ONLY one of the three Bulgarian teams will move on, the results of the return matches from the first regular round of the UEFA Cup tournament on October 3 showed. Champion Levski of Sofia beat the Danish Brondby, but their co-citizens from CSKA and Litex of Lovech did not manage to handle, respectively, the UK's Blackburn or the Greek Panatinaikos.

Both teams had the chance to continue, but failed. After the promising 1-1 draw, Sofia's team should have been more attentive when up against the respectable UK team. Facing an over-excited public on the Bulgarska Armia Stadium in Sofia, the football players of CSKA started equally emotionally and had difficulty in warding off a goal - the 0-0 draw or minimal victory worked perfectly for the British team.

Then, however, the Brits turned them down with sharp counter strikes. Only after the score inflated to 3-0 and the players of Blackburn decided they had done their job, came the time of CSKA. The saviour this time was the young and very technical midfielder Emil Gurgorov, who in the second half channeled the game of the team and scored two goals alone. The Brazilian blade Agnaldo, a reserve player, added another to have a 3-3 score a minute before the end of the match, however the miracle never happened. With an overall 4-4 result, but with more goals on its own ground Blackburn moved on. Sadly, it could have been otherwise...

The other Bulgarian participant in the UEFA Cup Tournament, Litex of Lovech, was also on the verge of making a miracle. After the host's 0-1 loss from Panatinaikos of Athens on September 19, the Bulgarian team punished the haughtiness of the Greeks, who could not believe they lost the match. With a goal of the Argentinian Klaudio Graf at the very end of the game, Litex scraped to the extra-time, but eventually suffered a loss due to having a person less. Penalised with a second yellow card, the central attacker Zlatimir Zagorcic had to leave the match. With two goals of the Polish veteran Krzysztof Waszyha, Panatinaikos reached 2-1, however the wrap-up could also have been different.

Nothing different, however, could ever happen on the third Bulgarian match at the guest match of champion Levski with the Danish Brondby. In Copenhagen it was clear that the Bulgarians' 4-1 win two weeks ago in Sofia was not accidental. Levski was a class higher than its rivals and with a quick opening penalty in the 10th minute, goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov made the decisive match. By the end, Levski calmly and maturely dictated the game. The match finished 1-1, but the Bulgarian champion has yet to prove what it can do in Europe.



Top Football League of Bulgaria

Eighth Round (October 4-6)



Locomotiv (Sofia) - Slavia (Sofia) 0-0

Dobrudja (Dobrich) - Chernomorets (Bourgas) 0-2

Locomotiv (Plovdiv) - Cherno more (Varna) 4-1

Naftex (Bourgas) - Botev (Plovdiv) 1-2

Spartak (Varna) - Levski (Sofia) 0-2

Rilski sportiest (Samokov) - Litex (Lovech) 0-1

CSKA (Sofia) - Marek (Dupnitsa) 5-2



Temporary rankings:

1. CSKA - 24 pts

2. Levski - 19 pts

3. Litex - 17 pts

4. Locomotiv (Plovdiv) - 16 pts

5. Slavia - 16 pts

6. Naftex - 12 pts

7. Marek - 10 pts

8. Chernomorets - 10 pts

9. Locomotiv (Sofia) - 9 pts

10. Cherno more - 9 pts

11. Spartak - 9 pts

12. Botev - 6 pts

13. Rilski sportiest - 2 pts

14. Dobrudja - 1 pt