Author: Vesselin

First Division – Primera Division. Real Madrid reigned supreme. Johann Cruyff -as his name was written in Spain at the time – made his second arrival in Barcelona well known, just like his first back in 1973, but he did not have the team he wanted yet. He was unable to challenge Real Madrid at its peak, but managed to Cup Winners Cup. No other team was able to come close to the leaders. At the other end of the table – Elche was hopeless outsider. Although not as bad as Elche, Murcia was very weak too. And in the promotion/relegation play-offs two more teams lost and were relegated.

Elche – last with 15 points and relegated.
Real Murcia – 19th with 24 points and relegated.
Real Betis – 18th with 29 points. Avoided direct relegation, but went down anyway, eliminated in the promotion/relegation playoffs by Tenerife.

What an ironic twist – Espanol played at the 1987-88 UEFA Cup final, but the new season was nasty battle for survival… 17th with 30 points. And it was lost battle at the end, for Espanol was beaten by Second Division Mallorca and thus relegated. From glory to misery in one year.
Malaga survived – 16th with 33 points.
Cadiz also survived – 15th with 33 points.
Logrones – 14th with 34 points.

Sporting Gijon – 13th with 35 points.

Real Oviedo – 12th with 35 points. Ahead of Gijon on better head-to-head record.
Real Sociedad – 11th with 36 points.

Osasuna – 10th with 37 points.

Sevilla – 9th with 38 points.
Celta Vigo – 8th with 39 points.
Athletic Bilbao – 7th with 42 points.

Real Valladolid – 6th with 43 points.
Real Zaragoza – 5th with 43 points. Nasko Sirakov was the first Bulgarian player in Spain, but unfortunately he got heavy injury and practically did not play.
Atletico Madrid – 4th with 46 points.
Valencia – 3rd with 49 points. Apparently, recovered from its slump, but was unable to compete for the title.
Barcelona – 2nd with 57 points. The presence of Cruijff was immediately felt, but he did not have the team he wanted yet and Barca finished distant second. Domestic season was compensated with international success, though.

This vintage of Real Madrid was its peak and triumphed after exceptionally strong season with 62 points – leaving Barcelona 5 points behind. 25 wins, 12 ties, and only one lost match – what a record. The boys scored 91 goals, permitting 37 in their own net – clearly, attacking high scoring football was their approach under the guidance of Dutch coach Leo Beenhaker. Unlike Cruijff, Beenhaker had the players able to do what he wanted, an already made highly talented and experienced squad, particularly lethal in attack. Life was good – 4th consecutive title, 24th altogether.

Second Division – Segunda Division. The last 4 relegated to third level, the top 2 directly promoted to Primera Division, 3rd and 4th going to promotion/relegation play-offs with the 17th and the 18th in the top league. Four teams dominated the season in which there was also one terrible outsider.
CFJ Mollerussa was too weak for the league – last and out with 11 points.
UE Lleida – or Lerida – finished 19th with 26 points and was relegated.

UD Alzira – 18th with 26 points and out.
Barcelona Atletico – the second team of Barcelona – ended 17th with 28 points and was relegated. Cruyff going down? That was Jordi, the son of Johann – his father did not think him good enough for the first team quite a long time. And not only the younger Cruyff will make a name later in this squad, but the future stars were sinking to third level presently.
SD Eibar survived – 16th with 34 points.

Castilla CF – the second team of Real Madrid – did better than their rivals from Barcelona: 15th with 36 points.
Real Burgos – 14th with 36 points.
CE Sabadell FC – 13th with 39 points.
Xerez CD – 12th with 40 points.
UD Las Palmas – 11th with 40 points.
Deportivo La Coruna – 10th with 40 points. Judging by this season, Fran would stay unknown… a wrong assumption.
UE Figueres – 9th with 41 points.

