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Trivia
- The Celtic party decamped to Seamills to train and prepare for this game. The Ajax party arrived in Glasgow on the late Monday afternoon and prpared at Troon.
- This was an all-ticket game at Hampden to accommodate large number of people wanting to watch. Parkhead could only accommodate 73,000 at that time and was under reconstruction as the new front stand was built and old stand re-roofed
- 5000 Ajax fans travel to Hampden. They later complain of the conservative Glasgow licensing laws where they could not buy a drink between 2.30 and 5.00 and then the pubs closed at 10.00.
- Ajax play in unfamiliar blue strip after Jock Stein insisted as Celtic were forced to wear yellow and green in the first leg..
- Ajax went on to win the final at Wembley by beating Panathanaikos 2-0 and won the European Cup for the next three years.
- Celtic announce 90,000 tickets have been sold but 83,000 turn up on the night.
Review
Celtic gave it their best shot but badly missed the influence of Bobby Murdoch in the midfield.
Despite Celtic attacking Ajax were dangerous on the break and Williams did well to keep the Dutch forwards at bay as Muhren hit a post.
In 75 minutes McNeill's header was brilliantly saved by Stuy. Five minutes later Hughes scored from another McNeill header but was just offside. Before full time the fans were frustrated by Ajax players feigning injury to waste time. At full time the Ajax coach Rinus Michels complained of rough tackles by Celtic players during the match.
Ajax tactics were spot on as they flooded the midfield and gave Celtic no space and their full backs closed down Celtic's wingers and the overlapping Gemmell.
However the damage had been done in the 3-0 defeat in Amsterdam in the first leg and the feeling was at the end that some of the Celtic team were now on the decline as far as playing at the highest level in Europe is concerned.
Teams
Celtic:
Williams, Hay, Gemmell, Callaghan, McNeill, Brogan, Johnstone, Hood, Wallace (Davidson 72), Auld (Lennox), Hughes. Substitutes: Lally, Craig, Connelly.
Scorer: Johnstone (28)
Ajax:
Stuy Suurbier Vasovic Rjinders Muhren Krol Hulshoff Blankenberg Cruyff Neeskens Rep Keizer Subs: Van Dijk Haan Surrendonk Wever.
Scorers:
Referee: Concetto Lo Bello (Italy)
Attendance: 83,684
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times 25th March 1971
