The Miracle of the White Angels

Spartak Trnava outshone the aristocrats of Prague and ignored the Soviet tanks to reach the 1969 European Cup semi-final. Karel Häring recalls an incredible journey

by Karel Häring
CHAMPIONS MAGAZINE, Issue 34 - April/May 2009

There was no celestial intervention, but Spartak Trnava - known as the White Angels despite a black and red home kit - played a starring role in the 1969 European Cup when they reached the semi-finals, overcoming a Soviet invasion and ignoring the Warsaw Pact ban on the competition along the way. They even did it without the insiprational coach Anton Malatinsky, who led the rise of the small-town club from western Slovakia.

Outshining and outplaying their illustrious opponents from Prague, Spartak rose from the second division to claim five Czechoslovakia titles in six years and remain unbeaten at home for seven seasons. But their most remarkable feat was coming to within a goal of beating Ajax to make the European Cup final, in seriously trying circumstances.

Trnava was home to 40,000. On 24 April 1969, when Johan Cruyff's Ajax came to town, an additional temporary stand was erected so that 27,000 supporters could squeeze into the city stadium. Three-nil down from the first leg, Trnava had a mountain to climb.

"The Ajax game was number-one for us. We knew we could reach the final," says Jozef Adamec, the team's main marksman. Defender Karol Dobiaš, one of Czech football's biggest stars at the time, agrees: "It turned out to be one of Spartak's best matches ever."

Spartak dominated, and at 2-0 up Adamec was in possession with Dobiaš free in front of goal. If he'd passed, Dobiaš could have finishedit off. "I wanted to shoot, but missed. It was the reason we didn't get to the final and I was blamed for it afterwards," says Adamec, the 40-year-old memory still hurting.

But how did Trnava get so close to the top of European football? An average side, they took the Czech league - very strong in the 1960s and 1970s - by storm. Most credit must go to Malatinsky, who was appointed coach to second-division Trnava in 1963. Five years later, they they were domestic champions. 

Malatinsky knew the club well. He had played and coached there previously, but a rebellious period in which he helped emigrants escape led to him being sent to prison. During his internment he sent e letter to the club's players and officials: ""Keep the group together. After a few years we will become champions," he wrote.

"I saw the letter when I returned to the club," says Adamec, who spent his two-year military service stint at Dukla Praha.

A year after Malatinsky took over, Spartak won promotion. The following season they finished tenth, then sixth and third. In that bronze-medal season they won the Mitropa Cup, full-backs Vladimir Hagara and Dobiaš made their debuts, and Adamec retrurned from Slovan Bratislava. The team was taking shape.

Just as Celtic conquered Europe with eleven players born in the environs of Glasgow, the Spartak squad all came from Trnava or close by. "Malatinsky knew every player within 50km of Trnava," says Adamec. "the good ones he invited for a trial and knew immediately if they had something to offer."

The pillars of the club's success were built on fitness, discipline and attack. Malatinsky was a strict, pedantic coach whose squad practised unitil what came was close to perfection.

"Me and Hagara often supported the attack. Some say we were pioneers of the modern full-back. I didn't really care about that, I just played the football I liked," says Dobias over lunch, where he reels off the names of Trnava best XI - Geryk; Dobiaš, Majerník, Jarábek, Hagara; Hrušecký, Kuna; Marinkovic, Švec, Adamec, Kabát. He picks up a pen to illustrate a typical Spartak attack.

"I'd get the ball from the keeper. If an opponent came towards me, I'd pass to another defender, run alongside and get it back. Then I'd pass to Hrušecký in midfield, who'd carry it two or three steps and pass back to me. I'd speed up towards the area and send over a cross and goal! OK, back to the centre circle.

"We knew each other's movements on the pitch," Dobiaš continues. "If I ran with the ball, Adamec, Kuna and Kabát would run into the box. We did these things automatically."

Dobiaš recalls, with a smile, how they had to work to improve their physical condition. "Once, we had to run up a snow-covered hill. I went first, making a path for the others. You can imagine how difficult it was. I was suffering like a dog. We went up and down twice and I thought that would be it. Then I heard the coach say, 'Patino (my nickname) once more.' I was sick, blood was streaming from the keeper keketi's nose. When I got to the top of that hill again, I was so furious that if someone had given me a gun, I'd have shot Malatinsky!"

There was never any doubt who was the boss. If Malatinsky said something was white, it was white. "If I saw him walking towards me on the street, I'd cross over," says Dobiaš. Yet the players saw him as a father figure. For them he was Toni Baci - baci means uncle. 

Nobody, Dobiaš included, refutes the role of Malatinsky in Spartak's golden era. Their ground became a fortress, From May 1966 to spring 1974 they did not lose a single league home game. "Our supporters, after 15 or 20 minutes, expected us to be leading two- or three -nil. We were very strong from the kick-off, fully concentrated," says Adamec.

