KS Vllaznia V Dundee FC, UEFA Cup Preliminary Round, August 2003
Twenty years ago this month Dundee successfully returned to premier European competition for the first time in twenty-nine years when they defeated KS Vllaznia of Albania in the UEFA Cup and the trip to the former communist state was one that would live long in the memory for every Dee who made it.
Dundee had qualified for the UEFA Cup by virtue of their Scottish Cup Final appearance in May and they were looking to create another little piece of history by becoming the first Scottish team to win on Albanian soil.
Such was the desire of the 70-strong band of diehards who made the trip with the official party to see their side in European action – and attempt to succeed where Celtic’s Lisbon Lions, Hibs and Alex Ferguson’s triumphant Aberdeen Cup Winners Cup side had previously failed – no amount of warnings not to travel to a famously inhospitable country could prevent them from doing so.
For the preliminary round Dundee had drawn KS Vllaznia from the northern Albanian town of Shkoder and as it was only fifty miles from Kosovo, the British Foreign Office were advising Dundee not to travel. Albania would have been far from the first choice for the Dark Blues to make their European return and considering their section of the draw could have paired The Dee with a side from Estonia, the Faroes Isles, Northern Ireland or Andorra, the media were dubbing it ‘the draw from hell’.
This didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of those who boarded the flight that left Edinburgh bound for Tirana Airport on August 13th and within twenty minutes of being in the air, those more accustomed to flat pints of lager could be seen quaffing the airline’s second most expensive bottle of champagne. A mood of celebration had clearly accompanied the Dark Blue travelling army into the air as the fans on board happily mixed with the players on a historic journey for both.
A baking hot temperature of 98 degrees awaited the pale Dundonian skin when the flight touched down in Tirana but sunbathing was far down the list of priorities. For the players and coaching staff, they immediately headed north to Skhoder as UEFA rules insisted that the away team arrive at the match destination at least twenty-four hours before kick-off while the rest stayed in Tirana for a night in the newly opened Sheraton hotel overlooking the National Stadium and partied the night away in the local pubs and clubs.
At lunchtime the fans, directors and press set off for the 90km trip from Tirana to Shkoder which turned out to be a nightmare three-hour bus journey; the last 25 km of which took ninety minutes. The new main road wasn’t due to be finished until October so instead it was a mountainous detour on a dirt-track of a road which allowed a perfect view of the somewhat bemusing sight of cars and caravans left deposited on the top of single-storey buildings and abandoned sniper turrets in the countryside. Even when the bus eventually arrived on the outskirts of Shkoder, another detour had to be found as the bridge over the river into the town had been blown up so recently which had been there when manager Jim Duffy had been out on his fact finding mission.
Eventually the bus arrived at Shkoder accompanied by a heavy police presence aiming to keep the Dundee fans safe from the thousands of ‘friendly’ Vllaznia fans who turned out to welcome their visitors to the Loro Boriçi Stadium.
Shkoder was full of rusting pylons and crumbling buildings although most of them had a satellite dish on them and the place had a real depressing feel to it. As you walked along the road you had to avoid people on donkeys, horses and carts and people walking their cows which gave it a backward, almost medieval feel to it – a real trip back in time.
The people of Shkoder however love their football and love their team KS Vllaznia who play in vertical blue and red stripes modeled on Barcelona. More than 11,000 turned up to watch the visit of The Dee and to pay their respect to their former president Myftar Cela who had been recently assassinated in Kosovo and there was a minute’s silence before the kick off.
Once the match started, Dundee, in their new European strip of dark blue shirts and sky blue shorts, quickly took control of the game with Steve Lovell and Nacho Novo missing several good chances. However, the Dark Blues had Julian Speroni to thank on forty minutes when he somehow kept out a Mansaku header that looked to have goal written all over it and he tipped it over the bar.
A minute later however, Dundee took a well deserved lead. A fantastic through ball from Georgi Nemsadze released Stevie Lovell and he slotted past goalkeeper Armir Grimaj to put Dundee 1-0 up and score Dundee’s first UEFA Cup goal since Jocky Scott netted against RWD Molenbeek at Dens in 1974.
The Dundee fans went wild, despite the fact their seats, located to the rear of the dilapidated stadium, were perilously close to a largely unguarded 60 ft drop that offered a quick way to exit the ground and meet your maker.
At half-time the gun-totting Albanian police stunned everyone in the travelling party by allowing the Dundee fans to leave the stadium and sneak in a couple of cheeky pints at the pub opposite the ground.
Almost as soon as they returned, Dundee extended their lead when Gavin Rae latched onto a loose ball and fed Garry Brady to cross low for Nacho Novo to knock it into the net. Dundee played out the remainder of the game very comfortably and the Vllaznia fans were streaming out of the ground in their hundreds well before the final whistle blew.
After the first leg allegations of Vllaznia throwing the first leg began to surface after bookmakers had stopped taking money amid unusual betting patterns. There were suggestions that the Albanian side had been approached by syndicates but anyone that was in Shkoder that night will know it was a hard earned victory in a competitive match.
It was a fantastic, professional performance from Dundee and the 2-0 victory rounded off a fantastic two-day trip for the Dark Blue fans. It gave Dundee their first European victory since beating AC Milan 2-0 at Dens in 1971 but on that occasion the result wasn’t enough to progress.
The second leg took place a fortnight later on August 28th and 8,254 Dees packed into Dens to see if they could win their first European tie since knocking Cologne out of the inaugural UEFA Cup in 1971.
There was one change from the first leg in Albania with Beto Carranza coming in for Garry Brady and within two minutes a brilliant defence-splitting pass by the little Argentinean allowed Nacho Novo to fire home and give Dundee a 3-0 aggregate lead.
Unfortunately for Carranza he then had to be taken off injured but just before half time his replacement, Juan Sara, added a second the effectively kill the tie.
After the break Gavin Rae scored one of the best goals ever seen at Dens Park when he thundered a 25-yarder in off the bar. At the Bob Shankly end a cross from Giorgi Nemsadze was headed out of the Vllaznia box by an Armir Grimaj and with a swipe of his right boot Rae ferociously volleyed the ball home via the underside of the bar to put Dundee 3-0 up on the night.
Towards the end, Novo gets his second and Dundee’s fourth to complete the 6-0 aggregate rout and a memorable two legged affair was complete. Despite the fears about travelling to the war torn region, concerns it was a tough draw and unsubstantiated accusations of corruption, it was a tie that lives long in the memory.
Dundee were now in the first round proper where they met Intertoto Cup winners Perugia from Serie A and that as they say is another story.
