The choreography of the CSKA fans in the match against Monaco brought back memories of the first clash between the two teams in the 1982 European Cup tournament. The “Red” fans depicted the traditional exchange of club flags between the captains before a European match, and the inscription read: “HONOUR HAS NO SUBSTITUTE!” - “Honor has no substitute!”
The message refers to the match between Monaco and CSKA on September 15, 1982. A few days earlier, Princess Grace Kelly died in a car accident. By that time, the Bulgarian team's players had already arrived in the Principality for the match. Due to the tragedy, holding the match in Monaco became impossible. CSKA had the opportunity to insist on an official victory. Instead, the management of the “reds” agreed to move the match to Nice.
The then coach of the “army” - the legendary Asparuh Nikodimov, categorically opposes the idea of CSKA deriving sporting benefit from the tragedy.
Subsequently, 12,147 spectators at “Stad de Re“ in Nice they welcomed the Bulgarian team, who played in yellow shirts, with applause and shouts of “Bravo, Sofia!“.
The match ended 0:0, and in the second leg CSKA won 2:0 after extra time and qualified for the 1/8 finals of the tournament, where they were eliminated by Sporting (Lisbon) after two draws.
Immediately after last night's match, Monaco published a photo of the choreography on their official social media profiles and noted that it was in memory of the first match between the two teams in 1982.