The encounter
Steagul Roșu won 4–2 in the second leg · Espanyol qualified after a third match
Match cassette · results and dates
Romanian club’s score first.
- 26 January 1966 · AwaySteagul Roșu Brașov 1–3 Espanyol (Spain)
- 16 February 1966 · HomeSteagul Roșu Brașov 4–2 Espanyol (Spain)
- 2 March 1966 · NeutralSteagul Roșu Brașov 0–1 Espanyol (Spain)
A difficult return
Steagul Roșu Brașov faced Espanyol in the third round of the 1965/66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A 3–1 defeat in Barcelona on 26 January 1966 left the Romanian side with a two-goal deficit to recover.
A legend in Espanyol’s colours
Among Espanyol’s players was Alfredo Di Stéfano, the former Real Madrid star and five-time European Cup winner. A match record lists him in the starting line-up for the 4–2 return in Brașov. His presence added another remarkable detail to a tie that would need a third match to be settled.
A six-goal match in Brașov
On 16 February, Steagul Roșu answered with a 4–2 home victory. Nicolae Pescaru, Mihai Ivăncescu twice, including a penalty, and Marcel Goran scored for the hosts. The result brought the aggregate score to 5–5 and kept qualification alive.
Keeping the tie alive
Two goals behind after Barcelona, Brașov needed an exceptional response. The return produced six goals and a home victory that brought the sides level across the two legs. The rules sent them to a third match, where Espanyol finally prevailed. For Brașov, the achievement was forcing a strong opponent to go beyond the original tie.
The third match decides
The tie was settled by an additional match on 2 March, which Espanyol won 1–0. Steagul Roșu were eliminated, but their second-leg victory remains a distinctive European memory: four goals against Spanish opposition and a comeback that forced the tie beyond its scheduled two matches.
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Sources & image credits
About the historical details and source differences
The supplied archive labels the deciding match’s venue “Neutral”. Historical match records place it in Brașov. That venue discrepancy is noted here without changing the underlying archive entry in this story update.
Match results and dates follow the archive records. Reference pages:
- RSSSF · 1965/66 Fairs Cup match details ↗
- Global Sports Archive · all three matches ↗
- Transfermarkt · return match line-ups ↗
Club crest: the image already stored in the club archive, used as a visual identifier rather than a photograph of this encounter.
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