I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I was a 24-year-old student at Karl Marx University in Sofia. The weather was terrible – cold and snowy – and I went to the game with a group of ten of my friends. We were so excited and got to the stadium about three hours before kick-off.
Some of my friends had gone to the first leg at Anfield, which was almost mission impossible at the time, and they were pretty confident given how we had played in that 1-0 defeat. The second leg was a scrappy affair until deep into the second half. Liverpool were the reigning European champions and were so strong, but Stoycho Mladenov (above left) headed in with 12 minutes to play to send the tie into extra time.
I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I was a 24-year-old student at Karl Marx University in Sofia. The weather was terrible – cold and snowy – and I went to the game with a group of ten of my friends. We were so excited and got to the stadium about three hours before kick-off.
Some of my friends had gone to the first leg at Anfield, which was almost mission impossible at the time, and they were pretty confident given how we had played in that 1-0 defeat. The second leg was a scrappy affair until deep into the second half. Liverpool were the reigning European champions and were so strong, but Stoycho Mladenov (above left) headed in with 12 minutes to play to send the tie into extra time.
The stadium erupted; before then we had been so nervous, but suddenly the noise was deafening. I’m sure the team felt that support. In the first half of extra time I witnessed the greatest goal I’ve ever seen when Mladenov struck his second of the night, slipping to the ground as he fired home from the corner.
The second half of extra time was torture. Liverpool had an effort cleared off the line and the final whistle never seemed like it would blow. Finally it did and we went mad. We went to my house after the game to watch Dynamo Kyiv play Aston Villa in another quarter-final on Serbian TV. The reception wasn’t great but we had seen enough to know we wanted Villa in the semis.
Unfortunately we got Bayern. The first leg was in Sofia and CSKA took a 3-0 lead after just 17 minutes. At 2-0 we were ecstatic – at 3-0 we were numb. We would never have expected this – nor the players, and their legs froze. There was silence as Bayern hit back and in the end we hung on for a 4-3 win. They blew us away in the second leg, 4-0, and our run was over. I still believe that if the second leg had been in Sofia, we would have reached the final.
I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I was a 24-year-old student at Karl Marx University in Sofia. The weather was terrible – cold and snowy – and I went to the game with a group of ten of my friends. We were so excited and got to the stadium about three hours before kick-off.
Some of my friends had gone to the first leg at Anfield, which was almost mission impossible at the time, and they were pretty confident given how we had played in that 1-0 defeat. The second leg was a scrappy affair until deep into the second half. Liverpool were the reigning European champions and were so strong, but Stoycho Mladenov (above left) headed in with 12 minutes to play to send the tie into extra time.
I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I was a 24-year-old student at Karl Marx University in Sofia. The weather was terrible – cold and snowy – and I went to the game with a group of ten of my friends. We were so excited and got to the stadium about three hours before kick-off.
Some of my friends had gone to the first leg at Anfield, which was almost mission impossible at the time, and they were pretty confident given how we had played in that 1-0 defeat. The second leg was a scrappy affair until deep into the second half. Liverpool were the reigning European champions and were so strong, but Stoycho Mladenov (above left) headed in with 12 minutes to play to send the tie into extra time.
I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I was a 24-year-old student at Karl Marx University in Sofia. The weather was terrible – cold and snowy – and I went to the game with a group of ten of my friends. We were so excited and got to the stadium about three hours before kick-off.
Some of my friends had gone to the first leg at Anfield, which was almost mission impossible at the time, and they were pretty confident given how we had played in that 1-0 defeat. The second leg was a scrappy affair until deep into the second half. Liverpool were the reigning European champions and were so strong, but Stoycho Mladenov (above left) headed in with 12 minutes to play to send the tie into extra time.
The stadium erupted; before then we had been so nervous, but suddenly the noise was deafening. I’m sure the team felt that support. In the first half of extra time I witnessed the greatest goal I’ve ever seen when Mladenov struck his second of the night, slipping to the ground as he fired home from the corner.
The second half of extra time was torture. Liverpool had an effort cleared off the line and the final whistle never seemed like it would blow. Finally it did and we went mad. We went to my house after the game to watch Dynamo Kyiv play Aston Villa in another quarter-final on Serbian TV. The reception wasn’t great but we had seen enough to know we wanted Villa in the semis.
Unfortunately we got Bayern. The first leg was in Sofia and CSKA took a 3-0 lead after just 17 minutes. At 2-0 we were ecstatic – at 3-0 we were numb. We would never have expected this – nor the players, and their legs froze. There was silence as Bayern hit back and in the end we hung on for a 4-3 win. They blew us away in the second leg, 4-0, and our run was over. I still believe that if the second leg had been in Sofia, we would have reached the final.
I remember the day as if it was yesterday. I was a 24-year-old student at Karl Marx University in Sofia. The weather was terrible – cold and snowy – and I went to the game with a group of ten of my friends. We were so excited and got to the stadium about three hours before kick-off.
Some of my friends had gone to the first leg at Anfield, which was almost mission impossible at the time, and they were pretty confident given how we had played in that 1-0 defeat. The second leg was a scrappy affair until deep into the second half. Liverpool were the reigning European champions and were so strong, but Stoycho Mladenov (above left) headed in with 12 minutes to play to send the tie into extra time.
