The European Cup had now completed its first decade, and it had captured the imagination of the entire continent with the exception of the Soviet Union. They could not resist forever. One of the beauties of the competition compared to the current Champions League was the annual turnover in teams. Sure there were perennials, Real Madrid of course, but on the most part, the teams who lined up for the preliminary round were a rotating cast. The 1965/66 season was no exception and of the 31 teams who competed, only 11 had played the year before. Those teams who did return were being rewarded for their domestic domination, and in the case of Inter, European also. This was what sustained Real’s efforts in the late 50s as they struggled to replicate their European performances domestically, but now they were enjoying a period of dominance that La Liga had never seen before.

Benfica had won the title again in Portugal, but failure to reclaim their European crown led them to let Elek Schwartz turn to the only man who could lift the ‘curse’: Bela Guttmann himself. Since departing the Eagles following the 1962 triumph, Guttmann had joined Peñarol, whom he led to the Uruguayan title. He was denied a reunion with Benfica in the Intercontinental Cup after his side lost the Copa Libertadores final to Pele’s Santos. Guttmann would have become the first man to win both Continental championships. No one since has come closer.

Manchester United were back in the competition for the first time since the tragedy of Munich. From the ashes of the Babes, Matt Busby had created his third great team spearheaded by the ‘Holy Trinity’: Munich survivor Bobby Charlton, the deadly Denis Law, rescued from Torino in a British record transfer and a mercurial young Northern Irish winger, who had made a rapid ascend through the club’s youth teams, 19-year-old George Best. Law known as the King, had made an electric start to his career at United and was named the European Footballer of the Year in ‘64. His two colleagues would not have to wait long for similar recognition.

United had won the title on goal average over Leeds United, although they lost their final game after the title had been won. They had returned to European football via the Cup Winner’s Cup in 1963/64 after winning the FA Cup. In the quarter-finals they threw away a three goal advantage against eventual winners Sporting Lisbon. Celtic did similar in the semis of that competition against MTK and it was clear that British teams still struggled to produce the required disciplined performances away from home.

North of the Border, the unlikely representatives were Kilmarnock. The Ayrshire club had also won the title on goal average, their only top-flight championship success in their history. In a dramatic final day they won a title-decider over Hearts by the required two goal margin in a season which saw neither of the ‘Old-Firm’ clubs finish in the top four.

Elsewhere Partizan Belgrade were back in the competition after a one-year hiatus and Anderlecht, so highly praised in their performances against Liverpool the season earlier, returned for another crack. The Belgians had won their second consecutive title, a run which would extend to five over the coming years. Feyenoord were back for their third campaign as Dutch football continued to improve. Hungarian champions Ferencváros had defeated Manchester United in the 1965 Fairs Cup final and were looking to make a mark in the more prestigious of UEFA’s competitions. First timers included West German champions Werder Bremen, French winners Nantes and Vorwarts Berlin of the DDR.

The preliminary round created the usual mix of mismatches, notably Benfica winning 18-0 over Stade Dudelange of Luxembourg, setting an unbeaten record for the highest aggregate score in the competition. Guttmann made a statement to his squad by playing a reserve team in the first match. They repaid his faith by winning 8-0,however, normal service was resumed in the second-leg with Eusébio and co. going two better and winning by 10.

The tie of the round was Real Madrid versus Feyenoord and the Dutch side laid down a marker by winning the first-leg 2-1 in Rotterdam. True to form, Real put on a show in Madrid with Puskás, now 38 years-old, scoring four. Real would be drawn against Kilmarnock in the second round, the second-time in three seasons they’d faced the Scottish Champions, and another opportunity for them to return to the country of their finest hour. ‘Killie’ had knocked out the Albanian champions 17 Nëntori. Formerly known as KF Tirana, their name was changed by the Communist regime to ‘17 Nëntori’ (17th November), to commemorate the Liberation of Tirana which took place on 17 November 1944. The club returned to their original name in 1991.

