Sixty-two years since Hungary's first great success in UEFA competition

(photo: MTI)

A impressive Vasas side - winners of the less-famous but also high-quality Central-European Cup in 1956 and 1957 - had taken advantage of the turmoil caused by the 1956 Uprising at Hungary's traditional top clubs of the 1950s, Budapest Honvéd and MTK Budapest, to clinch the truncated 1957 Hungarian spring-season title by a single point from MTK.

The draw for the 1957/58 European Cup pitted new coach Rudolf Illovszky's team against CDNA Sofia of Bulgaria and a 2-1 away defeat in the first leg didn't bode for their future in that season's competition, but a Lajos Csordás hat-trick propelled them to a resounding 6-1 victory in the Népstadion and a 2nd round tie against Young Boys of Switzerland.

This time, a last-minute Csordás goal secured a creditable away draw after Ernst Wechselberger had handed the Swiss an early lead and then been dismissed with László Sárosi with 14 minutes remaining. The second leg in Budapest was another tight affair but two early goals from the prolific Csordás rendered Heinz Schneiter's late strike just a consolation.

Next up for Hungary's best was Ajax Amsterdam, yet to become true European giants but still already a formidable opponent, as evidenced by a 2-2 draw in the Netherlands, which was only achieved thanks to two late goals by midfielder Pál Berendi. Vasas, though, steamrollered the Dutch back in Budapest, racing into a four-goal lead by half-time thanks to strikes by Berendi, Csordás, and two from Gyula Szilágyi, a scoreline which went unchanged in the second period in front of a packed Népstadion. Ajax goalkeeper Eddy-Pieters Graafland later commented: "It was an immense stadium in Budapest and Vasas were a very good team at that time".

That set up a daunting semi-final tie against the holders and only champions of the competition since its inception two years earlier, Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid. The first leg in Spain was a disaster for Vasas, a hat-trick from the devastating Di Stéfano sealing a 4-0 victory for the Spanish giants who were still several months away from signing the legendary Ferenc Puskás. However, the return match was, to coin a phrase, a whole different ball game.

In front of an estimated 100,000 crowd in the Népstadion, Vasas went on the attack immediately and overwhelmed their supposedly more illustrious opponents. Dezső Bundzsák opening the scoring with a shot from distance in the 25th minute before Lajos Csordás calmly slotted in a 53rd-minute penalty to halve the aggregate deficit. Bundzsák then saw the referee adjudge his scissors kick not to have crossed the goal line before being cleared by a Real defender and despite plenty of pressure, Vasas couldn't score the remaning two goals they needed to force an unlikely play-off. Di Stéfano commented after the match that: "We didn't believe Puskás and Kubala's words (praising Vasas) ut even after the 4-0, they didn't give up and didn't recognise the impossibility. Puskás and the others were right!"

Real Madrid went on to win the European Cup for a third consecutive year, while Vasas went through a short period of transition before again winning the Hungarian championship in 1961. The again drew Real Madrid - this time with Puskás in their ranks - in the European Cup but this time they suffered a more comprehensive 5-1 aggregate defeat in the first round.

Vasas 2-0 Real Madrid
Népstadion, Budapest, 16th April 1958

25' Bundzsák (1-0)
53' Csordás (pen) (2-0)

Team lineups (surnames first)

Vasas: Kamarás Mihály, Kárpáti Béla, Sárosi László, Teleki Gyula, Bárfy Antal, Berendi Pál, Raduly József, Csordás Lajos, Bundzsák Dezső, Szilágyi Gyula, Lenkei Sándor.

Real Madrid: Juanito Alonso, Marquitos, Santamaría José Emilio, Lesmes Rafael, Muñoz Miguel, Zárraga José María, Kopa Raymond, Ramón Marsal. Di Stéfano Alfredo, Rial Héctor. Gento Francisco.