Jovin

Only a few had expected Red Star to even make it past the first round of 

Blagojevic

theUEFA Cup after a severe loss in Berlin (2:5) in the rainy autumn of 1978, let alone be in the final of a major European competition for the first time in history, the following spring. Coach Branko Stankovic, which showed tremendous strength and quality while competing with the best teams from strongest European leagues.
It all looked even more unrealistic when the team from East Germany scored a leading goal in Belgrade ’s return leg in 12^th minute. That score was held until the 60^th minute when Red Star managed to create a miracle: score 4 goals in the last half hour.

The next opponent was Sporting from Spain . Red Star won the first leg in Gijon (1:0) with Blagojevic scoring in 85^th minute. In the return leg captain Petrovic scored the equaliser in 82^nd (1:1) minute and made sure Red Star went through to the next round.

Next opponent was the glorious Arsenal .

Before Arsenal

Red Star won the first leg at Marakana with Blagojevic scoring the only goal. Return leg on the famous Highbury stadium brought the unforgettable pictures that would be shown in various sports highlights in years to come .
Arsenal cancelled Red Star’s advantage from the first leg 20 minutes before the end of the game. In 87^th minute when everyone was expecting extra time to be played, Savic masterfully completed the move of the entire Red Star’s attack: he runs into the sixteen yard box and sends the ball under the crossbar to set the final score (1:1).

In quarterfinal again against an English team a “replay” of the previous duel against Arsenal

Savic

was on display.
West Bromwich , led by Ridges and Cunningham lost in Belgrade (1:0) due to the memorable free kick by Savic four minutes before the final whistle! Return leg in Birmingham was a true copy of the match in London . Host had a lead for a long time thanks to a goal by Regis in order for Sestic to run away from the English defence and chip the ball over the charging keeper, 3 minutes before the end .

That is how Red Star made it to the semi final where again they had to go to Berlin but this time to the West side.

Sestic

The opponent was a strong Hertha side. Match in Belgrade is remembered by an early goal by Savic (1:0) for a minimal advantage going into return leg. The match in Germany was played on a difficult muddy ground and started very bad for the Belgrade ’s team. Already in the 18^th minute Hertha was up 2:0 with goals by Beer and Sidka.
When it looked like the end of Red Star’s European quest Sestic stroke again to take Red Star to the final with a goal in 74^th minute (1:2).

In the final the mighty Borussia from Mönchengladbach, the best team from Bundesliga next to Bayern, was waiting. The first match in front of 87.500 people ended in a 1:1 draw and both

Stojanovic

goals were scored by our players: Sestic brought Red Star the lead in 20^th minute and tragic Jurisic half an hour before the end scored an unlucky own goal with a header .
The return final match was played in Düsseldorf and will remain in bad memory for Red Star’s fans mostly due to non-objective calls of referee Alberto Michelotti. Italian arbiter gave a penalty to the host in 15^th minute after the clash between Simonsen and Jurisic, which the Dane turned into a goal. In the dramatic finish our team was creating chance after chance but the score remained unchanged .

Red Star’s team played the two final games with the following squad:
Stojanovic, Jovanovic, Jovin, Muslin (Krmpotic), Miletovic, Jurisic, Petrovic, Blagojevic, Savic, Sestic (Milovanovic), Milosavljevic



Red Star climbed to the top of Europe once and twice managed to get to be one step away for the final. First semi final Red Star played in 1957. On 3^rd of April in Belgrade Fiorentina was better than Red Star by a goal (0:1), and the red-and-whites played with the following squad:
Krivokuca, V.Popovic, Zekovic, Mitic, Spajic, Tasic, Sekularac, Toplak, Cokic, Kostic and Rudinski

Zekovic	Rudinski	Spajic	Toplak	Tasic

In Florence , 15 days later, a goalless draw – draw of sadness. Squad with a few changes:

Beara, Tomic, Zekovic, V.Popovic, Spajic, Tasic, Sekularac, Cokic, Mitic, Kostic and Rudinski

gave away a chance to get to the final in the return leg ...


The second semi final was a mixture of bad luck and something unbelievable .

Ostojic scores against PAO

Host Red Star won 4:1 (2:0) against Panathinaikos on 14^th of April 1971. Ostojic scored a hat-trick and one goal was made by Jankovic. The game was played in front of 100.000 people and Greeks were lucky not to concede a few more goals. What happened in return leg is not entirely explained even until today.

PAO celebrated a 3:0 win and it seemed as if our players weren’t on the pitch. Coach Miljan Miljanic played the following squad in both games:

Dujkovic, Djoric, Klenkovski, Novkovic, Bogicevic, Pavlovic, Jankovic, Karasi, Filipovic, Acimovic and Ostojic.

Captain Dragan Dzajic was not included because of suspension due to sending off on 10^th of March 1971. against Karl Zeiss from Jena .



Two games in Cup Winners’ Cup against Real Madrid will be remembered forever for many things. Namely, on 6^th of March 1975. in the stands of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium 125.000 people celebrated a 2:0 win. Never before or after that did Red Star play in front of such a large number of spectators. Miljan Miljanic sat on the bench of the royal club, although only in Madrid . Red Star played the following side :

O. Petrovic, Djordjevic, Jevtic, Baralic, Keri, Radovic, Ratkovic, V.Petrovic, Jankovic (Savic), Antonijevic, Dzajic

In the return leg on 19^th of March 1975. Marakana hosted 100.000 Red Star fans that watched the drama on the pitch. Dzajic and Ognjan Olja Petrovic (penalty) equalled the score from Madrid and the game went to extra time, after which there still was no winner. The match went to penalty shootout. Scorers from the spot were Keri, Filipovic, Baralic, Savic, O. Petrovic and Jankovic.

