The Cup final opposed Crvena zvezda to Dinamo. Naturally, a great clash: the rivalry between Serbians and Croatians, between Belgrade and Zagreb, spiced by additional desire to win a trophy when the title was clearly out of their reach. May be not great football, but it was tense and highly contested final. It ended without a winner: 1-1. In the replay Crvena zvezda extracted 2-1 victory. Dinamo lost.
Given the gravity of the final, what kind of squads the rivals had is unimportant. Yet, Dinamo was a bit weaker team and perhaps that mattered at the end. Top row from left: Kobescak, Mlinaric, Arslanovic, Dzeko, Arnautovic, Juric, Lulic, Susak
Middle row: Cupan, Maric, Rumora, Istvanic, Cerin, Dragan Bosnjak, Stojic, Cvjetkovic
Sitting: Branko Bosnjak, Munjakovic, Petrovic, Ivic – coach, Bogdan, Borislav Cvetkovic, Zvezdan Cvetkovic.
Ivic did what he could with the squad as it was, but apart from Mlinaric and Maric nobody else was at his prime – the Cvetkovic brothers and Dzeko were too young, others seemingly reached the limits of their potential and could go no further. Tiny loss, by single goal, but a loss.
Crvena zvezda clinched the victory and won its 11th Cup. If anything, the season was saved and it was firmly established that the 1970s, when Crvena zvezda was practically unable to win the Cup, were not going to be repeated – this was already the 2nd Cup Crvena zvezda won in the 80s. As for the squad, it was great that the boys could win, but it was largely due to willpower. True, the leading players of Crvena zvezda were more than those of Dinamo and slightly better too, but talented recruits were badly needed.