Wonderful season for modest Sestao – 8th with 41 points.
UD Salamanca – 7th with 42 points.
Racing Santander – 6th with 42 points.
Recreativo Huelva – 5th with 42 points.
RCD Mallorca – 4th with 48 points and going to promotion/relegation play-offs.
CD Tenerife – 3rd with 48 points and going to promotion/relegation play-offs.
Rayo Vallecano clinched 2nd place with 49 points and was happily promoted to top flight. Lauri Cunningham was not going to suffer second level football the next season. If not playing for Real, he was still in Madrid.
CD Castellon won the championship after a tough battle – they finished with 51 points from 21 wins, 9 ties, 8 losses, and had 49-29 goal-difference. Not very impressive record, but champions anyway and promoted to First Division. Well done indeed.
The promotion/relegation play-offs opposed Espanol (17th in Primera) to Mallorca (4th in Segunda) and Real Betis (18th in Primera) to Tenerife (3rd in Segunda). The winners were going to play in Primera Division next season.
RCD Mallorca prevailed after extra time: 0-1 and 1-0, with second goal scored in the extra time. 2-1.
CD Tenerife practically eliminated Real Betis in the first leg, beating them 4-0 at home. Away, they lost 0-1, but it did not matter.
Thus, 4 Second Division teams were promoted this year: RCD Mallorca, CD Tenerife, Rayo Vallecano, and CD Castellon.
The champions of Segunda Division – CD Castellon – deserve one more picture. Good luck to them and the other promoted teams.

Spain. Ranked 4th. Excellent season for Real Madrid, which ruled Spain entirely. Barcelona was a distant rival, satisfied with European success. The two leading clubs left all others far behind. Still 2 points were given for a win.
Third Division – Segunda Division B. 4 groups of 20 teams, the winners promoted to second level.
Group 1. Solitary leader.
As Pontes finished 7th with 43 points.
Pontevedra was 6th with 43 points.
Bilbao Athletic won the group with 59 points, leaving the next pursuer Barakaldo 8 points behind. 26 wins, 7 ties, 5 losses, 74-27 goal-difference. The second team of Athletic Bilbao earned promotion to Second Division.
Group 2. Two teams competed for promotion – kind of.
Arnedo finished 17th with 32 points and was among the three relegated teams. Tough luck.
Palamos won the championship with 59 points and was promoted: 23 wins, 13 ties, 2 losses, 70-30 goal-difference. They left FC Andorra, their only challenger, 5 points behind.
Group 3. Tough race between 4 teams and 1 point difference decided the champion.
Cordoba finished 13th with 35 points.
Tomelloso ended 5th with 46 points.
Badajoz, Sevilla Atletico, Linares, and Atletico Madrileno battled for top position. At the end Badajoz was 4th with 49 points, Linares 3rd with 51 points, and Sevilla Atletico – 2nd also with 51 points.
Atletico Madrileno – the second team of Atletico Madrid – prevailed with 52 points from 21 wins, 10 ties, 7 losses, and 78-40 goal-difference, and won the championship and promotion.
Group 4. No rivalry for the first place – one team dominated this group.
Weak season for Algeciras – 18th with 27 points and one of the relegated teams.
Granada – almost went down: 16th with 32 points.
Villareal – 4th with 45 points.
Levante was too strong for the opponents and won the championship comfortably: 25 wins, 9 ties, 4 losses, 66-29, and 59 points. They Ceuta, the nearest pursuer, 11 points behind.
Thus, Bilbao Athletic, Palamos, Atletico Madrileno, and Levante were going to play in the Second Division the next season.

The Cups – Rangers reached both finals and had great chance to make a treble and prove that they had no rival in Scotland. At the League Cup final they faced Aberdeen, the closest rival in the current championship, and prevailed 3-2.
Aberdeen put a good fight, but eventually lost to classier opponent.
This was the first trophy Rangers won this season and early at that (October 23rd, 1988), so confidence was boosted and ambition growing. And European problems were also shown… this was the regular starting eleven, made of 6 Englishmen.
Half a year later, in May 1989, Rangers faced their arch-enemy Celtic at the FA Cup final. By now they had one Cup in their hands and the title was practically in their hands as well, and Celtic had inferior team… but Celtic won 1-0.
Glasgow Rangers failed to win a treble. No big deal, apart from the bitter taste of losing to the arch-enemy.
Celtic clearly had rough time – Roy Aitken was practically the only star in the team, which compared to Rangers’ selection was nothing, but sometimes one great player and plenty of ambition (and what better motivation than beating Rangers!) was enough. More than a Cup was clearly not up to this squad, but still they finished the season with a trophy.
May be Rangers stabbed themselves with the great mistake giving the scoring opportunity to Miller, but the cold fact is that Celtic scored and Rangers did not.
Celtic fought bravely as ever and at the end triumphed to the delight of their fans.

