The incredible 11 of Real Madrid that could not be

Oleg blokhin

After Real Madrid's defeat against Chelsea in the 1971 Cup Winners' Cup final, Paco Gento put an end to a career at Real Madrid that began in 1953 together with Di Stéfano. Two seasons later, in 1973, Madrid faced Dynamo Kiev in a European Cup match. The meeting, held in Odessa, ended in a draw thanks to a colossal performance by García Remón. Oleg Blokhin shone on the left wing in the then Soviet team. The son of an athlete, he was a fast player (at 16 he ran the 100 meters in 11 seconds), explosive and skilled. Madrid wanted to sign him, but found a wall: the insurmountable bureaucracy of the Soviet regime prevented his departure. It would happen to him again in 1975 (he was promoted to Army colonel: one way to retain people was to promote them in the military organization chart to compensate for their meager earnings), and in 1982. This time the wall was produced in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium : In the third edition, in 1981, at the Real Madrid-Dinamo Tbilisi match, Ángel injured Kipiani, a Georgian and one of the stars of the Soviet team at the time. The entry was so tough that it almost ended his career: he would continue playing, but he was no longer the fantastic player who led the USSR team. And, that, the Soviet bureaucracy did not forgive him …