Author: Vesselin

Primera Division. The real thing. Real Zaragoza had uncharacteristic strong season, but Real Madrid’s comeback was something else – they made new incredibly strong squad and dominated the championship by far. At the bottom – one weak outsider. Thus, the drama was somewhat secondary – fights for escaping relegation and winning 2nd place.

Celta was very weak and settled at the bottom early. Last and out with 14 points.

Hercules fought as they could, but was relegated at the end – 17th with 22 points. Mario Kempes was with them this season, but he was already a pale shadow of the great player he was less than 10 years ago.

Ironically, the club which went to the top with Kempes at his prime, went down with him – Valencia was 16th with 25 points. Who would believe it a few years back – Valencia going to Second Division. But somewhat Valencia was unable to maintain strong team when they were successful. Wrong decisions led to gradual weakening and eventual free fall into relegation.

Cadiz, normally a prime candidate for relegation, managed to survive – 15th with 26 points.

Osasuna was also relieved at the end – 14th with 27 points.

Las Palmas also escaped relegation – 13th with 27 points, ahead of Osasuna on better head-to-head record.

Racing Santander – 12th with 31 points.

Espanol – 11th with 31 points.

Real Valladolid – 10th with 32 points.

Sevilla – still a mid-table club. 9th with 34 points. Standing from left: Alvarez, Manolo Zambrano, Serna, Jimenez, Sanabria, Francisco. Crouching: Buyo, Nimo, Estella, Jose Luis Ruda, Carlos Amaro Nadal.

Real Betis – 8th with 35 points. Not a bad season – they reached the Copa de la Liga final and this is the team which faced Barcelona at it. Standing from left: Cervantes, Diego, Calderon, Quico, Alex, Ortega. Front: Parra, Hadzibegic, Gabino, Medina, Romo.

Real Sociedad – their great years ended and slowly going down the scale. 7th with 37 points.

Sporting Gijon – still running strong: 6th with 41 points.

Atletico Madrid – clinched UEFA Cup spot: 5th with 42 points. Overall, good season for a relatively weakened squad – reached the Cup Winners Cup final, but lost it. Not playing larger role in the Spanish championship was another blow – from fan’s perspective. On the other hand… they lost Hugo Sanchez and still managed to stay in the upper part of the league.

Real Zaragoza – 4th with 42 points. Strong and successful season, a revival of a kind after years of relative obscurity.

Athletic Bilbao – strong, but good only for 3rd place with 43 points.

Barcelona – distant 2nd behind the champions with 45 points. Once again, it was slightly weaker team compared to the squad of the arch-enemy.

It is pointless to count Real’s title – more important was their comeback to dominance with new formidable squad, the ‘vulture squadron’. Incredible talent, which garnished domestic success with winning again the UEFA Cup. Real hopes were growing – for coming back to international dominance. The championship strongly nourished such hopes: Barcelona was left 11 points behind and there was not even a point of mentioning other rivals. 26 wins, 4 ties, just 4 lost games, 83-33 scoring record. Outscoring by far all others and also having third-best defensive record, but that mattered little – the main point was that the team was playing attacking football and scored plenty of goals: that was the true Real’s way to the purists.

Segunda Division. The usual 20-team league, but seemingly going to be reduced to 18 – 4 teams relegated and only 2 promoted from third level. The top 3 were promoted to First Division, the second teams of the big clubs were not permitted to go up, of course, but were free to go down. As it happened, there was no B-team among the best, but Atletico Madrilleno (Atletico Madrid B) finished last and was relegated.

The other relegated were CD Tenerife – 19th, Deportivo Aragon – 18th, and

Albacete Balompie – 17th.

CD Logrones survived – 16th with 33 points. 2 points ahead of Albacete and curiously for so lowly team, with positive goal-difference.

Up the table, it was dog-fight as usual – practically 8 teams fought to the end for 2 promotional spots, yet, without really challenging the leading club of the season. As for B teams, they were not concerned with promotion – their role was only to develop possible young players for the prime squad, but their names were a bit confusing, for by this time they appeared with slightly changed names of the the mother club, but not in every source. Barcelona Athletic (Barcelona B) was 13th, Castilla CF (Real Madrid B) – 12th, Bilbao Athletic (Athletic Bilbao B) – 7th. The rest of the league played as they could at the moment.

CD Malaga finished 11th with 37 points. Nothing to brag about.