With 65 minutes remaining of the first-round tie, the impossible seemed possible. Kilmarnock were 1-0 up in the Bernabéu and leading 3-2 on aggregate. The first leg had been a 2-2 draw in Ayrshire but as the region’s most famous son, Robert Burns, wrote, ‘the best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men gang aft agley’. Agley they went, and Kilmarnock, found themselves 3-1 down at half-time, following a three-goal salvo inside 10 minutes. It ended up 5-1 on the night and Real would now play Anderlecht in the Quarter-Finals.

The Belgians had also met opposition from the British Isles in the shape of the Irish League Champions Derry City but they only needed one game to do so. Derry had faced Norwegians Lyn in the preliminary round. After losing in Oslo 5-3 in the first leg, a famous 5-1 win at their Brandywell ground secured a spot in the first-round proper. The Norwegians however were furious with the condition of the pitch. ‘This is the sort of ground we used to play on as small boys, but it is not a ground for senior football,’^ said F.K. Lyn team secretary, Per Torgersen after his players trained ahead of the second game.

Accordingly the Irish FA, then made the subsequent decision to declare the ground unsuitable for future European fixtures, a decision made before the first leg of the tie against Anderlecht. The Derry board reacted with fury, with secretary Patrick Maxwell arguing that the IFA ‘having passed the ground for the European Cup, do not pass it on a match to match basis, in our view,’. As a result they made the decision to refuse to play the game if it could not be held at the Brandywell with the Maxwell stating the ‘official policy of the Derry City Board of directors is that if the European Cup game cannot be staged at Brandywell Derry will withdraw from the competition.’^

The decision became academic as the game, played in a snowstorm in Brussels, saw Derry crushed 9-0. Hopes that Anderlecht would intervene and announce their intention to travel were kyboshed by the Belgian FA who refused to allow them to get involved in a domestic dispute in another country, and given the margin of the defeat, the Derry board decided to stick to their principles and withdraw from the European Cup. Derry City underwent a tumultuous time in the coming decades because of the ongoing security concerns related to the Troubles. After some time spent playing in Coleraine, and in the Junior ranks, they joined the League of Ireland in the mid-80s and made their return to the European Cup in 1989. This time the pitch was deemed appropriate and Derry enjoyed a memorable first-leg tie against eventual finalists Benfica, losing 2-1 in front of over 10,000 spectators.

Thus Anderlecht welcomed Real Madrid in early 1966 looking for a repeat of their famous victory of 1962. They scored after two minutes via Van Himst and saw out the game to take a 1-0 lead to Spain. In a classic performance echoing the late 50s, Real went 4-0 up in the Bernabéu before two late goals restored some credibility for Anderlecht but there was no case of lightning striking twice.

Inter would join Real in the last four. Having survived a scare against Dinamo Bucharest in the first round, losing 2-1 in Romania. Inter had taken an early lead, courtesy of Peiro but goals from Frățilă and Haidu turned the game around. It was their third defeat in a row away from home following the losses to Rangers and Liverpool. Just like with Real in earlier years, the mask of invincibility was slipping, and it needed an 87th-minute winner from Facchetti in Milan to avoid extra time after Mazzola had leveled the tie with a penalty. In the next round, they strolled past Ferencváros 4-0 at the San Siro. It was an impressive performance as the previous summer the Hungarians had defeated Man United and then Juventus to win the Fairs Cup.

