Their luck would soon run out, drawn against five-time winners Real Madrid in the next round. The tie was effectively over after the first leg in the Santiago Bernabeu, an Amancio hat-trick the highlight in a 4-0 Spanish victory. Almost 40,000 packed into the Strahov for the return, a Geleta double having the Czechs ahead until the closing minutes before Amancio had the last word, the game ending 2-2.
After four successive championships, there was an inexplicable blip for Dukla in 1964/65, finishing a lowly eighth as Sparta Prague romped to the title, although they did win the Czechoslovak Cup. This ensured a first European Cup-Winners’ Cup appearance in 65/66, and so as Celtic were going ahead in Deventer and Liverpool were seeing off Juventus, Dukla were disposing of Stade Rennais with a 2-0 win in Prague followed by a goalless return in France. Their Second Round tie with Honved was unusual in that both teams won their away leg. This time the ‘away goals’ rule did apply, the Hungarians’ three strikes in Prague proving decisive. The Budapest side then faced Liverpool in the Quarter-final, the Merseysiders winning 2-0, to go through to a Last Four meeting with Celtic, on the Road to Hampden.
There was an incredible finish in the Czechoslovak First League of 1965/66, with the three major Prague sides, Dukla, Sparta and Slavia, all finishing on 33 points. Defending champions, Sparta, had the same goal differential as Dukla and had actually scored seven more goals, however, the tiebreaking criteria of the day was ‘goal average’, Dukla reclaiming their crown by the narrowest of margins, for a fifth national title success in six seasons.
The 66/67 European Cup assault commenced on familiar territory, Esbjerg in western Denmark. Dukla had beaten the Danes 5-0 on aggregate four years previously and this time they would go one better, after 2-0 and 4-0 wins, Vacenovsky on target twice as the goals were spread around. Next up were Belgian champions Anderlecht, Masopust opening the scoring in a fine 4-1 victory in the Juliska, Dukla then following this up with a 2-1 success in Brussels.
