Football Leagues » Europa League » Europa League Hajduk Split Versus Stoke City
Europa League Hajduk Split Versus Stoke City
2011/12 Europa League
Ozren Podnar
A promising start to new Euro-season for Stoke and Fulham
The first two English clubs to take the European stage - Stoke and Fulham - have been dealt a curious draw, as they have both been paired with the teams from the Croatian city of Split.
While Stoke have taken on perennial European contenders Hajduk, Fulham were lucky to draw RNK Split in their first ever appearance in a continental competition. Or were they lucky?
In the first, goalless leg played in the Split industrial suburb of Dugopolje Fulham hardly looked like the side that just 15 months ago played in the Europa League finals against Atletico Madrid. The "absolute beginners" of RNK had better chances through Duje Cop and Ante Erceg and kept the action in Fulham's half for most of the game. Must be Martin Jol's expensive machine is not properly greased in this early stage of their preparations.
Stoke City hardly impressed either, although they came through in a promising 1-0 home win with the only goal scored by Jonathan Walters in the second minute of the game.
The English complex
For an infrequent European competitor like Stoke, it must have been sweet to topple Hajduk, a historic club with heaps of trophies won in the Croatian and the old Yugoslav competitions. Still, the current Hajduk is just a shadow of their earlier selves from the golden fifties, seventies, eighties and early nineties. It never bodes well if the most famous personality in the club is the coach, the famed Bulgarian play maker Krasimir Balakov, rather than anyone from the team roster. Apart from the Croatia third-choice goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, the midfield stalwart Srdjan Andric and the promising striker Ante Vukusic, the Whites from Croatia major port have little to offer.
Aside from their quality-related woes, another factor speaks against the Croats winning the tie: Hajduk have always been eliminated from Europe by English sides! They have managed to go past Scottish, Welsh and Irish teams, but came out as the losing side against Leeds, Arsenal, Fulham and no less than three times against Tottenham.
The negative streak started in 1967/68, when Spurs won both games, 2-0 in the old Hajduk stadium near the Split Gas plant, and 4-3 at White Hart Lane. The next Dalmatian-English face-off was more dramatic, as the mighty Leeds United scraped through to the 1973 Cup Winners Cup finals by a single goal in 180 minutes, scored by Clark at Elland Road.
Arsenal in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup second round went through due to the away goals rule, overturning a 1-2 loss in Split with a 1-0 win at Highbury. It took exactly the same scores for Tottenham to deny Hajduk a place in the 1984 UEFA Cup finals, a game which Spurs would win against Anderlecht on penalties.
Each season, the competition reviled by all bigger teams in national leagues around Europe, features numerous truly big names - only to see them drop out at the speed of light in order to concentrate on what really matters: gaining a spot in the Champions League, where the money is.
The Cockerel Affair
The first leg in Croatia was marred by crowd trouble including a ritual slaughter of a cockerel, due to its being Tottenham's mascot. The act perpetrated by a local hooligan earned Split fans worldwide condemnation and set the stage for a severe punishment three years later.
After the next severe incident, tear-gas throwing from the terraces during a Hajduk vs. Marseille match, UEFA took the "Cockerel Affair" into account and kicked the Croatian team out of Europe for two seasons.
When Hajduk returned in 1991, they were welcomed yet again by Tottenham. Who went through by 2-1 on aggregate, after Hajduk won the first leg 1-0 despite playing their home game in Austria due to the Independence War being fought in Croatia.
Eleven years later Fulham became the last English club to have defeated Hajduk in a UEFA-run competition, with a 1-0 win in Split and a hard-fought draw at Craven Cottage.
Stoke City should make it 7-0 for England, except for the passionate 38,000 crowd that will try to make the Potters' life unbearable for the duration of the second leg next Thursday.
Hajduk's results against English clubs
2011/12 Europa League
Qual.: Stoke City 0-1, ?
2002/03 UEFA Cup
R1: Fulham London 0-1, 2-2
1991/92 Cup Winners Cup
R1: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0, 0-2
1983/84 UEFA Cup
SF: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, 0-1
1978/79 UEFA Cup
R2: Arsenal London 2-1, 0-1
1972/73 Cup Winners Cup
SF: Leeds United 0-1, 0-0
1967/68 Cup Winners Cup
R1: Tottenham Hotspur 0-2, 3-4
Europa League 2010/11 results
Round of 32
Aris Salonika vs Manchester City 0-0 0-3
Sparta Prague vs Liverpool 0-0 0-1
Rangers vs Sporting Lisbon 1-1 2-2
Metalist Harkiv vs Bayer Leverkusen 0-4 0-2
Lech Poznan vs Sporting Braga 1-0 0-3
Rubin Kazan vs Twente Enschede 0-2 2-2
Napoli vs Villarreal 0-0 1-2
Benfica Lisbon vs Stuttgart 2-1 2-0
Besiktas vs Dinamo Kiev 1-4 0-4
Basel vs Spartak Moscow 2-3 1-1
Lille vs PSV Eindhoven 2-2 1-3
Sevilla vs Porto 1-2 1-0
Young Boys vs Zenit St. Petersburg 2-1 1-3
PAOK Salonika vs CSKA Moscow 0-1 1-1
BATE Borisov vs Paris SG 2-2 0-0
Anderlecht vs Ajax 0-3 0-2
Round of 16
Dinamo Kiev vs Manchester City 2-0 0-1
Sporting Braga vs Liverpool 1-0 0-0
PSV Eindhoven vs Rangers 0-0 1-0
Ajax vs Spartak Moscow 0-1 0-3
Bayer Leverkusen vs Villarreal 2-3 1-2
Twente vs Zenit 3-0 0-2
CSKA Moscow vs Porto 0-1 1-2
Benfica Lisbon vs Paris SG 2-1 1-1
Quarter-finals
Porto vs Spartak Moscow 5-1, 5-2
PSV Eindhoven vs Benfica 2-2, 1-4
Villarreal vs Twente 5-1, 3-1
Dinamo Kiev vs Sporting Braga 1-1, 0-0
Semi-finals
Benfica vs Sporting Braga 0-0, 0-1
Porto vs Villarreal 5-1, 2-3
Final
Porto vs Sporting Braga 1-0
UEFA Cup - all the previous match reports, news and analysis from the old UEFA Cup.
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