Miljanic arrived at Madrid for the 74-75 season. In the previous one, Muأ±oz had fallen after 14 years; He was replaced by Molowny, who ate the 0-5 against Cruyff’s Barأ§a, but who returned the baton after winning the Cup final precisely against Barأ§a. By then Madrid’s week was like this: Monday, rest; Tuesday, bath and massage; Wednesday, physical preparation; Thursday, game against the youth team; Friday, basketball on a field next to the club pool, and at night in the sleeping car or in the mountains if the game was in Madrid; Saturday, walk through the mountains and cinema; Sunday, game. During European match weeks (few, there was no league) we trained less and rested more.
Miljanic changed everything. He created a team that today would seem modest, but it was new, with a goalkeeping coach and a physical coach, Radisic, who imposed three daily sessions. The pain was such that some went down the stairs backwards. Tactically, Miljanic was also severe, imposing repetition training: “Hopa, hopa, other sideâ€, two touches and change of band. Mark, a before and after. Professorial with the players, friendly with the press, he gave the team a new dynamism. In the League it skyrocketed soon.
In the Cup Winners’ Cup, Red Star, Miljanic’s club, played in the quarterfinals. He joined as a child, spent his entire playing career there, was a youth coach and finally first team coach. Until Madrid had had no other home than Red Star.
The first leg was at the Bernabéu and Madrid won 2-0. The return leg was on March 19 and rumors began to spread that Miljanic would not go. The day before yesterday it was confirmed: he did not feel strong enough to go as an enemy to what was his home for 35 years. He was surprised that Barnabas allowed him to do so. The team was led by the second, Antonio Ruiz, a very competent and brave man of the house.
Miljanic asked that his reasons be understood, that he not be overwhelmed with the same question. In order not to damage his relationship with the press, he opened the doors of his house to watch the game together. There, 21 people gathered, a third of whom were Yugoslav friends and two thirds were journalists, either photographers or photographers. Large living room, small TV and slivoviأ§a for everyone. The next day all the newspapers would accompany the Belgrade chronicle with the report on that tumultuous meeting.
The screen offered from the Small Maracan (full, 106,000 spectators) an atmosphere unknown in Spain, with flares, a lot of smoke, huge flags, incessant shouting… Madrid came out daunted, but little by little they recovered. However, it did not reach the door. In the first half they conceded a goal; in the second, another, converted, another surprise, by the goalkeeper, Ognjen Petrovic. It went to extra time, in which Madrid played well, but did not score. The absence of Amancio, who was injured, was noticeable throughout the game.
The ten from the first round enter the penalties, which Del Bosque, Netzer, Aguilar, Breitner and Rubiأ±أ،n took for Madrid. You have to alternate shots, until one team gains the advantage. Djorjevic fails and it’s up to Madrid, who has qualification in their hands. Velأ،zquez, who had a great game, does not start. Benito is encouraged, he shoots to burst and the ball goes to the clouds. Now the other Petrovic, Vladimir, scores, and Santillana scores for Ognjen Petrovic, who in turn had scored his own in the round. Madrid is eliminated. The meeting at Miljanic’s house ends in a duel.
The return is difficult, because the plane cannot land that night, and the next day a return is improvised with transfers, Frankfurt-Paris-Barcelona. In Barcelona the Iberia plane carries the chronicles of the day, very harsh with Madrid and with Miljanic, whose act is highly criticized. Bernabأ©u, who was traveling in first class, reads them and becomes inflamed. He had admired the team’s work in that unknown environment (he presented a protest to UEFA) and with several serious casualties and blamed the referee for the elimination. So he goes out into the hallway, launches a rally against the reporters who had written those things (who were, of course, on the plane itself) and announces to the players that the next morning they will be able to stop by the club to collect the money. raw as if they had been classified.
