy to a wednesday evening sky night.
benfica had scored in every match, and 6 out of 9 games ended with at least 3 goals by the portuguese team. suddenly, portuguese football was en vogue, after all they had broken the spanish spell. they were led by hungarian coach bellá guttmann, a jew who had played in the usa and managed ac milan, even coaching brazilian giants sao paulo fc for a while. guttmann had come directly from league rivals fc porto, after he had given them the league title overcoming benfica. his triumph now was also the biggest moment in his career thus far.
meanwhile, long faces in barcelona. little did they know that this title would elude them for so long, having been so close! it would take them over 30 years to finally present this trophy to a wednesday evening sky night.