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50th anniversary of European Cup [Fri Sep 2nd, 2005]
On the afternoon of September 4 1955, Joao Martins scored the opening goal for Sporting Lisbon against Partizan Belgrade in a match that finished in a 3-3 draw and changed the face of European club football.
The two sides met 50 years ago this weekend in the first leg of the opening round of the new European Champions Cup. It was the first match played in the competition.
Half a century on and much has changed between that inaugural European Cup competition and today's glitzy, multi-billion-dollar, globally-televised UEFA Champions League extravaganza.
Curiously, both Sporting and Partizan share one thing in common with many clubs competing in Europe's elite competition today.
Although the aim of the competition, then as now, was to establish the best club in Europe, neither were national champions.
Sporting were to finish third behind Benfica and Belenenses in 1955, but when the draw for the competition was held the Portuguese championship had not been decided. Sporting had won the league in 1954 and so the Portuguese FA decided they should enter.
Partizan had finished only fifth in the Yugoslav League at the end of the 1954-55 season, but were invited to take part in the competition instead of the clubs ahead of them.
Partizan were a talented outfit and included several national team players who went on to become well-known in Europe, with outstanding and skilful performances for club and country.
The most notable was Milos Milutinovic, an attacking midfielder who had a spell as Yugoslav national manager in the 1980s. He was to make his mark in this tie too with two goals in the first leg and four in the second.
Stjepan Bobek was a prolific striker, as was Marko Valok, while Branko Zebec was the outstanding defensive midfielder who later coached SV Hamburg to the 1979 European Cup final, although he spent most of the match against Sporting hobbling on the wing after an early injury.
From a distance of 50 years it is hard to judge who exactly were favourites to win, but Sporting must have fancied their chances.
They were enjoying a golden era in their history, having won the Portuguese League seven times in eight seasons between 1947 and 1954, headed by their high-scoring forward line known as "the Five Violins" for their harmonious play.
Defender Joao Caldeira, now 68, still remembers the match.
"Partizan were aggressive, their style of play was hard, but clean," he told Reuters from his retirement home in the Algarve.
At the time of the game, Caldeira said his pay was equivalent to some 10 euros a month, including a food subsidy.
The match in Lisbon was played in windy conditions, in front of a 30,000 crowd who had to wait only 14 minutes before Martins gave Sporting the lead, which they held until just before half-time when Milutinovic equalised.
Both men scored again in the second half, with Quim of Sporting and Bobek of Partizan also scoring before the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
Unlike in today's highly pressurised fixture list, the second leg did not take place until six weeks later, on October 12, when Partizan beat Sporting 5-2 for an 8-5 aggregate win. Milutinovic scored four times - becoming the first man to do so in European Cup history.
Partizan went on to play Real Madrid in the following round, losing 4-0 in Madrid on Christmas Day 1955 before winning the second leg 3-0 a month later.
Real went on to win the first five European Cups - and then beat Partizan 2-1 in 1966 for their sixth win.
Sporting and Partizan have renewed their rivalry occasionally since 1955, with Partizan winning 3-1 on aggregate in the European Cup in 1962-62 and 6-4 on aggregate in a UEFA Cup match in 2003-04.
Caldeira relates a tale that illustrates those times even better than his hazy recollections of the match.
What he remembered most was that the club always demanded that players be well-dressed in a clean shirt and tie during trips.
"But during the second leg in Belgrade, when I returned to the hotel after the game I noticed that my shirt was dirty and I called the maid to clean it.
"I tried to explain to her that I had to have it back in three hours to go to the airport. Since I didn't speak her language and she didn't speak mine, we spent some time trying to understand each other without success.
"By the time I was able to make her understand with the help of a colleague, it was too late and close to time to leave for the airport. I remember going home in a dirty shirt."
Reuters
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