Best club team ever

The outcome would be the same for me.

Barca and Real fighting for title and 3rd place team finishing like 20 points behind.
 
gerd said:
I totally agree with that post. That is the best team i ever saw. And i may be a football sissy, but a certain Kenny Dalglish said exactly the same...
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The other thing is, you have to put this team in the context of the time. They were playing in a very competitive league at the time. You had Partizan, Red Star, Vojvodina all winning the league in the late 1908s, and the Croatian teams were very strong as well. Hadjuk Split and Dinamo Zagreb were always in the top 3 from around 1985 to 1990, and you would always get one of the Bosnian teams doing well each season. In 1985 it was Sarajevo that won the league and in 1986/7 Velez Mostar got close. Really it was one of the greatest leagues in Europe at the time (very late 1980s and 1990, 1991) in terms of level of football. The domestic league wasnt at all easy for Red Star (or any Yugoslav club) to win. It wasn't just a case of 2-3 teams dominating, there were at least 5 teams who had a great chance of winning it. There were great players at all these clubs, Hadjuk had Robert Jarni, Boksic, Bilic, even players like Stimac and Asanovic were great players at the time. Dinamo Zagreb had Boban, Suker, Igor Cvitanovic and the great keeper Drazen Ladic (the guy who helped Croatia get to 3rd place in 1998). Partizan had Katanec and Mijatovic. So for Red Star to win the league, never mind the European Cup, the team had to be very good.

The late 1980 and early 1990s was a golden time for Balkan football, Yugoslavia was the world youth Champion in 1987. The went out only on penalties to Argentina in the 1990 World Cup, and were top in qualification for Euro 92, and their replacements (Denmark, whom they had finished above) won the competition. You also had Steaua winning the European Cup, and a strong Romania team with players like Lacatus, Popescu, Dumitrescu, Timofte and the great Hagi doing very well at USA 1994. Bulgaria were strong also at that tournament again with some great players, Letchkov, Stoichkov, Balakov, Borimirov, Kostadinov.

I think Red Star's achievement with the players they had was remarkable. In some ways it was similar to the Lisbon Lions, the team was made up of totally domestic Yugoslav players (Beledodici was Serbian/Yugoslavian parentage, born on the Romanian/Yugoslav border) - they werent as close as Celtic's players (who were all from less than 20 miles from Glasgow), but it was very much a team from the Yugoslav federation and there were no imported stars, such as was the case at other big European teams in 1991. In the context of the impending war (which was looking certain by 1990, some say even 1989) and bearing in mind all players (like all Yugoslav citizens) had to spend 18 months of their youth in the JNA (Army), many of the players knew that 1991 was the last chance for the team to really be able to compete and have a chance of winning the European Cup.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
The other thing is, you have to put this team in the context of the time. They were playing in a very competitive league at the time. You had Partizan, Red Star, Vojvodina all winning the league in the late 1908s, and the Croatian teams were very strong as well. Hadjuk Split and Dinamo Zagreb were always in the top 3 from around 1985 to 1990, and you would always get one of the Bosnian teams doing well each season. In 1985 it was Sarajevo that won the league and in 1986/7 Velez Mostar got close. Really it was one of the greatest leagues in Europe at the time (very late 1980s and 1990, 1991) in terms of level of football. The domestic league wasnt at all easy for Red Star (or any Yugoslav club) to win. It wasn't just a case of 2-3 teams dominating, there were at least 5 teams who had a great chance of winning it. There were great players at all these clubs, Hadjuk had Robert Jarni, Boksic, Bilic, even players like Stimac and Asanovic were great players at the time. Dinamo Zagreb had Boban, Suker, Igor Cvitanovic and the great keeper Drazen Ladic (the guy who helped Croatia get to 3rd place in 1998). Partizan had Katanec and Mijatovic. So for Red Star to win the league, never mind the European Cup, the team had to be very good.

The late 1980 and early 1990s was a golden time for Balkan football, Yugoslavia was the world youth Champion in 1987. The went out only on penalties to Argentina in the 1990 World Cup, and were top in qualification for Euro 92, and their replacements (Denmark, whom they had finished above) won the competition. You also had Steaua winning the European Cup, and a strong Romania team with players like Lacatus, Popescu, Dumitrescu, Timofte and the great Hagi doing very well at USA 1994. Bulgaria were strong also at that tournament again with some great players, Letchkov, Stoichkov, Balakov, Borimirov, Kostadinov.

I think Red Star's achievement with the players they had was remarkable. In some ways it was similar to the Lisbon Lions, the team was made up of totally domestic Yugoslav players (Beledodici was Serbian/Yugoslavian parentage, born on the Romanian/Yugoslav border) - they werent as close as Celtic's players (who were all from less than 20 miles from Glasgow), but it was very much a team from the Yugoslav federation and there were no imported stars, such as was the case at other big European teams in 1991. In the context of the impending war (which was looking certain by 1990, some say even 1989) and bearing in mind all players (like all Yugoslav citizens) had to spend 18 months of their youth in the JNA (Army), many of the players knew that 1991 was the last chance for the team to really be able to compete and have a chance of winning the European Cup.
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:WORSHIP:


Unfortunately, one stupid war has fucked up our entire football. Now the former-Yugoslav countries footbal leagues are filled with match fixing and corruption. The only national team that can compete with the top are Croatia when they play well. Slovenia is decent, Montenegro too. Serbia have good players but don't have a team. And Macedonia, well I don't even know what I have to say about my country, other than it is major crap.

During the Yugoslavian time, there was a rule players couldn't leave the Yugoslavian league untill they were 27 I think. This helped too. Now you see all teams buying young talents from Partizan and Red Star. If this rule was still applied, we'd have a pretty good and competitive league. I'd like to see a return of a league with teams from all former Yugoslavian countries, but it won't happen. :(
 
Damjan, You forgot Bosnia, IMO their national team is at least as good as Croatia's team...
 
Their players are just as good but as a TEAM, I think Damjan is right that Croatia is the best one. When you consider squad, manager, teamwork, etc.
 
Ah yeah how could I forget Bosnia? They have the same case as Montenegro. Some very good players like Dzeko, Ibisevic, Begovic and Misimovic, mixed with fairly ok players.
 
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