Back in the 1962/63 European Cup, Adamec completed his one-man crusade by scoring the only goal of the second-leg against Vorwarts Berlin in the Juliska Stadion, the new home of Dukla. The Czech champions went one better in the next round, with a 5-0 demolition of Danes Esbjerg, all the goals coming in the Prague second-leg. The journey was ended for another year in the Quarter-final, by Benfica, winners of the previous two competitions. They gained a narrow 2-1 advantage in Lisbon, courtesy of a double from the legendary Mario Coluna, a goalless return in Prague seeing the holders advance towards a third successive Final, although this time they would lose to AC Milan at Wembley.
The third successive appearance with Europe’s elite commenced, later that year, with an 8-0 trouncing of Valletta, a Kucera hat-trick in Prague as Dukla hit six, rendering the return in Malta meaningless. The ante was raised considerably in the next round, Polish champions Gornik Zabrze, featuring the great Lubanski, taking a 2-0 lead to the Juliska, where it was overturned by 4-1, Kucera again at the double. Dukla moved the Quarter-final tie with Borussia Dortmund to the larger Eden Stadion, home of rivals Slavia, a presumably-commercial decision they would perhaps look back on with regret. The Germans inflicted a rare home defeat on Dukla, with a convincing 4-0 win, although, strangely, they then won the away leg by 3-1. But it would be too little, too late for them to remain in the competition.
Also on the scoresheet against Gornik in Prague was a certain Josef Masopust. In the long line of football masters already encountered by the fledgling Celtic in Europe, he is up there with the best. Born in 1931, his career began in Most, the club now known as FK Banik Most playing their games in the Football Stadion Josefa Masopusta, after their most famous son. He joined the armed forces and, therefore, Dukla Prague, in 1952. He would remain there for sixteen years, before moving to Crossing Molenbeek as a 37-year-old player/coach in 1968, taking his club up to the Belgian First Division.
His time at Dukla is littered with honours, anchor of the team who won eight championships and three Czech Cups, perennial competitors in Europe’s major competitions for a decade. He also enjoyed a fabulous twelve-year career with the national side, following his debut against the Mighty Magyars in 1954. He played all four Group games for Czechoslovakia in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where they surprisingly lost a play-off to Bertie Peacock’s six-county warriors.
