HALF A CENTURY SINCE THE FAMOUS FINAL OF THE CHAMPIONS CUP IN BELGRADE | TADIĆ'S AJAX WITH PEERS FROM PARTIZAN, VOJVODINA AND CRVENA ZVEZDA
Half a century has passed since the famous Champions Cup finals, in which Ajax defeated Juventus at the Crvena zvezda Stadium with a goal from Johnny Rap and won the title of European champion for the third time in its history.
On this occasion, the cadet team of the famous Dutch club visited the FSS SC in Stara Pazova and, as part of a one-day mini-tournament, competed against their peers from Vojvodina, Partizan and Crvena zvezda.
Between the two semi-final games, the participants of this wonderful event, which was designed and organized by the founders of FK Ajaks from Belgrade, Svetozar Čiča and Igor Janković, were greeted by FSS General Secretary Jovan Šurbatović and the director of the national A team, Stevan Stojanović.
Naturally, presence of the captain of our senior national team and the first star of Ajax, Dušan Tadić, attracted the attention of the most talented boys and the spectators in Stara Pazova.
“Svetozar Čiča was very close to the late Velibor Vasović, the man who wrote the history of Ajax and who, with the captain’s armband on his arm, had the honour of holding the Champions Cup trophy in 1971.” Two years later, that famous final was played in Belgrade. I often look at the video of the game on YouTube and remember the goal Repp scored in the fifth minute. It’s a fantastic feeling when you put on an Ajax jersey and see that badge with the number 4 on the sleeve. It immediately reminds you of four European championship titles and an even greater desire to repeat the success of your famous predecessor.” – said Tadić for the website of the Football Association of Serbia and recalled another interesting detail from the Ajax-Juventus match:
“During the awarding of the trophy and medals, all Ajax players were wearing Juventus jerseys. Today, that is unthinkable. Football has changed a lot in the last 50 years. But it’s nice that Zvezda, Partizan and Vojvodina responded and took part in this tournament together with the boys from Ajax. Maybe some of them will attract the attention of experts from the famous Ajax football school. I would like one of our players to play one day in a club that is among the five best in Europe. In everything: history, tradition, style of play, way of working with younger categories. I’ve been at Ajax for five years, that’s what I dreamed about at the beginning of my career, and it’s really an honour and a privilege.”
A match in Razgrad is approaching, one of the key matches of Serbia on the way to the final tournament of the European Championship in Germany.
“The June term is always inconvenient and dangerous. You have finished a busy season, but you must not relax too much, you must stay in rhythm and prepare well for the national team challenge. The match against Bulgaria is very important, before that we also have a friendly match with Jordan in Vienna. We are all looking forward to a new gathering, we will start training soon and we want to remain at the head of the group with the maximum number of points even after the third game.”
Tadić is impressed that he will see some of his friends from the national team in the final matches of the Europa League and Conference League.
“On Wednesday Sevilla and Roma play, we have our boys on both sides, which is good because I don’t have to declare who I’m going to support.” Fiorentina’s game in the League of Conference finals is a good opportunity for the trophy to end up in the hands of the Serbian national team players. Champions League finals is a treat – the duel between Inter and Manchester City. Objectively, everyone would bet on the English, including me. However, one should be careful with forecasts. You can never underestimate the Italians. City deserved to become the champion of Europe, but you never know,” says the guy who, with his games, goals, and behaviour in the Ajax shirt, has earned a place in the gallery of immortals, side by side with Johan Cruyff and Velibor Vasović.