United’s return to the European Cup had been smooth sailing. Victories over HJK Helsinki and Vorwarts Berlin had seen them into the last eight with comfort. It wasn’t just the Best-Charlton-Law triumvirate leading the charge. Both John Connolly and David Herd scored hat-tricks against HJK and Vorwarts, respectively. Connolly had been part of Burnley’s memorable run to the quarter-finals in 1962 and would start in England’s first game at the World Cup that summer. In addition, to Law and Herd, there was a third Scot in the United line-up. Paddy Crerand joined from Celtic and added gritted and guile to the midfield. Busby had asked Law his opinion on Crerand and Jim Baxter and had suggested that the former, though not as talented, would require less maintenance on and off the field. It was an astute analysis. Finally, a bespeckled, short, balding product from the youth ranks who was also missing a few teeth, became a vital piece in the United jigsaw. Norbert ‘Nobby’ Stiles had made his debut in 1960 as an 18-year-old and became a mainstay in the team. Considered a half-back to modern eyes, he was a holding midfielder. Adept at recovering the ball and keeping possession, he was a formidable man-marker as Eusébio would find out in the Quarter-Finals and again in the World Cup.

Benfica progressed after a much harder tie against Levski Sofia. They twice went behind in Bulgaria before settling for a 2-2 tie and then found themselves one behind in Lisbon after three minutes. Of course, the power of Estadio da Luz held sway, and they’d turned the tie around just after half-time by going 3-1 up. A late strike from the prolific forward Georgi Asparuhov made it 3-2 but Benfica saw the game out. Asparuhov would be targeted by Benfica and AC Milan in future years but a mixture of the Bulgarian Communist government and his loyalty to Levski would kybosh any moves. Tragically, he died in a car accident in 1971, aged 28. In 1990 the Levski stadium was renamed in his honour.

It would be United v Benfica in the quarter-finals and another opportunity for Busby to take on one of continent’s heavyweights. The first leg was played at Old Trafford on the 2nd of February. United, in all-white, hit the post after five minutes, but it was Benfica who opened the scoring shortly after. Augusto heading home a Eusébio corner. United responded superbly. First a goal each from the Scottish strikers, Law and Herd, turned the game around and Foulkes added a third with a half-hour to go. The game featured the past (Law – 1964), present (Eusébio – 1965) and future (Charlton – 1966 and Best 1968) Balon D’Or winners and it was the man from Mozambique who showed why he was the man for the here and now. Refusing to allow the tie to run away from his team, Eusébio took matters into his own hands. After a couple of long range attempts had narrowly failed to find the back of the net, he turned provider, teeing Jose Torres up for a tap-in with a curling spinning cross that bewitched Harry Gregg in the United goal. There was time still for Law to hit the bar,but the game ended 3-2 and the fans applauded both teams off the field. Highlighting the ongoing schism in playing approaches felt throughout the continent, The Times football correspondent noted the game ‘was a reiteration for those who believe in attacking football.’^

It was the 26th of September 1957, in their first ever home tie in the European Cup, that Benfica, trailing 3-1 from the first leg, drew 0-0 with Sevilla at the Estadio da Luz. Since then they had racked up 18 straight wins, scoring seventy eight goals, 4.3 per game. This was the magnitude of the task facing United. Given Benfica’s record, losing by one goal and taking the tie to a third game, would have been an achievement in itself. Of course, one team, had won there and did it in emphatic circumstances – Pele’s Santos in the 1962 Intercontinental final. But that was in 1962, Guttmann had left and now he was back. And Man United did not have Pele. They did, however, have George Best.

‘Here comes Best again! What a player this boy is!’ proclaimed commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme on the BBC. It would not be the peak of Wolstenholme’s career, that would come a few months later at Wembley stadium, but, somewhat sadly, it may have been the 19-year old Best’s. Wolstenholme’s next words would be ‘he’s got another!’ as he described Best’s second goal of the evening,which with only 13 minutes on the clock, had put United 2-0 ahead. It was a simple goal. Three touches had the ball in the back of the net, but it illustrated the best of Best. Electric pace, feints and balance to beat players and controlled finishing. He latches onto a cushioned header by Herd around 45 yards out. A positive first touch draws out Germano, still considered one of World’s foremost centre backs, Best at full speed, shimmies past him, hurdles his extended leg and rolls the finish past Costa Pereira. It all happens so quickly, his touches seem too far ahead of him, but he eats up the grass. There are echoes of Michael Owen v Argentina in 1998.