Scottish Premier – the top league. 10 teams playing 4 times against each other, the last one relegated. Well… the rest was Glasgow Rangers.
Hamilton Academicals – last and relegated with 14 points. The winners of second level in the previous were now hopeless outsiders.
Motherwell – 9th with 27 points.
Dundee – 8th with 28 points.
St. Mirren – 7th with 29 points.
Hearts of Midlothian – 6th with 31 points.
Hibernian – 5th with 35 points.
Dundee United – 4th with 44 points.
Celtic – 3rd with 46 points.
Aberdeen – 2nd with 50 points.
Glasgow Rangers – practically unchallenged champions with 56 points from 26 wins, 4 ties, 6 losses, and 62-26 goal-difference. Graeme Souness did excellent job, but it was noticed that he used quite liberally the chequebook – of course, he felt right to do so, because Rangers wanted success and that meant spending money and buying classy players. Domestic success was even smaller part of the ambitious project: international success was the real aim, which naturally supposed domestic success in order of reaching and concurring Europe. Thus, Rangers under Souness reversed the traditional flow – instead of selling Scottish stars to English clubs, they were buying English top players and grumbling along the way that the Scottish league was too weak for them. Which was true, so buying bug English names was also seen as waste of money. So far, Rangers was getting what they wanted and concurring Europe was becoming possible, but UEFA suddenly hit hard Rangers by introducing stiffer requirements for foreign-born players – and Rangers was exceeding the new limits. For they had 7 English players this season: Chris Woods (30 years old), Terry Butcher (31), Mel Sterland (28), Gary Stevens (26), Mark Walters (26), Ray Wilkins (33), and Kevin Drinkell (29). Six of them were regulars, that is half of the team and the very skeleton of it, and 3 (Woods, Butcher, and Stevens) were current English national team players. Add 2 more Northern Irish – Jimmy Nicholl (34) and Johnny Morrow (18) – and Rangers had way too many foreigners without much room to play around the new UEFA regulations. Yet, Souness still added one more big name at the beginning of the season – Andy Gray (34), luckily, he was Scottish, but it was clear that the regular line would not be able to play in Europe – and what could be the point of trying to organize two similarly strong sides: one for domestic use and another for international? Anyhow, at the moment Souness had very strong team with reliable reserves and at least at home dominated.

Scotland. Ranked 5th. Glasgow Rangers time… their ambitious project was based entirely on money. Spending like crazy and buying English players. In the long term, it was their doom. Still 2 points for a win, the teams in the lower divisions played 3 times against each other and the teams in the top league – 4 times.
Scottish Division 2 – third level. As ever, 2 teams promoted, none relegated. In brief:
Arbroath finished 10th with 37 points.
Queen’s Park – 7th with 38 points.
A bit of battle for second place – Brechin City lost it by 2 points, ending 3rd with 43 points.
Alloa Athletic clinched 2nd place with 45 points and was promoted to second level.
Albion Rovers won the championship with confidence: 21 wins, 8 ties, 10 losses, 65-48 goal-difference and 50 points. It was great and may be even surprising success, for they were 12th of 14 teams in the previous season. Now they were promoted up.
Scottish Division 1 – second level.
Queen of the South finished last with 10 points and was relegated. They had 2 points deducted for a breach of the rules, but even with full record they were too weak and going down.

