Spartak has made fans endure many traumatic episodes over the past decades. Several collapses of the team, 1:18 in the Champions League group stage, 0:7 from Liverpool, shameful departures from Kosice, AEK, PAOK, St. Gallen and other European basement. However, the main pain in the hearts of the fans remains the return semi-final of the Cup Winners' Cup — 1992/93 with the Belgian «Antwerp». Dreams of the first European Cup final for the club were trampled down 15 minutes before the end of the meeting. Sport recalls the heaviest defeat of Spartak.
The draw tested the “red-whites” for strength throughout the tournament. Liverpool with Ian Rush, young and talented Jamie Redknapp and Steve McManaman in the 1/8 finals, a very strong Feyenoord, who became the champion of the Netherlands in the spring of 1993, in the quarter-finals. Muscovites overcame both obstacles — 2:0 and 4:2 with the British, 1:0 and 3:1 against the Dutch. In the semi-final «Spartak» could expect Madrid «Atletico» or the most powerful Italian «Parma» Nevio Scala. However, the Muscovites were lucky. «Antwerp»? We were waiting for him, «Sport-Express wrote the morning after the draw.
Although Romantsev asked the team not to relax and prepare more seriously for the Belgians, there were practically no doubts in the final at Wembley for Spartak. Even despite a number of factors. Card busting from Viktor Onopko (missed the first match with Antwerp), disqualification of Fedor Cherenkov (brawl with the Dutchman at the end of the game with Feyenoord), a long winter hibernation, from which the Muscovites were only moving away, and the inability to declare newcomers Yuri to the European Cup Nikiforov and Ilya Tsymbalar. And the Belgians behaved as if the semi-finals were the ultimate desire. Head coach Walter Meuvs said that in Moscow the team would be satisfied with a 1:1 draw.
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«Our leader Alex Chernyatinsky is a bit Russian, because his uncle, a Pole, lived all his life in Siberia «If he doesn't score, then we'll send him back. If he scores, Spartak will send him there,» the Antwerp players joked.The quality of football in the performance of «Spartacus» in the first match upset. However, the result was acceptable — 1:0.
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«In Belgium, the opponent will open up, there will be more goals,» Valery Karpin noted, chiding himself for an unsuccessful game. «Our attack is two bad matches does not conduct in a row!»
Unfortunately, Karpin's calculation turned out to be incorrect. In the next game, «Spartak» really sold out and scored five goals. Only not to Antwerp, but to Asmaral near Moscow in the national championship. In a match with the Belgians a few days later, the attack of the “red-whites” again looked unconvincing, and the defense made more effective mistakes than the Portuguese referee Jorge Monteiro Coraodo. Romantsev's plans were also hampered by injuries. After a quick goal against the hosts, the hero of the episode, Dmitry Radchenko, needed a replacement, Dmitry Popov flew out a little earlier. Onopko, Andrey Pyatnitsky and Nikolay Pisarev were on the yellow cards.Equivalent players from «Spartacus» was not found. The trip to Belgium was missed by Vladimir Beschastnykh, who received the mythical «yellow card» in the Moscow game. He became the second for the football player — automatic disqualification. Cherenkov's punishment was still in effect.
In the first half, the same Chernyatinsky caught a rebound from Andrey Chernyshov's back and equalized the score. In the 64th minute, Dragan Yakovlevich put the Belgians ahead, and then there was an episode that has been discussed for 30 years.
Chernyatinsky fell in the penalty area of Spartak, the referee did not immediately stop the game, but then pointed to the point and drove Onopko off the field. At the same time, Viktor Savelyevich was not even close to the opponent. The real culprit of the episode, Andrey Ivanov, remained on the field.
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“We ourselves were very surprised when the referee awarded a penalty. I remember how the guys asked each other, what happened? After the game, I heard that Chernya was elbowed in the face, but I know him well. He probably provoked the defender somehow. He was good at that! — said in an interview with the Belgian media player «Antwerp» Rudy Tayemans.
After the penalty kick realized by Antwerp, there were still 15 minutes left, but Spartak, even in equal compositions, looked unimportant. Without two key midfield players (Onopko, Popov) and the best striker (Radchenko), it was impossible to come up with something interesting.
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"I just pushed him — didn't hit him, but pushed him. And he lay down on the field and began to writhe in pain,» Ivanov justified himself after the match. Pisarev admitted that he would like to forget The second half is like a bad dream. Most of all, Andrey Pyatnitsky lamented after the defeat. With the score 1:2, he had a chance to score the second goal of Spartak, but the Belgian goalkeeper hit the ball with the tip of his foot. If the Muscovites midfielder had been a little more precise, there would have been no need to invent stories about conspiracies.
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"The rumors were different. There will be a final in London, people are already preparing there. And who will go from Russia? And who could then go? They will come from Belgium. There was a task to be (in the final) «Antwerp». But I do not relieve myself (guilt). We didn't get in the best shape. I made unsuccessful replacements, released a man, but it was necessary to Ramiz Mammadov,» Romantsev recalled 30 years later in an interview with Leonid Slutsky.
The Belgians themselves believe that the secret of a successful game against Spartak is not the judges, but the mood of the team. The same Tayemans compared Muscovites with Barcelona for their ability to play a pass. It was important for his partners to loosen up so as not to burn out. They chose a very unusual way.
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"Before the semi-finals, we went to a Russian restaurant in Antwerp, had a good walk there. We were allowed to throw glasses at the wall with all our strength after drinking a glass, so that they would break. We then returned home drunk, but it turns out that this was what helped in the game with the Russians. I watched that match, probably 30 times. I enjoy it every time,” the Antwerp player recalled. whether any of the players and fans of Spartak mastered the replay of the broadcast at least once. Here are the frames from that match.