Olja delivers against Real Madrid

The hero of the game was Red Star’s keeper Olja Petrovic. He scored twice from the spot and then held Santillana’s shot. Real’s squad with stars like Camacho , Del Bosque, Benito, Velasquez, Santillana, Necer and Breitner were eliminated by :

O. Petrovic, Djordjevic, Nikitovic, Baralic, Keri, Radovic, Jankovic, V. Petrovic, Savic, Susic (Ratkovic) and Dzajic (Filipovic). When everyone thought that this generation would make it to the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup after the minimal loss of 1:2 in Budapest against Ferencevaros Red Star managed only a draw 2:2, again in front of 100.000 people on Marakana. The Hungarians scored the goal that took them to the final in 84^th minute from a penalty!


 
In 1988/89 season, Red Star played against Milan 3 times, they were not beaten but eliminated never the less .

Stojkovic's goal

What happened?
First match, on “San Siro” in front of 70 000 spectators ended in a draw, with Stojkovic and Virdis as scorers. Captain Savicevic also had a brilliant game. Red Star’s squad was :

Stojanovic, Ivanovic, Vasilijevic, Sabanadzovic (Djurovic), Radovanovic, Juric, Besic, Najdoski, Bursac, Stojkovic and Savicevic (Mrkela)

In the return leg again a shining display by the red-and-whites. Savicevic scored a goal but the celebration was short lived...

Fog in Belgrade

A thick fog forced the referee Dieter Pauli to stop the match. A decision was made for a match to be replayed 24 hours later. The tickets were valid from day before but instead of 90.000 people 95 000 made it to the stands. .

Again a football display for the gods and Piksi Stojkovic was again the scorer whereas Van Basten scored for Milan . Match went to penalties. Stojkovic and Prosinecki converted but Savicevic and Mrkela didn’t which meant the end - 2:4.

Stojanovic, Najdoski, Vasilijevic, Sabanadzovic, Radovanovic, Juric, Ivanovic, Savicevic, Bursac (Mrkela), Stojkovic and Djurovic (Prosinecki)

were in sorrow while Maldini, Costacurta, Tassotti, Baresi, Donadoni, Ancelotti and the Dutch trio Van Basten, Rijkaard and Gullit celebrated
       


First visiting team on Marakana after partial cancellation of sanctions was Olympiacos. Red

They break the sanction

Star hosted the team from Athens on 12^th November 1994 and won 4:1 thanks to goals from Perović (2), Petkovic and Kovacevic. This in a way historic game Red Star played with the following squad :

Milojevic, (Mojovic), Stefanovic, Djorovic (Sakic), Radinovic, Stojkovski, Perovic, Adzic (Zivkovic ), Krupnikovic ( J . Stankovic ), Kovacevic ( P . Stankovic), Petkovic , Stojiljkovic (Pivaljevic)

Milojevic

One of the most interesting and dramatic games was played on 26^th of

Njegus

September 1996. in a Cup Winners’ Cup against Kaiserslautern . First match 14 days earlier was won by the Germans (0:1) and after the 90 minutes in Belgrade the score sheet read 1:0 which meant that the game was to go to extra time. .
When everyone expected that German condition and discipline would prevail, Red Star exploded and a new star was born – Dejan Stankovic. He entered the game as a substitute and scored two beautiful goals; first in 55^th to ensure extra time and then in 97^th minute for the lead. The Germans were then demolished by Njegus (107’) and Pantelic (120’) for and incredible 4:0 triumph! Coach Vladimir Petrovic Pizon chose the following squad:

Milojevic, Zivkovic, Djorovic, Njegus, P. Stankovic, Sakic, Ognjenovic (Pantelic), Vanic, Jovicic, Anic and Ljubojevic (D. Stankovic)

Bunjevcevic

Duel against Leicester in UEFA Cup 2000 is interesting because of a few things.

Drulic and Gvozdenovic

Red Star played 1:1 on the island where Acimovic scored in the 1^st minute scaring the English.

They asked the UEFA not to play in Belgrade – due to security reasons. European house of football accepted their application and return leg was played in Vienna .
Leister was beaten to their knees even though the score was “only” 3:1. The scorers were Drulic (2) and Gvozdenovic .

Boskovic

Under Zoran Filipovic, Red Star played well in the UEFA Cup 2002. Eventhough

Mladenovic

first leg in Belgrade against the Italian hit team Chievo ended in a goalless draw, return leg in Verona on 3^rd of October 2002. was a dream. Red Star won 2:0 thanks to goals by Gvozdenovic and Milovanovic. The squad that amazed the Italians was :

Disljenkovic, (Randjelovic), Markovic (Milovanovic), Dudic , Vidic , Lalatovic, Mladenovic, Boskovic, Pjanovic, Kovacevic, Mrdja (Krivokapic) and Gvozdenovic .

Sadly this generation was not able to eliminate the second Italian representative. Lazio won on 31^st of October 2002. in Rome 1:0 and return leg, even though Red Star had a lead of 1:0 (Boskovic) and was by far a better team, ended in a draw thanks to the Chiesa’s free kick which brought the lucky Romans through to the next round .