Kilmarnock was the other relegated team – 13th with 34 points. Unfortunate, for they went down only on worse goal-difference and that by a single goal, but Kilmarnock was not doing well in the last few years, so relegation was inevitable.
Clyde survived with 34 points and one goal better goal-difference. Lucky 12th.
Ayr United also survived – 11th with 35 points.
Meadowbank Thistle – 10th with 36 points.
Forfar Athletic – 9th with 36 points.
Partick Thistle – 8th with 37 points.
Raith Rovers – 7th with 40 points.
St. Johnstone – 6th with 40 points.
Greenock Morton – 5th with 41 points.
Airdrieonians – tried to climb back to top flight, but eventually fell back: 4th with 47 points.
Clydebank – one more team trying to go up, but eventually losing steam: 3rd with 48 points. They scored most goals in the league – 80.
Falkirk – solid season, ending with success: 2nd with 52 points.
Dunfermline Athletic managed to prevail over all rivals: 22 wins, 10 ties, 7 losses, 60-36 goal-difference and 54 points. They were just relegated from the Premier and did not want to stay in the second level at all.
Of course, they had every right to celebrate – champions and moving up!

The Cup final provided an opportunity to Benfica for a double – their opponent, although city rival, was not particularly serious challenger: Belenenses. However, ambition cannot be underestimated easily – the final was still a Lisbon derby, Belenenses was on ascent… and they surprised Benfica by beating them 2-1.
Benfica lost the Cup final and had to be satisfied with one trophy this season. In any case, they won the more important championship.
Belenenses triumphed and it was more than pleasant victory of the underdog: after a very, very long decline, Belenenses was seemingly on ascent, possibly restoring its leading position… in time. This was their 3rd Cup, but they won a trophy for a first time since 1959-60,when they won their 2nd Cup. Reduced to insignificant third club of Lisbon, now they claimed better place in the ranks of Portuguese football. Not ready yet for much, but boosted by success, everything was possible. So were the hopes of blue fans. The triumph was due to two coaches: Brazilian Mario Marinho (remembered as a central defender of Brazil at the 1974 World Cup, now 42 years old) took the helm in August, 1987, but in December, 1988 well respected in Portugal Englishman, John Mortimore (55) was signed as well and it seems the two foreigners worked in tandem all the way to winning the Cup (and both left the club in June, 1989). Of course, Belenenses could not compete financially with Benfica and their players were modest compared to what Benfica had – thus, the victory was even sweeter. No matter what, winners deserve to be known and here is the squad: goalkeepers – Jorge Martins (35 years old), Justino (29), Rui Valentin (22). Defense: Baidek (Brazil, 29), Galo (28), Carlos Ribeiro (25), Rui Gregorio (21), Sobrinho (28), Teixeira (Angola, 25), Ze Mario (Brazil, 30). Midfield: Adao (29), Delei (30), Dudu (Brazil, 29), Goncalves (22), Jaime Merces (26), Jorge Silva (25), Jose Antonio (32), Juanico (31), Macae (Brazil, 25), Paulo Monteiro (25). Strikers: Chico Faria (25), Chiquinho Conde (Mozambique, 24), Stoycho Mladenov (Bulgaria, 32), Paulo Sergio (21), Saavedra (Angola, 27).
Nothing like Benfica… it could be argued that their most famous name was coach Mario Marinho… The best known player was Stoycho Mladenov and that largely from the early 1980s, when playing for impressive in Europe CSKA (Sofia). And for the Bulgarian national team, of course, with which he played at the 1986 World Cup finals. But he was 32 years old already… Chiquinho Conde was just making his name. Add Brazilians Baidek and Ze Mario, who achieved some international recognition with their previous club, Gremio, and that was all… Again, modesty makes victory greater and sweeter. As for the future… Belenenses needed serious and massive additions if wanting to play key role and that meant money, and money… they did not have much. So, once again – sweet victory, for most likely success would not come again.

