Joško Jeličić perhaps played his best match in the blue shirt, Igor Cvitanović scored one goal alongside four other major missed opportunities, the Zagreb team won away and created a comfortable advantage ahead of the return leg. Romanian champions Steaua welcomed Dinamo, then still under the name Croatia, in the first match of the 1st round of the Champions League. At that time, the 1st round, in the competition structure itself, was actually the penultimate preliminary round for entry into one of the two quarter-final groups of the Champions League. The Blues celebrated with a 2-1 victory, but in the return leg, played in Ljubljana, Steaua turned the result around, won 3-2 and progressed due to more away goals. It was one of the more painful defeats in the history of the Maksimir club.

Interestingly, the plane with Croatia's players at Pleso Airport, before the flight to Bucharest, was delayed for more than an hour because the airline was waiting for the club's confirmation of payment for the trip.

It's a small paradox that, for example, Steaua's players and coach watched Dinamo's main training session live from the sidelines the day before the match.

We remember the match also for Cvitanović's four major chances, two after brilliant passes from Jeličić and two after mistakes by the home defenders. Although the Blues dominated and controlled the game, the home team surprisingly hit the crossbar three times with unexpected strikes...

However, the Blues attacked almost the entire time, created chances and could have practically sealed their place in the next round already in the first half. On the other hand, Steaua also had their bright moments and came close to punishing the Zagreb team for their numerous misses at the end of that same first half.

Already in the 2nd minute, Cvitanović rushed down the left wing, Goran Vlaović was waiting on the right, but the home team managed to get into the block at the last moment. Eight minutes later, Jeličić played a through ball to Cvitanović, who avoided the offside trap, ran alone in front of the goalkeeper and sent the ball over the goal. A similar scene occurred in the 16th minute, again Cvitanović appeared alone and launched the ball over the crossbar. However, in the next attack, he finally hit the target.

Jeličić with another brilliant pass again put Cvitanović alone in front of the goalkeeper, once again the blue number ten assisted the blue number eleven. Cvitanović ran from the left into the penalty area, avoided the offside trap and placed the ball past the goalkeeper into the goal.

Shortly after, Cvitanović appeared in another major chance, but wasn't accurate. Soon these misses came back to haunt them. First, the brilliant Romanian striker Ilie Dumitrescu escaped the blue defense and hit the crossbar. In the 35th minute, the home team equalized. Basarab Nica Panduru precisely shot from the edge of the penalty area and found the net. Moreover, towards the end of the first half, Panduru again tried to surprise the Maksimir goalkeeper, shooting from 20 meters and shaking the crossbar.

The Blues took the lead again in the 62nd minute. It was an effective move, with Zoran Živković and Goran Vlaović combining before Joško Jeličić received the ball and placed it into the goal from the left side. Towards the end of the match, Croatia's crossbar was also hit by Ionel Pârvu.