Undoubtedly the biggest name that became clear after yesterday's draw that will come to Bulgaria is the Italian colossus Milan. The seven-time European club champion will play its seventh match against Levski in the European club tournaments, writes "Mach Telegrad".
This is the opponent against whom the "blues" have played most often in Europe. And they can boast that they have drawn two equal matches against the "rossoneri". They reached 1:1 in the return match for the KNK in 1967, as well as the same result in the first clash between the two teams for the UEFA Cup – in 1978. In both cases, the goals for Levski were from direct free kicks. In 1967, the legendary Georgi Asparuhov scored with an incredible shot, and 11 years later, with a slightly more technical and false performance, winger Anton Milkov. In 1967, the “Blues“ lost heavily at “San Siro“ by 1:5.
Gundi scored again, and another of his goals was not recognized, although the ball crossed the goal line, but this was not seen by the referees. Then the “Blues“ megastar received the tempting offer to move to Milan. Transfers of foreigners in Italy at that time were prohibited, and because of this, the “Rossoneri“ also offered him Italian citizenship. In the end, a deal was not reached. At the end of the same 1967/68 season, Milan won the KNK and became the champion of Italy.
The draw sent it against Levski in the 1968 European Cup tournament. However, the matches did not take place, as UEFA punished the teams from the then socialist camp to play each other. The reason was the participation of their countries in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which went down in history as the Prague Spring. In the re-draw, Levski fell into Ferencváros, but these matches were not played either, as the socialist countries withdrew their participants from the tournament. In 1978, after a 1:1 draw in Sofia, Levski lost the rematch in Milan by 0:3.
10 years later, the path of the great Milan team, led by Arrigo Sacchi, began with a match with Levski. In 1978, already in the European Cup tournament, the "Rossoneri" beat "Gerena" 2-0 and 5-2 in Milan with 4 goals from Marco Van Basten. After that, Milan became European club champions in 1989 and 1990.