Cup Winners Cup continued to suffer: the tournament was constantly losing people’s interest, because the teams were weaker and there was no way to change that. This season the stronger clubs were few: Valencia, Roma, Feyenoord, Celtic, West Ham United, Benfica, and Fortuna Dusseldorf. The favourites were expected to go far easily and one of them to win, but none was particularly strong leading European club at the moment. Predictions were quickly destroyed: Celtic and Roma were eliminated in the first round. Celtic lost on away goal to Romanian Politehnica (Timisoara) and may have been unlucky, but Roma won its opening home match 3-0 and was seen as sure winner. Their East German opponent Carl Zeiss (Jena) managed incredible come back in the second leg, destroying the Italians 4-0. Two favourites out after the first round and in the second they were three – Carl Zeiss again was destroyer, this time of the reigning cup holder Valencia. Carl Zeiss took big advantage at home – 3-1 – and Valencia, not the most exciting team anyway, managed to win only 1-0 at home, so they were eliminated. Two more casualties in the ¼ finals: one was inevitable, for the draw paired Fortuna and Benfica. Benfica managed to end the opening match in Dusseldorf 2-2 and improved on their small advantage at home, beating the West Germans 1-0. Meantime West Ham United faced Dinamo (Tbilisi) . The Soviets were good, and the English hardly at their best, but English clubs ruled European football in the recent years and West Ham was expected to win. What a surprise: Dinamo thrashed them 4-1 in London. The second leg was more or less mere protocol – West Ham won, but only 1-0 and was out. Feyenoord had an easy draw – Slavia (Sofia). They lost the first match in Bulgaria 2-3, but there were no worries: two away goals favoured the Dutch and they won confidently in Rotterdam 4-0. One thing to keep in mind from this clash: Feyenoord discovered Slavia’s striker and captain Andrey Zhelyazkov and few years later bought him. Arguably, Zhelyazkov became the biggest and most successful Bulgarian transfer of the 1980s – he played well for Feyenoord and after that for two other West European clubs. Cral Zeiss had the easiest draw at this stage: Newport County from Wales. After playing against Roma and Valencia, this opponent should have been a leisurely walk in the par, but instead happened to be the most difficult challenge Carl Zeiss faced. Newport extracted a 2-2 draw in Jena and Carl Zeiss had to win the second match – they did with difficulties, a measly 1-0.
The draw for the semi-finals practically spelled out the finalists: Carl Zeiss vs Benfica and Dinamo Tbilisi vs Feyenoord. So, Benfica and Feyenoord would meet at the final… it was not to be: the East European teams got strong leads after their opening home games. Carl Zeiss won 2-0 and Dinamo – 3-0. The Westerners were unable to come back – they won at home, but both teams fell a goal short: Benfica won 1-0 and Feyenoord 2-0. All favourites were eliminated – usually a victory of the underdogs are nice and pleasant surprise, but not this time: it was just one more nail in the coffin of the Cup Winners Cup. The final in Dusseldorf was going to be played practically without audience: Soviet and East German fans were not allowed to travel to the West and neutral public was not going either – neither finalist attracted foreign viewers. Two very small and carefully selected groups came from USSR and DDR and this final one of the least attended in the history of the tournament with 9000 attendees – only the 1964 final between Sporting (Lisbon) and MTK (Budapest) was attended by less, 3000 people. It was inevitable: Eastern European countries did not allow people to travel abroad and little known clubs did not attract Westerners. As a result, the final became the forgotten one – few paid attention at the time and even fewer remember it today. Which is ironic, because the final was lively and entertaining. Both teams were unable to field their best lines: Dinamo’s captain Shota Khinchagashvili was suspended for yellow cards received in the previous games and Carl Zeiss had two starters injured – Konrad Weise and Martin Trocha. There were fears that three more Georgians would not be able to play because of injuries and sickness – Sulakvelidze, Chivadze, and Gabelia – but the team doctor managed to get them on their feet. The opponents were quite different in their making and style: the East Germans depended on well established veterans, well known for their play for the national team of DDR – Grapentin (37 years old), Vogel (38), Kurbjuweit (30), Lindemann (31). They were very disciplined and fit squad, dedicated to attacking football, but a bit predictable. In defense, they employed personal marking, which was risky approach. Dinamo Tbilisi was slightly younger and much more exciting team, lead a great midfielder – David Kipiani. As a team, Dinamo was at its peak, playing fast attacking football. The Georgians were very skillful, creative and loved to improvise – a team difficult to beat and full of Soviet national team players (Kipiani, Chivadze, Sulakvelidze, Shengelia, Daraselia, Gutzaev, Gabelia). Observers favoured Dinamo, but not by much. It was not expected to be attractive game, which happened to wrong – whoever watch the final was pleasantly surprised by the fast, open, attacking match, full of scoring chances. At first the Germans pushed ahead and slightly dominated the match for 30 minutes. Eventually Dinamo equalized the game and had the upper hand to the end, but not for a moment there was big dominance of one team. Both goalkeepers were busy and made great saves. Carl Zeiss pressured the Georgians, but they were more dangerous on counter-attacks, thanks to their technicality and creativity. To a point, Carl Zeiss suffered from their defensive scheme – personal marking did not work well against imaginative and very skillful players. The Germans had problems when their attacks were broken – gaps opened, which immediately were used by the Georgians for dangerous counter-attacks. No wonder Grapentin was the best German player – the collective approach did not allow to any field player to shine. On the other side Shengelia, Daraselia, Gutzaev shined with their quick improvisations and Kipiani was clearly the star of the game.
