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Muslin On Track With Long-term Levski
Thursday 30th May 2002
by Stoyan Georgiev
When Slavoljub Muslin arrived at Levski Sofia, he appeared to be on a hiding to nothing. Rudiger Abramczik had just been fired despite taking the side clear at the top of the table and dropping just four points in his seven games in charge and the only way, it seemed, was down.
But Muslin not only won the league and the Cup - he also did it in such style that he is already being hailed as a hero by the blue half of Sofia.
The charismatic Yugoslav knows all about absurd dismissals, though, having been on the receiving end at Bordeaux in 1996 when, just a month before the Uefa Cup final, he was forced out by a board worried that a side containing a young Zinedine Zidane, a young Bixente Lizarazu and a young Christophe Dugarry was not challenging for the title.
He took charge of Red Star in 1999, with the club lying six points behind title rivals Partizan and Obilic. They promptly embarked on a run of 22 wins and one draw which culminated in a historic league and cup double. His first defeat came in his 36th game in charge, the second leg of a Uefa Cup game against Georgian side Torpedo Kutaisi - a tie that Red Star won on aggregate.
Another league title followed in 2000-01, and yet the following autumn, after a Champions' League exit at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen, Muslin was out on his ear again.
Levski, meanwhile, were running though managers like they were going out of fashion. They began the season under Lupko Petrovic, the man who had led Red Star to European Cup glory in 1991. He quit with ill-health in September.
Technical director Nasko Siriakov took over for one game, before being replaced by Georgi Todorov, who was himself replaced with Abramczik in January. He, though, was a constant source of friction, and was dismissed in March.
"I arrived just days before the start of the play-offs," Muslin told onefootball.com. "I spoke to Levski president Michael Chernov, and I also spoke to Lupko Petrovic, and I was convinced that everybody at Levski works like a real professional and that the club was aiming high."
Muslin's impact was immediate. Under Abramczik, Levski may have been winning, but under Muslin they began winning in the right way.
He switched from three at the back to a flat four, introducing zonal rather than man-to-man marking. "I knew there would be some problems switching from one system to another, but it was a risk I had to take.
"Early on, we let in some goals even though we won the games. The players also realised that this was the way to make the breakthrough, as that is the way things are going in European football.
"After four or five games, and particularly the 2-0 win at home to CSKA and the draw away at Litex, I was sure we would win the league. After all, at Levski I have the best players in Bulgaria and it is natural that we should win the title, although CSKA and Litex are also good sides."
If winning the double is natural for teams like Red Star and Levski, though, Mulisn is only too aware that he will be judged on performances in Europe. For Levski, the goal is the group stage of the Champions' League.
"It is very difficult for countries like Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to make it now," he said. "With Red Star we only just missed out, losing to Bayer Leverkusen in the third preliminary round. Then everybody saw that the Germans were a great side and they reached the final. When we played them last season I said they were capable of that, but I don't think anybody believed me at the time.
"Now I think that Levski have a very good chance to reach the groups, although that may be a more realistic target in the summer of 2003. That's why I have signed a long-term contract with the club."
Muslin has been promised that he will not be forced to sell any of the present squad, a welcome change from his time at Red Star when the transfers of Goran Bunjevcevic and Goran Drulic effectively ripped the spine out of the side ahead of those Champions' League qualifiers.
"The problem in Yugoslavia is that the teams are still not privately owned, so there is a corresponding lack of investment and income from television and advertising.
"At Levski I have assurances that there will be no sales. Also, I will buy some new players; of course, we cannot make such big signings as other Balkan teams like Panathinaikos and Galatasaray, but there is a lot of young talent in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, and also in Africa and South America."
At last Levski seem to have a long-term plan, which makes them practically unique in the easy-come-easier-go world of Bulgarian football. The big question is whether, if things go wrong in July, they will stick to it.
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