His first, and United’s, was a glancing, looping header from a Charlton free-kick from the left side after six minutes. After a quarter of an hour, Connelly had added a third from a cute Herd through ball. Busby’s team talk had stressed the need to take few risks in the first 20 minutes and settle into the game but here were United were in dreamland and the semi-finals. The famous ‘Blitzkreig’ football of da Luz was in action, just no one had expected it to come from the visitors. It had not been a co-ordinated tactical plan although Bill Foulkes suggested that in playing deeper space was created for the United players to run into (it is unlikely this was preplanned by Busby).^ The psychological factor to a Benfica side with such a formidable home record cannot be underestimated. Games at the Luz tended to follow a familiar pattern i.e. Benfica won them all. Going behind so quickly was not part of the script and they had little experience of being in such a situation with the only comparison being the 1962 Intercontinental Cup final with Pelé destroyed them. It was similar this time as Antonio Simoes noted: ‘A hurricane passed through the Luz that night and his name was George Best.’^

A defensive mix-up led to an own goal from Shay Brennan but Stiles kept Eusébio in check and the game was over when Law played a wonderful pass through for Crerand and he finished past a despairing Costa Pereira. The keeper made a woeful attempt for the ball and he was also at fault for Best’s opener, but he could do little to stop Charlton in the last minute as he strolled into the penalty area unchallenged to make it 5-1.

The result sent the English press into meltdowns, and 10 years since the competition started, and eight after Munich, it seemed like finally the search for a European Cup win, may come to an end. Other’s too, however were similarly effusive. A Bola, the Lisbon-based Sports Daily, announced United as ‘the greatest club team that European football ever produced, after the fabulous Real Madrid.’ Many years later, Charlton and Law both agreed this was the game in which their team it their highest peak. In Charlton’s words ‘Every pass seemed to find its target. Every run seemed to have a point. We were unstoppable.’^

For Best, nothing would ever be the same again. It was A Bola who named him ‘El Beatle’ and as he disembarked the plane in Manchester wearing the Sombrero he had picked up on the streets of Lisbon. he had been anointed, in the words of the Daily Mirror’s Frank McGhee as ‘the young pretender to the ‘King of European Football.’^

And what of Benfica and Bela Guttmann? He had famously declared that the ‘third season is fatal’ but he might well have added the fourth too. He was essentially returning to a squad largely unchanged from the time he left. Of the 11 who would line up against United at Da Luz, eight started against Real Madrid in the final, four years earlier. Guttmann, always obsessed with money, was shocked at the affluence of the playing staff displayed when he returned. As David Bolchover wrote in The Greatest Comeback:

‘He was furious that his three successors in the intervening period had not only profited financially from his work, but had also spoilt ‘his’ players, leaving him to tidy up the mess. Those imbeciles didn’t know what they were doing! Players and coaches had just been getting drunk on the successes he had created! And what had he got? Nothing!’^

He justified critical comments he made in the Press, as simple mind games, but his messianic veneer had corroded. The United defeat was the beginning of the end. They would lose the league to Sporting, who in a final shot to Guttmann’s heart, were managed by the man he had originally replaced, Otto Gloria, and be knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup. The end was messy with Guttmann criticising key figures including Eusébio in the Press. For the most part, Guttmann’s failed second spell has largely been forgotten, the positive memories of the first, too strong to be tainted, but, despite the relationship being fraught throughout, the first go around was a beautiful marriage. As Guttmann told a journalist: ‘If ever you have had a great love…do not ever dare to go back.’^

‘European Draw Aids British Hopes’^ was the headline in Geoffrey Green’s piece in The Times as United were paired with Partizan Belgrade in the semi-final draw. And, even though Green followed up that ‘Manchester must not underestimate the Yugoslavs’ there was certainly a feeling that United had been given the best of the three options and the final, and indeed the Cup itself, was within touching distance. It was their third semi-final in as many attempts and given that ‘57 saw their young side face Di Stéfano at his peak and ‘58 was in the aftermath of Munich with many of the team dead and Busby still hospitalized, this was their best shot. The final was set for the Heysel stadium and a Belgian newspaper would report that United, like Inter, had paid a deposit on hotel rooms for the final.^

