Liverpool vs. Ludogorets: 10 Things to Know About the Bulgarian Champions
The Champions League returns to Anfield after five long years on Tuesday, when Liverpool welcome Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad in the first Group B game of the campaign.
After a rough 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday, the Reds will be looking to get their season back on track by delivering a positive result in their first game in Europe’s premier club competition since December 2009, a 2-1 loss to Fiorentina.
Ludogorets, led by recently appointed manager Georgi Dermendzhiev, qualified for the group stage after a thrilling penalty shootout victory over Romanian side Steaua Bucharest in August. Besides Liverpool, the Bulgarians are set to face European champions Real Madrid and Swiss side Basel in Group B, and they are one of the least well-known sides in the Champions League this season.
Here are 10 facts about Ludogorets ahead of their Champions League clash with Liverpool at Anfield.
The Eagles from the Wild Forests
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Ludogorets Razgrad hails from the city of Razgrad, which is located in Ludogorie region of north eastern Bulgaria, translating roughly to the “region of wild forests.”
They share a nickname—the Eagles—with Italian side Lazio, and according to Lazio fan site LazioLand.com, the Bulgarians receive an eagle from their Italian opponents after knocking them out of the Europa League last season.
After Lazio and Portuguese side Benfica, Ludogorets are now the third football team in the world to have an eagle as their club pet, which is named Fortuna.
The New Kids on the Block
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Before Ludogorets eliminated Lazio from the Europa League, let’s go back a few years in their club history.
Ludogorets Razgrad was originally founded in 1945 before being dissolved in 2006 after spending 45 years in the Bulgarian second division. In 2010, a local football team in Ludogorie, who had risen through the ranks in Bulgarian football to the second division, acquired the license of the dissolved Ludogorets Razgrad and became the current iteration of the club.
So while 1945 was the original founding year—and the year 1945 still appears on the club crest—the current version of Ludogorets had its foundations laid as recently as four years ago.
Kiril Domuschiev Bankrolled a Rapid Rise
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From then on, the club have enjoyed a rapid ascent to the top of the Bulgarian football tree. For that, they have Bulgarian businessman Kiril Domuschiev to thank.
Just a few months after the license acquisition, Domuschiev bought the club and started investing heavily in player acquisition to take them into A Group, Bulgaria’s first division, which was achieved at the first time of asking.
Since then, Ludogorets have become a powerhouse in Bulgarian football on the back of Domuschiev’s significant investments, and they are now indisputably the strongest team in Bulgaria.
First Team to Win a Treble in Their First Top-Flight Season
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A more impressive feat than their A Group promotion was Ludogorets’ achievement of winning the Bulgarian treble in their debut season in the top flight, something they did in dramatic fashion.
Trailing two points behind CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria’s traditional powerhouse club, right up to the final match of the season, Ludogorets faced none other than the league leaders on the final day of the 2011/12 season. A 1-0 win ensured that they leapfrogged their opponents to win the title during their first A Group campaign.
A 2-1 victory over Lokomotiv Plovdiv in May 2012 saw them complete the domestic double by winning their first Bulgarian Cup, while a 3-1 victory over the same opposition in the Bulgarian Supercup meant that they finished the year as treble winners.
Three Consecutive Bulgarian Championships
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Since winning their first Bulgarian championship, Ludogorets haven’t looked back, securing two consecutive title wins in the following two campaigns.
Not that it was all smooth sailing, however—like their opponents on Tuesday, Liverpool, Ludogorets have a tendency of doing things the hard way, and if their debut title win wasn’t exhilarating enough, their 2012/13 championship came about in what was arguably a more dramatic fashion.
Having surrendered the lead to Levski Sofia with just a few matches to go in the season, Ludogorets entered the last game of the campaign needing to beat relegated Montana and Levski to drop points.
In the final minutes of Levski’s match, they conceded an own goal that ultimately meant the title stayed with Ludogorets. In 2014, the reigning champions finally managed to take control, finishing the season nine points ahead of nearest challengers CSKA.
Europa League Round-of-16 Participants Last Season
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After being knocked out at the second qualifying round during their maiden Champions League season, Ludogorets made it to the play-offs for the 2013/14 campaign, only to be beaten and relegated to the Europa League by Basel—one of their opponents in Group B this season.
Playing in the Europa League, Ludogorets surprised fans and critics by finishing the group stage unbeaten, despite facing illustrious opponents such as PSV Eindhoven and Dinamo Zagreb.
In the knockout rounds, they secured a 4-3 aggregate win over Lazio in the round of 32, receiving their eagle from the Italians in time to debut their new pet against Valencia, who they lost to in the next round. All in all, not a bad showing for their first real European adventure.
European Progress Comes Faster Than Stadium Upgrade
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In short, it’s been a whirlwind few seasons for Ludogorets since they made it to A Group in May 2011—so much so that their progress has vastly outpaced their other developments.
Currently playing their home games at the 6,000-seater Ludogorets Arena in Razgrad, their home ground doesn’t meet UEFA requirements. As a result, Ludogorets have been playing their home fixtures in Europe some 200 miles away at the national stadium in Sofia.
Now armed with money from European competitions, Kiril Domuschiev is already investing in redeveloping their stadium, which he will hope comes in handy as they look to consolidate their status as a Champions League club.
First Time in the Champions League Group Stage
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With the help of major financial investment, it's one thing to quickly rise to be the cream of the crop in Bulgarian football, where, with all due respect, teams are not as strong as others from many other European leagues.
But it’s quite another to become just the second Bulgarian team, after Levski Sofia, to reach the group stage of the Champions League, and this season they beat established teams like Partizan and Steaua Bucharest en route to Group B.
As one of the least-known sides in the Champions League this term, perhaps many group-stage entrants were looking forward to the prospect of being drawn in the same group as Ludogorets. Yet Real Madrid, Basel and Liverpool would all do well to note Ludogorets’ stunning rise and consistency over the past few seasons as they prepare to take on a new force in Bulgarian football on the European stage this season.
A Center Back Was Their Penalty Shootout Hero
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In what is fast becoming a Ludogorets tradition of doing things dramatically, not only did they qualify for the group stage via a penalty shootout, but they did so with a center back proving to be their goalkeeping hero in the shootout.
The center back in question is Cosmin Moti, a Romanian defender who joined them on the back of their first ever A Group title win in 2012.
They had already snatched an equalizer in the most dramatic of ways in the 90th minute, but regular No. 1 Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off in extra time, and Moti was the first to volunteer his services as emergency goalkeeper after Ludogorets had already used all three of their substitutions.
Moti ended up saving two of Steaua’s penalties in the shootout, bringing group-stage Champions League football to the Bulgarian champions. It was his first time wearing goalkeeping gloves—and according to The Telegraph, he’ll have an as-yet unbuilt stand at Ludogorets’ stadium named after him.
They Have a Goalkeeper Crisis
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But if Ludogorets have always done things the hard way, the path ahead looks even tougher—at least for Tuesday’s match at Anfield—as they are facing a goalkeeping crisis.
Vladislav Stoyanov is suspended after his red card against Steaua, while regular backup Ivan Cvorovic has been ruled out with a serious shoulder injury, according to manager Georgi Dermendzhiev (via the Daily Star).
In his stead, 23-year-old Georgi Argilashki, who hasn’t played a league game for Ludogorets, may well be taking to the field at Liverpool between the sticks for the Bulgarian champions, although they have since signed Canadian keeper Milan Borjan to boost their goalkeeping ranks.
If they can both beat Moti to the gloves.
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