CSKA Moscow come from 2–0 down to knock the holders out at Camp Nou

On 20 May 1992 Barcelona won their first European Cup at Wembley, when Ronald Koeman's free-kick beat Sampdoria in the 111th minute. They had come close to going out in the second round that season, saved by a last-minute header in Kaiserslautern. A year later, in the first season of the Champions League, the holders met CSKA Moscow at the same stage.

The first leg in Moscow on 21 October finished 1–1. Aleksandr Grishin scored for CSKA and Txiki Begiristain equalised in the second half. The return was at Camp Nou on 4 November, with Barcelona holding the away goal.

Two up in half an hour

Johan Cruyff's side had Koeman, Pep Guardiola, Miguel Ángel Nadal and Begiristain. CSKA, coached by Gennadi Kostylev, had lost players to clubs in western Europe. Their goalkeeper was Dmitri Kharine.

Nadal scored first and Begiristain made it 2–0 after 31 minutes. CSKA needed two goals to go through on away goals.

In the 38th minute Kostylev took off Grishin, the scorer in Moscow, and sent on Dmitri Karsakov. Just before half-time Yevgeni Bushmanov pulled a goal back. Bushmanov had joined CSKA only that August.

Seventeen minutes

Cruyff took Guardiola off at half-time. In the 57th minute Denis Mashkarin scored from a corner to make it 2–2, and CSKA were ahead on away goals. Four minutes later Karsakov finished a counter-attack for 3–2.

Barcelona could not find the two goals they now needed. CSKA had won 3–2 on the night and 4–3 on aggregate, and the European champions were out before the group stage.

Bushmanov had also been part of the Spartak Moscow side that knocked Real Madrid out of the competition, which made him the only Russian player to have eliminated both Barcelona and Real Madrid from it.

After

CSKA's reward was a place in the group stage, where they finished bottom with two points. Marseille won the group and went on to win the competition. At home, Barcelona won La Liga for the third season running.