Dobiaš says even the pre-match music encouraged him. "They played Il Silenzio". I was usually first on the pitch and had goose bumps virtuallyevery time. I'd telle myself, 'No one will take any points from my ground.'"

In the summer of 1968, after winning the league by five points, Malatinsky left and Ján Hucko took over. Trnava retained the title, and they finished runners-up in the 1970 when Hucko left, replaced by the former player Valerian Švec. The league title returned, three years in successione, as did Malatinsky in 1971.

During Hucko's short reign Trnava enjoyed their greatest European success. Unbeatable at home in the league, they showed their power in Europe. It was also a season of disruption and political intervention.

On 21 August 1968, Soviet-backed tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia to quell lingering unrest after the Prague Spring uprising. Mass meetings were forbidden, the football league suspended as the stadiums became military camps.

Trnava were due to meet Red Star in the first leg of the Central-European Cup, and despite the ban 3,000 fans turned up. Dobiaš was in hospital at the time having his tonsils out, but he remembers: "A nurse came to my room and told me we had been occupied. My first reaction was, 'Germans?' I couldn't believe it."

The league resumed mid-September and Trnava's Red Star fixture was played - they won the first leg, but lost the second. In the European Cup, things did not go so smoothly.

Trnava were drawn to start the campaign away to Malmö, but after the invasion many western clubs, drawn against sides from the Soviet bloc, threatened to withdraw. UEFA held a redraw separating west and east, but in protest, Warsaw Pact clubs refused to take part - except Trnava and Steaua Bucharest, who met.

With 51 minutes gone in Bucharest, Trnava were as good as eliminated, as they trailed 3-0. But 15 minutes from the end, playmaker Kuna (who was studying pedagogy at the time) pulled one back. In the return, Spartak proved at home they were a force to be reckoned with. They won 4-0, with Adamec scoring a hat-trick. 

Next upwere Reipas Lahti. The first leg was moved from Finland, because of snow, to Vienna and played as a warm-up to the clash between Rapid and Real Madrid. Spartak thumped Lahti 9-1- It would have been ten had Adamec's penalty gone in. They finished the job 7-1 at home, with all but one of the goals scored by a defender or a midfielder - Adamec, got the other - highlighting their policy of playing with an attack-minded defence.

Eliminating AEK Athens in the quarter-finals proved problematic. The first leg at home was postponed because of torrential rain. The pitch was dried with a helicopter and tons of sand - but this prohibited the swift, flowing interplay of Spartak. They weren't helped by the absence of Adamec or the visitors defensive mind-set. Still, Spartak won 2-1 and drew 1-1 in Athens to line up against Ajax.

Ahead of the tie, Malatinsky was asked for his opionion. He said: "It wouldn't be a disgrace if we get eliminated. But we have a better chance against them than we would against [the other semi-finalists] Milan or [reigning champions] Manchester United." Ajax boss Rinus Michels never underestimated the Czechs. "Spartak play modern football, they have a solid defence and dangerous attack. I think they are better than Dukla used to be in the old days. Still, I guess we should be able to make the final."

In Amsterdam, in front of 60,000, Spartak lost 3-0. "Our keeper Geryk was the weak link. Two goals came after his mistakes," says Dobiaš. Their tactics for the second leg were, he says, "to stop Johan Cruyff. Majerník kicked him and Cruyff was forced out. After that, Ajax hardly got the ball out of their half. We had so many chances, but couldn't make it."

Trnava pressured early on. Adamec hit the bar, and as the Ajax keeper Bals cleared another chance, the ball fell to Kuna who struck home from 18 yards. On 50 minutes, Kuna headed in the second. Wim Suurbier twice cleared on the line; Spartak won 15 corners, Ajax not a single one. In the final ten minutes, Bals made two sensational saves to deny Hagara and Adamec.

At the whistle, Michels said: "Trnava played wonderful football. I knew we'd make the final but never thought it would be so difficult." Bals went further: "I have never wanted the final whistle so much. I think I speak for us all."

Trnava were out, but they could hold their heads high. "Their keeper Bals got them to the final," said Hucko. "Malatinsky was more damning. "Ajax looked like a team from the lower division," he said.

The following year, they lost in the second round to Galatasaray on the toss of a coin. They never reached the last four again, but did make the quarter-finals twice, losing to Derby 2-1 in 1973 and Újpest Dózsa on penalties a year later.

That was the beginiing of the end for Trnava. Dobiaš recalls: "The first to leave were Švec and Jarabek, followed by Adamec, Hagara, Majerník, Hrušecký. Those who came in to replace them never reached the same level. Tactics became, 'Patino, you hold defence, Kuna take care of midfield and let's hope we score a goal.'"

Dobiaš thinks Spartak Trnava could become champions again. As for miracles? "They could win a title in 50 years, but not five in six."