First Division. A 20-team league evidently was overstretching – 2 teams were way to strong for the rest and half the league was practically fighting for survival. So, the Federation decided to decrease it from 20 to 18 teams next season. Thus, 5 teams were relegated. Benfica dominated the season, one team was hopeless outsider, another 9 were involved in the battle for avoiding relegation. It was also the time when Bulgarian players were the choice of import of Portuguese clubs (apart from Brazilians, Angolans and Mozambiqueans, who were almost domestic players) – next season will be 20 Bulgarians playing for Portuguese clubs.
Academico Viseu was too weak – last with 19 points and out.
Leixoes – 19the with 28 points and relegated.
Farense – 18th with 31 points and relegated. Former Bulgarian international Tzvetan Danov went down along with his teammates.
Espinho – 17th with 32 points and relegated.
Fafe – 16th with 32 points and relegated as well.
Beira Mar survived – 15th with 33 points.
Penafiel – 14th with 33 points.
Chaves – 13th with 34 points. More Bulgarians here – Radoslav Zdravkov and the winner of the Golden shoe Georgi Slavkov. Both aged…
Maritimo – 12th with 35 points.
Portimonense – 11th with 35 points. The import of arguably the most exciting Bulgarian player of the earlier 1980s, Plamen Guetov, did not help much.
Nacional – 10th with 36 points. With them ends the large group battling only for survival this season.
Vitoria Guimaraes – 9th with 38 points.
Estrella Amadora – 8th with 39 points.

Belenenses – 7th with 40 points.
Sporting Braga – 6th with 40 points.
Vitoria Setubal – 5th with 42 points.
Sporting Lisbon – 4th with 45 points. Having three very well known stars – Oceano, the Uruguayan goalkeeper Rodolfo Rodrgues, and Brazil’s Silas – was not enough for more.
Boavista – 3rd with 49 points. Very satisfying season, but distant third…
FC Porto, talented as it was, left the rest of the league far behind, yet, in the same time they were unable to challenge Benfica. 2nd with 56 points.
Benfica reigned supreme: 27 wins, 9 ties, only 2 lost games, 60-15 goal-difference, 63 points. They left FC Porto 7 points behind and celebrated their 28th title. It was formidable squad,coached by former star Toni, now 43 years old and much talked about coach around Europe. Two players, who played with him and also with Eusebio, were the link between the good team in the first half of the 1970s and the great one of the 1960s: the goalkeeper Bento (now 41 years old) and midfielder Sheu (36). Two othwer players related this squad with the previous vintage, when the decline started in the 1970s was halted in the early 1980s: Diamantino (30) and Chalana (30). The rest of the team was quite strong as well: four more goalkeepers – current regular Silvinho (30), Bizarro (29), Brassard (Mozambique, 17) and Dias Graca (Brazil, 25). Defenders: Abel Silva (20), Alvaro (28), Antonio Veloso (32), Fonseca (24), Jose Garrido (29), Mozer (Brazil, 29), Ricardo Gomes (Brazil, 25), and Samuel (23).
Midfield: along with Sheu, Chalana, and Diamantino, Benfica had Ademir Alcantara (Brazil, 23), Elzo (Brazil, 28), Hernani (26), Mariano (21), Miranda (26), Pacheco (23), Valdo (Brazil, 25), and Vitor Paneira (23).
And in attack: Abel Campos (Angola, 27), Lima (Brazil, 27), Mats Magnusson (Sweden, 26), Ricky Owubokiri (Nigeria, 28), and Vata (Angola, 28).
Certainly a squad capable of serious football and success – after all, they played at the European Champions Cup final in 1988 and lost it only in the penalty shoot-out.