Following the end of the second World War, football in newly named Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia underwent extensive reconstruction. As Richard Mills noted in his book The Politics of Football in Yugoslavia, Joseph Broz Tito’s ruling Communist party:

‘Cleansed organisations tainted by association with interwar and wartime regimes or founded on the basis of ethnic nationalism. Numerous clubs from the pre-revolutionary period were deemed unsuitable for the task of the new Soviet-inspired physical culture.’^

In 1945, the Soviet Red Army team CDKA (later to become CSKA) toured Yugoslavia and it was decided to create a similar club in Belgrade. Hajduk Split who were proclaimed as the team of anti-fascism during the war and had refused to accept the offer of a Division 1 place in the Italian league, during their occupation and further burnished their credentials when they did not take part in any of the German-controlled leagues, were invited to relocate to Belgrade and take up this mantle. When they refused, a new club was formed, The Partizan Sports Society of the Yugoslav Army. The Partisans were the name of the resistance fighting force that Tito led during World War II. Their stadium was named accordingly the JNA (Jugoslovenska narodna armija – Yugoslav People’s Army) Stadium and was built by soldiers and volunteers of the People’s Youth and People’s Front.

As the army drew from all corners of Yugoslavia’s republics, it’s playing staff was representative of this fact. As the three other members of Yugoslavia’s ‘Big Four’ Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split (Croatia) and Red Star (Serbia) became symbols of their localities, Partizan were able to draw on a wider identity and more diverse playing staff, with many young players scouted throughout the nation and brought to Belgrade. To illustrate this point, the team that competed in 1966 had representatives from five of the eight Yugoslav republics^ and their coach Abdulah Gegić was an ethnic Muslim who would later go on to manage Fenerbahçe and the Turkish National team.

Partizan, of course, had played the first ever game in the European Cup, against Sporting C.P. Now no longer playing in Blue and Red kits, but in the synonymous Black and White stripes, they had won four titles in five years. The key men in the side were Fahrudin Jusufi the left back, the uncompromising stopper Branko Rasovic who played alongside the dynamic young Velibor Vasovic, the creative Vladimir Kovačević in midfield and Milan Galic up top.

After overcoming Nantes in the first round, the first round proper saw them take on Werder Bremen in a stormy affair. After a 3-0 win in Belgrade, with all the goals coming in the last 20 minutes, the return leg saw two German players along with Partizan’s Becejac sent off by Scottish referee Thomas ‘Tiny’ Wharton. The second of the Werder players was captain Arnold Schutz, who sent a Yugoslav journalist to hospital after an altercation on his way to his early bath.^ Police were called in at the end of the game, to keep the baying fans off the pitch.

The European Cup has seen many famous comebacks in recent years, with the highlight being Barcelona’s 2017 overturning of a 4-0 deficit against Paris St. Germain. Partizan themselves overturned a four-goal disadvantage themselves against Queen’s Park Rangers in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup. However, their 6-4 aggregate win against Sparta Prague ranks up there with any of the European Cup era. Missing several key players for the away leg, whether via suspension, injury or in the case of Galic, Army service, Partizan managed to get themselves ahead courtesy of Mustafa Hasanagić. Sparta levelled before half-time and were too strong in the second half. Their coach Václav Ježek, pushed his side on to take advantage of Partizan’s inexperienced line-up and three second-half goals gave them their 4-1 win. Ježek would go on to manage Czechoslovakia, winning the 1976 European Championships but he had no answer for Partizan who had wiped out their three goal lead inside the first half hour of the second-leg. By half-time it was 5-0 and Partizan were in the last four.