Sestao, perhaps the least known club in the league, finished 10th with 39 points and had something to brag about: for such small club, they had wonderful season in Second Division, ending in the middle of it and right behind the teams fighting for promotion.

Ahead of Sestao was compact group of teams entertaining hopes for promotion to various degrees, but to the end. Well, all except Bilbao Athletic, which even if winning the league could not be promoted. 4 points divided 2nd from 9th at the end of the season.

Recreativo Huelva was 9th with 42 points.

Real Oviedo – 8th with 44 points.

Above them – Bilbao Athletic also with 44 points.

Deportivo La Coruna – 6th with 45 points.

CD Castellon – 5th with 45 points. Recognizable names started to appear in the upper part of the league – Botubot and the Hungarian Dunai were in this squad, for instance.

Elche CF – 4th with 45 points, ahead of Castellon thanks to better head-to-head record, but still missing the targeted promotion.

RCD Mallorca clinched 3rd place with 46 points and was very happy at the end of the season – they were going up to the top league.

CE Sabadell FC also finished with 46 points and took second place, but what really mattered was not that much coming ahead of Mallorca, but getting promoted. It was prevailing in the dog-fight what mattered and they did it.

One team was so strong this season, it was hardly concerned with the dog-fight bellow – Real Murcia was really dominant, finishing 6 points ahead of the other candidates for promotion. Comfortable champions of Second Division with 52 points from 22 wins, 8 ties, and 8 losses. Their dominance perhaps shows best in their scoring record: 66-30. Best strikers, best defenders, astonishing for doggy Spanish second level +36 goal-difference.

Real Murcia really deserves a second picture – here they are the 1985-86 champions of Segunda Division A.

 

 

Spain. Looked like the third level was going to be reorganized – the number of relegated clubs at the of the season was enormous: 13 of 20 teams playing in each group of the league were going down. Mostly likely money was the issue: one club dissolved – Palencia, 7th in Group A – and another was relegated because of financial problems – Alaves, 5th in Group A. Perhaps the season was more important in terms of survival than anything else, but really promotion up was the real aim – or should have been, for there was no big battle for the first place in any group.

Group A. At a glance, well known Salamanca and Real Burgos should have been the leaders – and they were in a way.

Salamanca finished 3rd and

Real Burgos ended 2nd. Both teams were with 48 points and head-to-head results decided final standings, but these teams did not really challenged the group winner at all.

Figueres, hardly heard of club, won the championship with 55 points. Third division, true, but still Figueres had remarkable season: they won 22 games and scored 71 goals – the best in the whole Segunda Division B! Well deserved promotion and one may only hope they were not one-time wonder, but made it in the Second Division next year.

Group B. Like in Group A, former top league members were seemingly the leaders – Xerez and Cordoba. They stayed at the top of the table, but did not appear to be particularly strong, challenged by Linense, Ceuta, and Alcoyano.

At the end, Alcoyano (pictured here) was 5th with 42 points. Ceuta – 4th with 43 points, Cordoba – 3rd also with 43 points, and Linense – having won most games and ending with best goal-difference in the group – was unfortunate 2nd with 46 points.

Xerez clinched the first place with 47 points and was promoted – the aim of returning to second level was achieved, but it was not convincing victory. Third division teams hardly have players worth mentioning, yet there is a famous person in the picture – the most famous fan in the world at the time: Manolo with his drum. His support worked so far. As for the future… good luck to both Xerez in the Second Division next season.

 

 

The Italian Cup final opposed Roma to Sampdoria. Sampdoria won the first leg at home 2-1. Roma prevailed in the second 2-0 and won the trophy.

So close, but no luck. Sampdoria was not ready yet for serious success – a good team, but underachievers… so far.

Roma was running strong – 2nd in the championship and winning the Cup. This is not the cup-winning squad, but close enough. Standing from left: Boniek, Pruzzo, Graziani, Righetti, Ancelotti, Tancredi. Front row: Oddi, Nela, Gerolim, Di Carlo, Desideri.

Roma won its 6th Cup and it was not going to be their last, but the sense of great period coming to end was there – the key players were dangerously aging. From that perspective, it was great they won.

Forth Division – Serie C/2. The usual 4 groups of 18 teams each, the top 2 teams of every group promoted to the corresponding Serie C/1 group. The last 3 – relegated to 5th level. A brief look at 4th level:

Girone A.

