| First Leg | Second Leg | Play-off | Matches 1966 – 1967 |
Intercontinental Club Cup (World Club Championships)
Overview
Fresh from the European Cup campaign, the sky was the limit for Celtic and there was little argument that we were the best in Europe. A fabulous performance in the European Cup final the past May had made the club the most celebrated team that has ever come from these shores. UEFA and CONMEBOL created the Intercontinental Cup in order to decide the best team of thr two continents. May appear to be an appetising prospect, but in reality even before the matches began, the prior history of the event was plagued by violence and recriminations both on and off the field.
In the 1966 World Cup, Alf Ramsey had described the Argentinian national side as animals after a belligerent 90 minutes between England and Argentina, refusing to even shake their hands. Although there were some dodgy decisions that went England’s way in that game which would rile anyone, the Argentinians’ behaviour that day was in no way acceptable. That match set the tone for the reprisal, and Celtic sadly were to be at the end of the treatment.
Racing Club is a ‘Hun’ side in Argentina, i.e. seen as a bedrock of middle and upper class establishment in Buenos Aires which pulled every lever it could. Racing Club had won the South American Club Championship (the Copa Libertadores de Ameríca) through an exhaustive 19 games, as against Celtic’s 9 games (but still tough).
In naivety, the Celtic management supposed that this was to be little different to the matches against the European Latin sides, having overcome (the Argentine) Herrera’s Inter Milan with all the psychological tricks he had put in our way. This was not to be the case, and Celtic’s games against Racing Club are ranked alongside the saddest events to have ever sullied the good name of football
So where did it all go wrong?
Matches
- 1967-10-18: Celtic 1-0 Racing Club (1st leg)
- 1967-11-01: Racing Club 2-1 Celtic (2nd leg)
- 1967-11-04: Racing Club 1-0 Celtic (play-off)
Articles
Books
- Tears in Argentina (2006) by Tom Campbell
Quotes
At a Q & A at a function at our CSC, when asked:
Question: “Exactly how hard did you hit that guy in Montevideo..??”
Bertie Auld: “I’m fae Glasgow, son. How hard dae ye think I hit him…???”
(on infamous game v Racing Club of Argentina, World Club Championship 1967)