1963/64: Sporting at the second attempt

MTK Budapest 3-3 Sporting Clube de Portugal (aet)
Heysel Stadium, Brussels

Replay: MTK Budapest 0-1 Sporting Clube de Portugal
Bosuilstadion-Deurne, Antwerp

Just as Club Atlético de Madrid had used the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup to step into the limelight hitherto occupied by their big city rivals, Sporting Clube de Portugal were keen to take centre-stage from their Lisbon neighbours, SL Benfica. They succeeded – but they did it the hard way.

Scenic route
Mind you, they didn't encounter many difficulties in the first round, running up a record 16-1 home win against the Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia FC. But they then lost 4-1 to Manchester United FC at Old Trafford, only to return from the brink of elimination with a famous 5-0 win in Lisbon. The 'Lions' then needed three games to beat Olympique Lyonnais in a semi-final which, had the away goals rule existed, they would have lost.

Narrow victories
Meanwhile, MTK Budapest had produced fightbacks of their own and became the first side from Eastern Europe to reach a final. After single-goal aggregate wins against TJ Slavia Praha, Motor Zwickau and Fenerbahçe SK, they came back from a 3-0 defeat in Glasgow to beat Celtic FC 4-3 overall.

Hungarian hopes dashed
Sadly, only 3,208 saw an epic 3-3 draw in the Heysel Stadium, Brussels. Károly Sandor put MTK ahead. Domingos Mascaranha and Ernesto de Figueiredo replied for Sporting. István Kuti and Sándor struck in the 70th and 72nd minutes to make it 3-2 but Figueiredo equalised nine minutes from time. Extra time was goalless and in the replay staged 48 hours later in Antwerp, a crowd of 14,000 saw a single goal from Joao Pedro Morais dash MTK's hopes of a proud 'first' for Hungarian football and take the trophy to Lisbon.