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INTERCONTINENTAL CUP
As a continental champion Crvena Zvezda played for the trophies of the winners of the European Super Cup and the Toyota Intercontinental Cup. The Toyota Cup has been played on neutral ground in Japan for decades, and the rival was the winner of the Copa Libertadores from South America, the Chilean Colo Colo, who was defeated in front of 60,000 spectators in Tokyo 3:0. Red Star added the Intercontinental Cup trophy to the European Champions Cup trophy and officially became the best team on the planet.
Due to the war that had already begun in Croatia, the European Super Cup final against Manchester United, the winners of the Cup Winners' Cup, was not played according to the regulations. Only the match was played on 19 November 1991 at Old Trafford. Although Red Star completely outplayed their old sports friends, and Dejan Savićević shone at the "Theater of Dreams", the winning goal for United (1:0) was scored by Brian Meckler.
The opportunity to end the year with a second international trophy was sought by Zvezda in Tokyo on December 8, 1991, where in the final of the Intercontinental Cup their rival was the Chilean Kolo Kolo, the champion of South America. On the bench of the team from Santiago was Mirko Jozić, under whose leadership Yugoslavia was the youth world champion in 1987, and Prosinecki was the best on the planet in his age group. But Robi, just like Stojanović, Marović, Šabanadžović and Binić, left the team immediately after winning the title of European champion. On the bench, Ljubomir Petrović was replaced by the experienced expert Vladica Popović, who wisely led the team to another valuable international trophy.
"Congratulations, you are the new world champions!"
- When we landed in Japan, the then fitness coach Peđa Stojanović told us to get dressed and go to training. We were stunned by that sentence, but he told us that we needed it the most to relax our muscles from the journey. We trained for 45 minutes, when an Asian journalist approached us and said: "Congratulations, you are the new world champions!" - said Zvonko Milojević.
- We looked at him a little strangely, because the match was only a few days away, but he said at the time that we were definitely the new champions, because the Chileans went to sleep as soon as they arrived, and that a team that has such a mentality and character to train immediately after the summer must be the champion - recalled Zvonko Milojević.
The opportunity to celebrate was given to the youngest first team player of our club, Vladimir Jugović. His two goals in the 19th and 58th minutes and brilliant play throughout the field brought him the award in the form of a Toyota car, reserved for the best player of the match. Our team dominated, playing with the authority of the best European club, even though it was without the sent-off Savićević from the end of the first half, from the 42nd minute. Even with one player less, Red Star dominated in the rest of the game, the third goal in a great 3:0 victory was scored by Darko Pančev in the 72nd minute.
Zvezda has achieved everything a football club can achieve: it has been European and world champion. From this distance, it is unlikely that any club from Eastern Europe will achieve this in the future.
Tokyo, December 8, 1991
Crvena Zvezda - Round Round 3:0
Stadium : National Stadium in Tokyo.
Spectators : 60,000.
Referee : Kurt Roethlisberger (Switzerland).
Scorers : Jugović in the 19th and 58th minutes, Pančev in the 72nd minute.
Yellow cards ; Vasilijevic, Mihajlovic ( Crvena Zvezda ), Ramirez (Kolo Kolo).
Red card : Savićević ( Crvena Zvezda ) in the 42nd minute.
Crvena Zvezda : Milojevic, Radinovic, Vasilijevic, Najdoski, Belodedic, Ratkovic, Stosic, Jugovic, Panchev, Savicevic, Mihajlovic. Coach : Vladica Popovic.
Round Round : Moron, Mendoza, Garrido, Margas, Viljes, Ramirez (from 60. Rubio), Barticoto, Salvatiera (from 65. Dabrovski), Janez, Pizarro, Martinez. Coach : Mirko Jozic.
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