| Match Pictures | Matches: 1968 – 1969 | 1968-69 Pictures |
Trivia
- See: Prague Spring & Soviet Invasion – Celtic protest in European Cup (1968)
- In the original draw Celtic were drawn against Hungarian champions Ferencvaros. After the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia the Celtic board refused to travel to Hungary in protest of the Russian actions. Other countries followed Celtic’s lead and some Eastern Bloc countries then boycotted the competition in protest. Carl Zeiss Jena, Dynamo Kiev, Ruch Chorzow, Levski Sofia and Ferencvaros were all missing. Surprisingly, the teams from Yugoslavia and Romania remained.
- In the rearranged draw Celtic were paired against St Etienne. St Etienne had 6 French internationals in their squad and the danger man was considered to be Malian Salif Keita.
- Celtic left from Prestwick on the Monday with a party of 17 – the team that played plus Chalmers, Fallon, Gallacher, McBride, Gorman and Macari. Gemmell was left at home with an injury from the Rangers game and Bobby Lennox was limping with a knee injury. He recovered enough to fully train the next day in France.
- The European Cup rules had changed so that now each team was allowed to have 16 players stripped and ready to play and two subs were allowed any time in the game.
- 350 Celtic fans travel to France to cheer on the Bhoys.
- Murdoch’s influence is badly missed and Gemmell is also injured.
- St Etienne doubled their ticket prices for this game to an incredible £4.00.
- Goalkeeper Carnus is surrounded by photographers at the final whistle after a great display.
- On the same night Dunfermiline defeated APOEL Nicosia 10-0 in the Cup Winners Cup, and in the Fairs Cup Rangers defeated Vojvodina 2-0, Morton lost 5-0 to Chelsea and Hibernian won 3-0 against Olimpija Ljubljana away.
Review
Celtic opened the match well but were hit by a blow when the impressive Mali international, Salif Keita, known in France as ‘The Black Flash’, scored with a shot following a corner.
In 38 minutes the Celts were really up against it when Revelli scored with a header following another corner but Simpson had looked to be impeded.
Jimmy Johnstone was rarely seen as he was marked by two and three defenders at a time.
In the second half Celtic fared better and were unlucky after keeper Carnus made a wonder save from McNeill and then a goal bound Hughes shot luckily struck Carnus on the ankle and rebounded to safety.
Celtic pressed late on but Keita missed a great chance in the dying seconds. Jock Stein was angry with Celtic’s lacklustre performance and it would now take a great performance now to overturn this two goal deficit.
Teams
St Etienne:
Carnus Farizon Camerini Durkovic Bosquier Jacquet Fereu Herbin Revelli Keita Bereta
Scorers: Keita 24, Revelli 37
Celtic:
Simpson, Craig, O’Neill, Brogan, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Connelly, Wallace, Lennox, Hughes
Subs: Fallon, Gorman, Gallacher, McBride, Macarai
Referee: A De Silav Oliviera (Portugal)
Attendance: 35,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