Portugal. Ranked 6th. The season was dominated by Benfica, but there was another very promising sign from a club, seen in big decline for years. Portugal still used classic 2-point for a win system.
Second Division – divided as usual into 3 zones of 18 teams each. The zone winners were directly promoted, the last 5 teams – directly relegated, and at the end the three zone champions played between themselves for the Second Division title.
Zona Norte. One team dominated the championship.
Salgueiros finished 11th with 34 points.
Vizela – 9th with 35 points.
Pacos de Ferreira – 8th with 37 points.
Felgueiras – 7th with 37 points.
Varzim – 6th with 38 points.
Rio Ave – 4th with 41 points.
Freamunde – 2nd with 43 points. A distant second, not really contesting the top place.
Wonderful season for Tirsense – they won the championship without any trouble with 50 points. 20 wins, 10 ties, 4 losses, 56-23 goal-difference. Well deserved promotion to First Division.
Zona Centro. Two teams competed for top position.
Estrela Portalegre ended in the relegation zone – 17th with 20 points – and went down to third level.
Their local rivals did much better – Portalegrense finished 11th with 31 points.
Caldas ended 8th with 36 points.
Covilha – 6th with 38 points.
Uniao de Lamas – 5th with 40 points.
Agueda – 3rd with 44 points. Top row from left: Eduardo, Rui Ferreira, François, Paulo Sérgio, João Luís, Jorge, Palecas, NN, Gabriel I, Adolfo, Hernâni.
Middle row: Rogério Matias, Castanheira (roupeiro/condutor), Caetano Coelho (massagista), Paulo César, Gabriel II, Paulo, Carlos Janeiro, Augusto Semedo (treinador), Rui, António Augusto, Gabriel III, Elói, Canas, Chaves, Barros.
Sitting: Coelho, Gabriel IV, Jean, Miguel, José Augusto, Raúl, Chula, Morais, Rogério, Mico, Alexandre.
Academica Coimbra lost the battle for promotion – 2nd with 52 points. Standing from left: Vítor Nóvoa, João Mendes, Mito, Dimas, Eldon, Reinaldo. Front: Tomás, Barry, Rolão, Rubens Feijão, Mota.
Feirense clinched 1st place with 54 points from 23 wins, 8 ties, 3 losses and 69-18 goal-difference. Wonderful victory, leading to promotion to top flight.
Zona Sul. Two teams fought for first place like in Zona Centro.
Montijo was one of the relegated teams – 17th with 24 points.
Esperanca Lagos – 16th with 25 points and relegated.

Silves escaped relegation only on better head-to-head record with unfortunate Oriental (which had better goal-difference, but it counted only if head-to-head record was even) – 13th with 30 points.
Lusitano de Evora – 12th with 31 points.

Barreirense – 11th with 33 points.

Alverca – 8th with 35 points.
Torreense – 5th with 38 points.
Olhanense – 4th with 38 points.
O Elvas – 3rd with 43 points.
Very strong season for Louletano, but they lost the race for top place – 2nd with 47 points.
Uniao da Madeira prevailed over Louletano by 2 points and was the group champion with 49 points: 20 wins, 9 ties, 5 losses, 54-22 goal-difference. Well earned promotion.
The championship final between the zonal champions – 2-leg round-robin play-offs.
Feirense finished last with 3 points. Tirsense – 2nd with 4 points.
Uniao da Madeira won the play-offs with 5 points: 2 wins, 1 tie, 1 loss, 4-3 goal-difference. They were the champions of Second Division this season. Of course, this was only a final for Second Division title- all participants were already promoted to First Division as zonal winners.

The Cup final was exact copy of the previous year final: Anderlecht vs Standard 2-0.
Standard Liege lost second Cup final in a row, which was demoralizing. But the team they had presently was not as good as the one of few years back and Standard was actually slipping down – a win could have stopped the decline… alas, they lost.
Anderlecht won second Cup in a row, increasing their total to 7 Cups. They lost the championship, so the Cup was worthy consolation. The squad was not as great as some previous vintages, but still arguably the strongest in Belgium: Raymond Goethals at the helm. National team regulars Munaron, Grun, Lozano, Vervoort and young bright striker Luc Nilis. Fresh European champion Adrie van Tiggelen from Holland, the Yugoslav Milan Yankovic, who played for Real Madrid before joining Anderlecht, the Australian national team player Edi Krncevic, the Icelandic star Arnor Gudjohnsen, Dane Hendrik Andersen, and an African who was to become well known name around the world Stephen Keshi. This team did not finish the season without a trophy, but… the title was not theirs.