Zagreb was still basking in the glory of winning the championship title, fans were enjoying romantic football and the glorious blue generation of players... And now it was time for the European test. At the start of the European Cup competition, the blues set their sights on Sporting from Lisbon. But just four days before the first match, before their clash at Maksimir, the "generator" of Dinamo's play, the blue number ten Marko Mlinarić, got injured.

The Zagreb side played 1-1 away against their namesake Dinamo in Vinkovci, today's Cibalia. Mlinarić injured his muscle, was out for almost three weeks and had to miss both matches against the Portuguese.

More than 60,000 spectators gathered in the stands at Maksimir, and the key moment of the match, a true "beauty of the season", came in the 71st minute when Snješko Cerin spectacularly scored with a turning (semi-)scissors kick to secure a 1-0 victory.

Sporting played solidly, aggressively, with emphasis on defense, while Dinamo generally controlled the game and created chances. The blues were, of course, led from the bench by Miroslav Ćiro Blažević while at Sporting, Antonio Oliveira simultaneously held the roles of coach and player. In the main seat on the visiting bench sat Serbian fitness coach Srećko Radišić as Oliveira's first assistant.

Dinamo threatened as early as the 19th minute, Stjepan Deverić delivered from a corner, Zlatko Cico Kranjčar headed it in the air, but goalkeeper Ferenc Meszaros somehow managed to punch the ball away. Shortly after, Oliveira tried from the other side, shooting from 18 meters just wide of the goal.

At the very end of the first half, Cerin missed a great opportunity. Srećko Bogdan launched the ball to the right wing, Boro Cvetković rushed down that corridor, passed all the defenders and even the goalkeeper, setting up Cerin who was in front of an empty goal. But instead of calming the ball and pushing it into the empty net, he shot first time and sent it over the goal.

Sporting started the second half with ten men after center-back Francisco Barao was sent off. In that 49th minute, Maksimir captain Velimir Zajec unstoppably began his characteristic slalom run, played it forward to Boro Cvetković, who was fouled by Barao as he entered the penalty area. The referee showed the Portuguese defender his second yellow card.

Dinamo continued even more fiercely with a man advantage, intensely pressuring the defense, creating chances, it was a siege of the opponent's penalty area... However, the ball only went into the net once. Deverić, for example, entered the penalty area in the 62nd minute, goalkeeper Meszaros saved, Zvjezdan Cvetković rushed in and shot powerfully, but hit Ademar in the head.

The goal came in the 71st minute, Boro Cvetković entered the penalty area, crossed in front of goal, Cerin let it through to Deverić. He then returned it into the penalty area, and Cerin from a difficult position scored with a (semi-)scissors kick into the goal.

Just two minutes later there was excitement in front of Dinamo's goal as well, but Milivoj Bračun headed the ball away in front of the goal line.

The return leg was different though, where Oliveira shone and scored a hat-trick in Sporting's 3-0 victory. The Zagreb players insisted that the assistant referee repeatedly stopped major blue chances without basis due to non-existent offsides.