Red Star had moved into the Red Star stadium (also known as the Marakana) in 1963 but previously had played in the JNA stadium. As a result United, were returning to the ground in which the Babes had played their final match in 1958. On that return, Bobby Charlton wrote in his autobiography:

‘It would have been impossible to come up with a match that carried any heavier load of emotion. For Matt Busby, Harry Gregg, Bill Foulkes and me going back to Belgrade was like retracing footsteps that never ceased to haunt us.’^

However it may have affected the four survivors, United started the game well and should have been ahead at the break. Law, who earlier had missed when one-on-one with the keeper, spurned an incredible chance when he failed to connect with a cross from Best who had rounded the keeper, with an open goal, three yards out, It was a remarkable clearance from Mihajlović who got lucky when the ball hit the crossbar, but Law should have been more alert to get to the ball first. Best who could have curled the ball in himself had been pieced together to play in the game but was not fit enough and played little part in the remainder of the match, nor would he be fit for the returning game.

Partizan took the lead just after half-time from a free-kick. Gregg started to come for the ball then backtracked, leaving himself exposed off his line and he could not recover to stop Hasanagíc’s header. The second was a beauty. Vasovic picked the ball up inside the United half and under minimal pressure from Best, looked up and flighted a pass into the penalty area where an unmarked Bečejac controlled it on his chest, and slid the ball past Gregg as it hit the ground. Gregg redeemed himself later on making a great save from Galic who had now returned to the team.

In Manchester, Partizan committed to holding on to their lead and United without Best, lacked the craft to break them down. The visitors did not manage a single attempt on target but it took United until the last quarter of the game to find the back of the net. A short corner saw Stiles catch Soskic in the Partizan goal off-guard at his near post. As he scrambled to recover his poor positioning, he was only able to parry the ball into the goal. Prior to that Crerand and Miladinovic were sent off by the Swiss referee, for which, the only appropriate description, is ‘handbags’. Charlton came close with a volley over the bar late on but Partizan were able to see the game out. It would be Belgium and Brussels for the final, instead of the Netherlands and Amsterdam for a replay.

Harry Gregg whose relationship with Busby would sour in later years, blamed the manager for the defeat. Quoted in Eamon Dunphy’s biography of Busby – A Strange Kind of Glory, Gregg said of the United team: ‘We made no adjustments, which you have to do in the away leg of a European tie.’ As Dunphy notes, ‘criticism of Busby’s approach to European competition is legitimate’^ especially as United had lost heavily away from home in 1964 to Sporting Lisbon (5-0) in the Quarter-Finals of the Cup Winner’s Cup, after winning 4-1 at home. Defenders of Busby would point to the 5-1 win in Lisbon but this was more of an outlier and perhaps owed more to the individual brilliance of Best. It’s harder to draw vast conclusions given the limited body of work to reference. In ‘57 the Babes had been defeated in Bilbao but turned it around at home in the quarters and there was no shame in the defeat suffered to Real Madrid in the semis. But added to the loss against Sporting noted above and the semi-final defeat to Ferencváros in the Fairs Cup the year previous, there was concern that Busby lacked the tactical nous, certainly away from home, where difficult games may require a more co-ordinated game plan.

Given subsequent events that unfolded 1966 (like Liverpool the previous year) does not weigh too heavily on United’s history, yet it was a huge disappointment at the time and ranks alongside future losses such Dortmund (1997) and Leverkusen (2002) as a missed opportunity. In between the two semi-final legs, Liverpool had clinched the First Division title with United 10 points back. Given the competitiveness of the English league, it was understandable that after their elimination, Busby lamented: ‘We will never win the European Cup now.’^

Busby’s sorrow at the end of the game was clear. It was a double hit. Not only had his chance of making history gone, at a more practical level, his chance to compete in the tournament again vanished too. It would be two years minimum before he could get to the same stage again and that would only be possible with another successful league campaign. In the meantime, Bill Shankly would get a second opportunity to achieve immortality.