Derthona – 13th with 31 points.

Torres – 9th with 35 points.

Entella Bacezza – 5th with 40 points.

Alessandria – 4th with 41 points.

Pistoiese – 3rd with 41 points.

Spezia – 2nd with 43 points and promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Lucchese – group champions with 46 points and promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Girone B.

Leffe – 17th with 24 points and relegated to 5th level.

Fanfulla 1874 – 16th with 29 points and relegated to 5th level.

Treviso – 10th with 33 points.

Novara – 7th with 35 points.

Ospitaletto – 3rd with 41 points. Missed promotion on worse goal-difference.

Mantova – 2nd with 41 points, above Ospitaletto on better goal-difference and thus promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Centese – group champions with 42 points and promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Girone C.

Foligno – 16th with 30 points and relegated to 5th level.

Fidelis Andria – 15th with 31 points.

Francavilla – 7th with 34 points.

Matera – 5th with 35 points.

Martina Franca – 2nd with 45 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Teramo – group champions with 46 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Girone D.

Trapani – 12th with 32 points.

Ercolanese – 10th with 33 points.

Siracusa – 9th with 33 points.

Reggina – 2nd with 45 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Nocerina – group champions with 47 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Well, good luck to the promoted teams in the next year.

Girone B.

Ternana – last with 27 points and out.

Benevento – 17th with 27 points and relegated. Well, relegated at first and then, strangely, reinstated – that because Pescara was not relegated from Serie B. Why Benevento benefited and not the team which finished above them?

Casarano – 16th with 30 points. Relegated for having worse head-to-head record against Livorno.

Livorno barely survived – 15th with 30 points, but the place itself did not mean survival this year. However, a much higher-placed team went down after the end of the season and Livorno was good for another year.

Monopoli – 14th with 31 points.

Cosenza – 13th with 31 points.

Licata – 12th with 31 points.

Brindisi – 11th with 32 points.

Campania – 10th with 32 points.

Sorrento – 9th with 32 points.

Foggia – 8th with 34 points.

Salernitana – 7th with 35 points.

Casertana – 6th with 36 points.

Cavese – 5th with 36 points and… relegated. For some reason they were ranked last by C.A.F., thus, relegated to Serie C/2. The team with best defensive record this season went down – they allowed only 19 goals in 34 games.

Siena – 4th with 38 points.

Barletta – 3rd with 41 points.

Taranto – 2nd with 44 points and promoted to Serie B.

Messina – winners of Girone B with 45 points. Promoted, of course and happy with their 3rd Division title. Apart from that, they outscored everybody in their league by far: Messina scored 53 goals – Licata was second-best with 40.

Third Division – Serie C/1. Two groups of 18 teams, the top 2 teams in each group – promoted; the last 3 – relegated. Eventually, relegation became more complicated because of various events.

Girone A.

Sanremese – last with 17 points and relegated.

Varese – 17th with 26 points and relegated.

Pavia – 16th with 27 points and relegated.

Rimini – 15th with 30 points, but because of worse head-to-head results against Fano. Relegated originally, but because Perugia was directly relegated from 2nd to 4th Division, Rimini was reinstated. Lucky survival.

Fano – 14th with 30 points, thanks to better head-to-head results against Rimini.

Carrarese – 13th with 31 points.

R. M. Firenze – 12th with 31 points.

Legnano – 11th with 31 points.

Trento – 10th with 31 points.

Prato – 9th with 33 points.

Ancona – 8th with 33 points.

Padova – 7th with 36 points.

SPAL – 6th with 38 points.

Virescit – 5th with 39 points.

Reggiana – 4th with 40 points.

Piacenza – 3rd with 45 points.

Modena – 2nd with 47 points and promoted to Serie B.

Parma – champions of Serie C/1 Girone A with 47 points. Goal-difference placed them above Modena and they won the championship, but it was of little import at that time. Yet, this was the beginning of the climb of Parma to eventual world fame. Hard to imagine at the real time.

Second Division. Here the aftermath of the match-fixing affair was still felt. Lazio was the prime sufferer, for they went into really dark times, but also L.R. Vicenza – they were denied promotion this year. Meantime Trieastina had 1 point deducted and Empoli benefited from all that. There was some bigger irregularity at the bottom of the table and Perugia was relegated not to Third Division, but to the 4th Division as a result. Well, it was not easy to clean Italian football.