Almost no pictorial material exists from this final – no wonder, for the picture shows the empty stands. Time was running and there was no goal – both goalkeepers were outstanding. The first goal was scored in the second half, when Dinamo was clearly the stronger – but the goal was in their net. In the 63rd minute the central defender of Carl Zeiss Hoppe scored wonderful goal. Dinamo equalized 4 minutes later – one more excellent goal, thanks to Gutzaev. In the 87th minute they scored again – Daraselia was the hero this time.
Everybody celebrates the second goal and scorer Daraselia cannot be seen. Three minutes were not enough for any change – there was no extra time. Dinamo won and rightly so – they were the better team and it was only just. Carl Zeiss played well and had their chances, but Dinamo deserved the victory and got it. The second all-East European final ended as the first one: the Soviet club won.
Final, Rheinstadion, Dusseldorf, 13 May 1981, att 9000
Dynamo Tbilisi (0) 2 Carl Zeiss Jena (0) 1
63′ 0-1 C: Hoppe
67′ 1-1 D: Gutsayev
86′ 2-1 D: Daraselia
Dynamo Tbilisi: Gabelia; Kostava, Chivadze, Khisanishvili, Tavadze; Svanadze
(Kakilashvili), Sulakvelidze, Daraselia; Gutsayev, Kipiani, Shengelia
Carl Zeiss Jena: Grapenthin; Brauer, Kurbjuweit, Schnuphase, Schilling; Hoppe (Övermann), Krause, Lindemann; Bielau (Töpfer), Raab, Vogel.
Captain Chivadze lifts the Cup Winners Cup.
Happy Georgians, no matter the empty stadium.
Tamaz Kostava, one of the lesser known players, proudly poses with the cup.
David Kipiani, the genius midfielder, with the cup – perhaps the most deserving player.
Worthy finalists, standing from left: Eberhard Vogel, Jurgen Raab, Andreas Bielau, Rudiger Schnuphase, Gerhard Hoppe, Hans-Ulrich Grapentin, Lothar Kurbjuweit.
First row: Wolfgang Shilling, Lutz Lindemann, Gerd Brauer, Andreas Krause.
Surprise finalists, but Carl Zeiss (Jena) were one of the three best East German teams in the 1970s. To a point, this was their swan song – the key players were getting too old: Grapentin, Vogel, Weise, Lindemann, Kurbjuweit. To a point, the team already reached its peak a few years back. But it was a team full of national team players, including 5 members of the 1974 World Cup team – perhaps the best squad DDR ever had. Currently, 6 players were members of the national team – Grapentin, Schnuphase, Brauer, Lindemann, Kurbjuweit, and Bielau. Jurgen Raab was rapidly becoming the next generation star and would be constant member of the national team in the 1980s. Strong team, no doubt, but just a bit over the hill and may be too disciplined for its own good. Carl Zeiss played very well at the final and had a chance to win, but they were slightly weaker than Dinamo.
New Cup winners, standing from left: V. Daraselia, A. Chivadze, D. Kipiani, N. Khizanishvili, A. Andguladze, T. Sulakvelidze, V. Zhvania, G. Tavadze.
Crouching: V. Gutzaev, R. Shengelia, O. Gabelia, Z. Svanadze, N. Kakilashvili, T. Kostava.
Dinamo (Tbilisi) were always among the best Soviet clubs, but the late 1970s were their best time – winning the Soviet title and cup, and finally – the Cup Winners Cup. Fine crafted team, which had something unusual for a Soviet team – a flair. Very attractive kind of football, based on technical skills and improvisation – something fans always enjoy. There was one misfortune – Shota Khinchagashvili, their long time central defender and captain missed the final. Misfortune on personal level, but not on team level – Nodar Khizanishvili perfectly replaced Khinchagashvili, which was no wonder: he was experienced player, who would have been regular in almost any other Soviet team. As a contrast, Carl Zeiss had no so good replacement for their injured central defender Konrad Weise – the veteran striker Vogel played at his place at the semi-final and Hoppe at the final. He scored the German goal, but… Khizanishvili played his part to neutralize the German attack, when Hoppe was not able to stop the Georgian strikers. Dinamo had a whole bunch of able and eager to win players – no line was lacking class and some players would be important part of the exciting Soviet national team of the 1980s – particularly Chivadze, Sulakvelidze, and Shengelia. Gutzaev was one of the most interesting wingers of Soviet football in the 1970s, but little known abroad, because he was rarely called to the national team. But the great star was David Kipiani – wonderful attacking midfielder, who also was the key playmaker of the team. Very skillful, imaginative, precise, entertaining, scoring – Kipiani was world class player, one of the top midfielders in the world, but unfortunately playing at a time the Soviet national team was weak, missing two World Cup finals, and, therefore, the international exposure. The other problem was that he was not called often to play for USSR – coaches preferred Moscow and Kiev players and thought technical Georgians unreliable. Kipiani got his revenge, so to say, by shining at the final and winning the Cup Winners Cup. Dinamo Tbilisi was deserving winner – they were the better team for the most of the match, played excellent football, pleased the eye, and evidently were at their peak as a team at this moment. USSR got her second European club trophy; DDR did not.