One club who also needed to win the competition to compete in it the following season was Real Madrid. La Liga had concluded on April 3rd and Atletico Madrid pipped their city rivals to the title by one point. Real may have lost their dominance of the European Cup after 1960 but they had established remarkable consistency at home, winning the league every season from 1960/61. This ensured they retained their record of playing in the European Cup every year since its establishment. There was a lot of weight on the shoulders of those white shirts when they walked on to the Bernabéu pitch on April 13.

Inter’s approach was according to type and they committed to defence despite going behind early on in the first half. The rigid, organized defence was at sixes and sevens after a Gento cross and the ball fell to Jose Martinez Sanchez ‘Pirri’ who slid the ball past Sarti after his first shot had been saved. In the other goal, Betancort spent the second half hobbling around his goalmouth after receiving extensive treatment to a leg injury. And yet, Inter did not look to seize this opportunity, after all, their record at home was formidable as they had yet to lose a European Cup game. ‘Madrid will burn in the San Siro’^ claimed the ever diplomatic Herrera after the 1-0 defeat.

It would be a night to remember for Real. For so long, THE team of the competition, this new generation were faced with delivering on the reputation of their predecessor. The previous year, Inter had wiped out their deficit by the time the fans had just sat down in their seats. This time, instead, the hill to climb had become a mountain. A Madrid counter attack saw Gento set Amancio free and he had the composure to roll a left foot shot passed Sarti. Inter now had to face a taste of their own medicine, with the ever-willing Pirri man-marking Suarez out of the game. Like in Manchester, the onus was on the home team to break down the opposition. It was a situation of Inter’s own making – ‘the right of the weak’ had become ‘the right of the winning’. Facchetti scored a classic Facchetti goal with a driven finish across Araquistian, who had replaced Betancort in the Real goal, but like Stiles strike in Manchester, it was too little too late.

After the game Herrera resolved to change his approach. With no hint of irony, he declared that his team ‘were always vulnerable against a team wholly committed to defence’ before announcing in future that ‘I shall attempt to win ties away from home as well.’^

In 1983, Sean Connery reprised his role as James Bond in the film Never Say Never Again, the title coming from the actor’s insistence that he would never play the role again. For fans of the suave Scot’s portrayal of the World’s most famous spy the film sits as a curious outlier when compared to the seven films he produced that started with Dr. No in 1963 and ended with Diamonds are Forever in 1971. It was a renegade film, produced after a legal fight over the rights to the Thunderball script. For all intents and purposes, it is Connery and it is James Bond, but there’s a feeling that something is missing. It is a similar feeling when viewing Real Madrid’s European Cup win in 1966. It is of course part of the 60s, after all it was only two years previously the majority of the old guard were losing to Inter in the final. But it could be argued that Real’s win in ‘66 shares more in common with Celtic in ‘67 than Di Stéfano and Puskás in 1960.

The competition by now had been running long enough to witness changing cycles within a club. It was said that after Busby had built a team in the mid-50s, he had to buy one in the mid-60s. Partizan were also an illustration in succession planning, the majority of their team had been cultivated in a youth side by Florian Matekalo, a former player and coach. But it was Real who had made the greatest and swiftest transition. The decision to let Di Stéfano go was controversial but probably necessary. The banning of foreign players by the Spanish FA in 1963 played a considerable part too,combined with the club’s waning finances which turned their focus inward and their spending downward.

Of the 11 who lined up against Partizan, only four remained from the ‘64 final; Gento, Amancio, Zoco and Pachin. The average age of the team was 25.5 years old. Only Gento (32) was above 30. In ‘64 it was 29.5. And, significantly, the team was entirely Spanish. Following the national team’s dismal performance in the ‘62 World Cup,the ban on foreigners had been enacted and Munoz had to fashion a youthful all-Spanish team. But just as football was closing its doors, the rest of the Spain was opening up to the wider world. Tourism was being actively encouraged and the Beatles, whose songs had been sung on the terraces of the Kop against Inter, had played a seminal gig at the Madrid bullring in ‘65. The Real team came to be known as the Yé-Yé’s in tribute to the lyrics of She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah) and it exemplified the changing of the guard. If these lads were the Beatles then Di Stéfano was Sinatra.

