1967-11-01: Racing Club 2-1 Celtic, Intercontinental Club Cup

Intercontinental Club Cup Matches

• 1967 World Club Championships homepage
• 1st Leg 
• 2nd Leg
• Playoff

Trivia

• Celtic had asked the Scottish Football League for a 10 day break from competitive matches in Scotland so that they could prepare adequately for this game. Initially the League said they would comply with the request but events changed. The Motherwell league game had to be changed when it clashed with the international on the previous Saturday and the League Cup final could not be changed so Celtic ended up travelling to South America immediately after the League Cup final on the Saturday.
• Celtic took a party of 18 players to South America flying from Prestwick. They took off shortly before midnight on a 20 hour flight via Paris and Madrid. They would stay and train at the Hindu Country Club 18 miles from the centre of Buenos Aires. Auld, Hughes, Connelly, Gallacher, McBride and Shevlane were the extras that were not included in the starting line-up.
• The SFA had finally relented and said that Johnstone, who was under a 21 day domestic ban, could play, having reviewed the terms of the World Club Championship rules and in the light of the fact that Maschio was already serving a ban but played in the first leg in Glasgow. Bertie Auld missed out having picked up a nasty cut on his ankle which had seen him subbed for the second half of the League Cup Final. He was not risked in this game and in came Willie O’Neill.
• For Racing, left back Diaz was out and replaced by Chabay. Centre half Mori was taken ill the day before the game. Rulli moved back and Cardoso came in at inside right.
• The Racing team had failed to score in their last four games.
• The Uruguyan referee, Marinho, was a veteran of three World Club Championship games.
• Ronnie Simpson was knocked out cold by a missile from the opposition fans just before kick-off. Fallon replaced him.
• The final score in this game gave a 2-2 aggregate score.
• With no away goals rule in action, a replay was necessary. If the away goal rule had been in play then Celtic would have been crowned champions. The third game was necessary to divide the teams and decide the winners.
• In attendance, Juan Manuel Fangio the five times F1 World Champion and regarded by Sir Jackie Stewart as the sport’s best-ever driver.

Review

The journey to Buenos Aires lasted about 20 hours for the team who flew out on an Aerolineas Argentina’s jet which had called specially at Prestwick airport to pick them up. A plane load of fans in a turbo-prop Britannia took 29 hours and they certainly lived up to the title of best fans in the world. At £200 a head they flew to South America via the Canary Islands, Sal in the Cape Verde Islands, Recife in Brazil and then into Buenos Aires- some 7000 miles in all.

Among the 106 fans on board the flight (which at the time was the longest ever flight to leave Glasgow) were 6 priests, a minister (Rev Robert Jack of the Church of Scotland), 2 doctors, and a recent pools winner. Apparently, the hotel they were booked into ended up being alleged to be a hotbed for prostitutes!

On match day the team were escorted to the stadium by armed police, even the fans had to travel in a police convoy. The Celtic fans clutching their £8 STAND tickets found that their seats had been taken by Argentinians. When they protested some of them were urinated on from the tier above.

Ronnie Simpson had been struck with a piece of metal so hard it had split his head open right along the top. This was before kick off!!!! John Fallon quickly stripped and took over as Celtic’s keeper, what must have been going through his mind is anyone’s guess. He was a brave man and indeed that day did not let his side or anyone down. There is still belief that Simpson’s injury was done by someone on the field and not from a fan off it.

Johnstone was brought down in the area and the referee had to award a penalty, which Gemmell converted, however a perfectly good goal scored by Johnstone afterwards was disallowed. Racing scored a goal before and after half time, it was the greatest frame up of all time but was also a blessing. Had Celtic won there is no telling what would have happened. Even after defeat in this game their dressing room was invaded by all kinds of people after rumour spread that they would not play a 3rd game. Argentinian and Uruguay fans (who had travelled to support Celtic) battled outside the stadium.

A police escort was necessary to take them back to the hotel where the great debate took place as to play the 3rd game in neutral Montevideo. It had always been planned to play any replay in the Uruguyan capital . However events in both legs became the cause for great debate in the Celtic camp. Chairman Bob Kelly wanted to fly straight home but Secretary Desmond White wanted to stay and play the 3rd game in case they were branded cowards. James Farrell who had just joined the board decided to stay as did Jock Stein.

Teams

Racing Club (Argentina) 2-1 Celtic (Scotland)
(aggregate 2-2)

Racing Club:
Cejas, Perfumo, Chabay, Martín (c), Rulli, Basile, Raffo, Cardoso, Cárdenas, Rodríguez, Maschio.
Goals: Raffo (33), Cárdenas (48)

Celtic:
Fallon*, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, O’Neill, Lennox.
* = Simpson injured by a missile before kick-off
Goals: Gemmell (21′ pen)

2nd. leg:Venue: Avellaneda. Field: Racing Club (“El Cilindro”)
Referee Esteban Marinho (Uruguay)
Att : 100,000

Full Game Highlights

Articles

• Match Report (see below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Quotes

“With our discipline and strict refereeing, we can beat any club in the world. Even if we lose 6-0 tomorrow we will not resort to the tactics displayed by Racing in the first leg in Glasgow.”
Robert Kelly, Celtic Chairman pre-game

“We don’t want to go to Montevideo or anywhere else in South America for a third game. But we know we have to.”
Jock Stein immediately after the game.

Articles

Evening Times 2nd November 1967

Match Report from The (London) Times 2nd November, 1967

Glasgow Herald 2nd November 1967

Jim Craig