Monza – last with 26 points and relegated.

Catanzaro – 19th with 30 points and relegated.

Perugia – 18th with 32 points. Whatever they did to elevate themselves from the the relegation zone did not work – only instead of going to 3rd Division, they were punished with relegation to 4th Division.

Pescara – 17th with 33 points and relegated.

Palermo survived – barely, but survived. 16th with 34 points. 20 of them came from ties – nobody tied more games in the division: 20 out of 38 total!

Cagliari – apart from their intriguing kit, nothing to be proud of: 15th with 35 points. This club was Italian champion full of exciting stars once – and now barely escaping relegation from Second Division.

Sambenedettese – 14th with 35 points. Good for another season in the second level – pretty much all they dreamed of.

Catania – 13th with 36 points.

Lazio – 12th with 36 points. Bad times, troubled times.

Arezzo – 11th with 36 points.

Campobasso – 10th with 37 points. Not bad, considering the names bellow them.

Cremonese – 9th with 37 points,

Cesena – 8th with 39 points.

Genoa – 7th with 40. Perhaps around that time they lost their original position as the leading club of the city.

Bologna – another team down on its luck and not doing well at all. 6th with 41 points.

Triestina – 5th with 44 points. Lost promotion because of deducted point – without that point, they dropped from 4th to 5th place.

Empoli – really lucky guys. They were 5th with their 45 points, just behind Triestina on worse goal-difference. Then L.R. Vicenza was not admitted to the top league, Triestina was punished and suddenly Empoli was 4th and promoted instead of Vicenza. Lucky, indeed.

L. R. Vicenza was trying hard to recover its position – the glorious days of the late 1970s were still fresh in memory. But also fresh was their participation in the match-fixing affair. They finished 3rd with 46 points and clinched promotional spot, but they were not permitted to join First Division, still penalized.

Brescia – 2nd with 47 points. Going up again for another try among the best. It was never ending struggle… up and down, up and down, now it was going up, so it was fine.

Ascoli had wonderful season, winning Serie B with 50 points. 17 wins, 16 ties, 5 losses, 56-33 goal-difference. They were the only team not losing home match in the league. Scored most goals by far. A somewhat lesser version of Brescia – a team meandering between first and second division – so, winning Serie B was great success.

Italy. No miracles this season – Juventus was dominant, as it should have been. At the bottom – pretty much the expected. Verona dropped too low for reigning champion.

Lecce – pretty much the outsider. Last with 16 points and out.

Bari – 15th and out with 22 points. They scored the least goals in the championship – just 18.

Pisa – the third relegated team. 14th with 23 points.

Udinese – lucky 13th with 25 points.

Avellino – 12th with 27 points.

Sampdoria – 11th with 27 points. More was expected from this team, but… that was it.

Verona, as it was commonly known back than – Hellas Verona, actually. 10th with 28 points. Unfortunately, they were not able to build upon their success – the predicament of small clubs in any country. Losing players rather than gaining more talent.

Como – 9th with 29 points. Not bad – for them.

Atalanta – 8th with 29 points.

Milan – 7th with 31 points. Rather painfully coming back, but on the road to recovery.

Inter – 6th with 32 points. Something not quite right with this team. Most likely the age of Rummenigge and Brady.

Torino – 5th with 33 points. One of the three teams not winning away, even once.

Fiorentina – 4th with 33 points. Underachievers, in a way – this squad should have been a title contender.

Napoli – 3rd with 39 points. Slowly building strength. One expect a team with Maradona to be formidable champion, but Napoli really came out of nowhere and Maradona was pretty much alone. But slowly a strong team was gathering around him – all for the future.

Roma – the closest team to the champions, but not a real threat. Second with 41 points. More or less, running on the inertia from their earlier years. Still very strong, but somewhat they missed the moment to transform themselves into truly great team and now inevitably getting older.

Juventus – simply the best. 18 wins, 9 ties, only 3 lost games, 43-17 goal-difference – best defensive record, second-best strikers, 45 points and one more title. Consistency was the key – no matter what, Juventus had strong squads for very long time and there was no stopping to that. Starting with their coach – Trapattoni – they were the best squad in Italy and practically had no real challenger. It was coming to the point of considering occasional second place a huge failure…

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 30th minute in the opening leg in Madrid – Allofs scored and Koln was leading. Soon everything changed and in the 89th 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.