Puskás and Santamaría had played their final European game away at Kilmarnock. The latter would retire at the end of the season whilst Puskás remained in the squad and competed in friendlies, he never played a competitive match after the 65/66 season and retired for good in 1967. Within four years of retiring he was back in the European Cup final as coach of Panathanikos.

Amancio had established himself as one of Europe’s elite players and arguably the best Spanish player of the time. Like the team as a whole, his achievements are perhaps not given the appropriate credit due to the shadow of what came before. Famously, in his first pre-season tour with the club in Ghana in 1962, he complained to Di Stéfano that his shirt was missing the Real Madrid crest, to which he was told, ‘you’ve got to sweat in it first sonny.’^ Sweat in it he did, making 344 appearances for the club scoring 119 goals. Third in the Balon D’Or in 1964, he did not get a single vote in ‘66 which perhaps indicates the bias associated with International tournaments, that indeed Amancio with his ‘64 European Championship win had benefited from.

The Ye-Ye moniker stemmed from a photo published on the cover of El Alcázar two days before the final. It had actually been taken by photographer Felix Lázaro three months earlier but there was not enough space in the next day’s paper for it to be published at the time. Betancort was a relative veteran and had straddled the old and new Madrid’s and although Sanchis was new to the club that year, he was 28 by the time of the final. The other four who featured however became synonymous with the team and the new guard (alongside Amancio). They were: Pirri (21), Manuel Velázquez (23), Ramón Grosso(22) and Pedro De Felipe (21).

Partizan started the final with a blitz of early pressure and Real were lucky not to be behind with Hasangagic and Vasovic going close. Gradually however, the game became more even and Gross missed a great chance for Madrid. There are several myths that surround the match to this day.^ In one story, Partizan were offered money at half-time to throw the game. Alternatively, they were offered the option to win for $15,000 but the Army did not have the funds to do so. Notwithstanding the chicanery involved in European football at the time, its clear that in the first instance Partizan did not accept the offer as ten minutes after half-time, Vasovic emerged at pace to meet the ball powerfully after it had been knocked back across goal, sending a downward header past Araquistáin. Galic had a chance to make it two but hit his shot over the bar with only the keeper to beat. He injured himself in the process and spent the remainder of the game out on the wing.

Real responded on 70 minutes. A terrific outside of the boot pass from Grosso into Amancio’s path saw him twist and turn and stroke a left foot shot past Soskic. Six minutes later they had the final’s defining goal as Fernando Serena, a product of the Real academy, scored a sumptuous winner. A number of accounts from the match state that the goal was scored with his weaker left foot,but television pictures clearly show it was with his right. A Partizan clearance was headed back into the attacking half, Serena controls the ball with his shoulder, pushes the ball into his path with his chest, sets himself and unleashes an arrow of a half-volley into the top corner. Soskic, makes a valid attempt to stop it but there’s no way he can keep it out.

Real were back where they belonged. La Sexta had been achieved and no one else would lift that trophy as UEFA gave them the Cup gifted back in 1956 by L’Equipe to keep in recognition of their achievement. Benfica had won with an-all Portuguese team but given the colonial nature of their side, and the variety of different countries represented, it is fair to say that Real were the first to win with an all-country eleven.

For Partizan it was to be the pinnacle. Following the final many took advantage of the riches on offer beyond Yugoslavia. Soskic the fine goalkeeper went to Koln, Galic to Standard Liege, Kovačević to Nantes, Jusufi to Eintracht. The most successful was Vasovic, who would join Ajax Amsterdam although he would not return to the competition until the 67/68 season.