In bygone years, Soviet teams played in the finals of European tournaments only four times. Although our club football was always rated quite highly, and the USSR championship was among the five or six best in the Old World. But in European cups, domestic teams were somehow fatally unlucky. And the favorite tournament for the USSR was the Cup Winners' Cup, to which, in fact, all our international successes were limited.
In the 1972 final, Moscow's Dynamo, whose ranks were defended by Ukrainian footballer Yozhef Sabo, lost to Scotland's Rangers - 2:3. In 1975, another Dynamo - Kyiv's - defended the honor of our championship and dealt with Hungary's Ferencváros without much trouble - 3:0. In 1981, the hour came for another Dynamo club - from Tbilisi, which in the decisive match defeated the GDR representative - Carl Zeiss from Jena (2:1). And in 1986, the Kyivans achieved another victory, routing Madrid's Atlético in the final - 3:0.
Here, perhaps, we can add two attempts to win the UEFA Super Cup (this trophy was played between the winners of the Champions Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup), one of which - in '75 against Munich's Bayern - Kyiv Dynamo converted, and the second - in '86 against Bucharest's Steaua - did not.
Since then, clubs from the former Soviet republics, which after the collapse of the USSR gained much more opportunities to perform in European tournaments, can only dream of success. And the greatest chance to win one of the European cups in the spring of 1999 was missed by Kyiv Dynamo. In the Champions League semifinal, the team failed to beat Bayern, which was quite within their power, and stopped two steps short of triumph. In that Dynamo, by the way, the current winners - Shevchenko and Kaladze - also played. How long they were going to their victory!
In the 2003 final match, in which Milan's opponent was another Italian club - Juventus, Andrei Shevchenko and Kakha Kaladze spent all 120 minutes on the field, and then took part in the post-match penalty shootout. Kaladze did not convert his attempt, but Shevchenko, who was given the right to take the decisive kick, did not miss at the most crucial moment. "I was absolutely calm, and when I scored, at first I didn't even understand that it was all over and we had won the Champions League. I am very happy for my club, for my teammates, for the fans. We worked hard all season, and it brought results."
The Georgian defender playing for Milan was more emotional in a conversation with journalists after the match: "This is my first victory in a serious tournament. I am happy! Juventus, and especially goalkeeper Buffon, were magnificent, but we still turned out to be better!"
Interestingly, Andrei Shevchenko has every chance to become the best footballer in Europe at the end of the year and receive the very prestigious "Golden Ball". He has already taken the first steps in this direction - he led Milan to the Champions League final, played well in the decisive match and converted the penalty that ultimately brought victory to the "red-blacks".
Now Andrei should concentrate on performances for the Ukrainian national team and help it reach the final tournament of the European Championship, which will take place next year in Portugal. And also - productively play the first half of the new Italian championship and score more often in the new Champions League season. In that case, the Ukrainian, who was third in the poll twice, will have practically no real competitors in the race for the "Golden Ball"...
But let us return to the achievements of our footballers in European tournaments. Individual achievements, since, as we have already noted, team ones came to us for the last time in 1986. That is, the only chance to win something serious in European club football was presented only on the condition of moving to a foreign club. Moreover, not just to a club, but to a serious team capable of big victories.
Unfortunately, our footballers were not often in demand among the leaders of their national championships. Moreover, one thing is to win in one's own country, and quite another is to win international trophies. Although at first it might have seemed that everything would be fine for our legionnaires. At least, after in early May 1990, Turin's Juventus with Ukrainian Alexander Zavarov and Belarusian Sergei Aleinikov in the lineup won the UEFA Cup (however, only Aleinikov participated in the final matches against Fiorentina, but Zavarov also contributed to the overall victory - he scored along the way to the final). And even more so after, at the end of 1990, in the UEFA Super Cup matches (unfortunately lost to Milan), as part of Italian Sampdoria, Ukrainian Alexei Mikhailichenko not only played "from start to finish," but also scored a goal.
The next year, the winner of the UEFA Super Cup was a native of Kirovograd, Andrei Kanchelskis, who played 90 minutes as part of English Manchester United in the victorious match against Belgrade's Red Star. It seemed there were no prerequisites for ending this series. But it broke off. And for a long time. The brief participation in the 1995 Super Cup match as part of Amsterdam's Ajax of Andrei Demchenko, a product of Zaporizhzhia football, looks like an accident from today's perspective.
And now - a real breakthrough! The year 2003 was marked by the triple success of our compatriots - former and current. Russian Dmitri Alenichev and his Portuguese Porto won the UEFA Cup against Scottish Celtic, and Milan with the already mentioned Shevchenko and Kaladze completed the overall winning picture. This list could have been longer, but Lithuanian forward Edgaras Yankasuuskas was injured shortly before the UEFA Cup final and did not appear in the Porto lineup.
Now here's what's interesting. Will this winning streak of our footballers on the international stage have a continuation? And how soon will this continuation come?
Toward the end of the year, Milan is to play a UEFA Super Cup match and also an Intercontinental Cup match. Consequently, the collection of Shevchenko and Kaladze or Alenichev may be further expanded. And they themselves have every chance of becoming the most decorated footballers in the post-Soviet space. Moreover, their age allows both to look to the future with hope that the happy moments, like those they experienced last Wednesday on the field of Manchester's "Old Trafford", will return to them again.