| Match Pictures | Matches: 1973 – 1974 | 1973-1974 Pictures |
Trivia
- European Cup semi-final; first leg of two (second leg link)
- All ticket game.
- Ranked by many Celts as the dirtiest football match the club has been involved in, perhaps even worse than the match v Racing Club in South America in 1967.
- Argentine Atletico manager, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, has a notorious reputation from the past which his side live up to.
- Atletico have three players sent off and seven booked. Celtic have three booked.
Review
The Game That Died of Shame
(from NotTheView: link)
Twenty Nine years after Celtic’s last appearance in a European semi-final, Manfred Lurker looks back at the infamous night Atletico – the team that put the ‘mad’ in Madrid – collected together all the muggers they could find from the dark alleyways of the Spanish capital and sent them over to Parkhead to contest a place in the 1974 Champions Cup final.
By the time Celtic embarked on the European Cup campaign if 1973-74 only three of the players who had triumphed in Lisbon six years earlier were still regular members of the team. Billy McNeill was still a stalwart at the heart of the defence while Bobby Lennox and the mercurial Jimmy Johnstone could still hold down a place in the forward line.
Nevertheless, big Jock had once again put together a side which looked as if it was on the verge of European greatness. Danny McGrain, Jim Brogan, Davie Hay and Pat McCluskey had all established themselves in the defence. Not only were they tough and uncompromising, they could use their silky skills to trap, control and pass any winger in the country.
In midfield Jock could call on George Connelly, Steve Murray and a bloke called Dalglish (whatever became of him?) and in attack, to add to the lightning pace of Lennox and dribbling skill of Johnstone, he had the poaching instincts of Harry Hood and the gumsy grin of Dixie Deans.
In the first round of the by CouponDropDown” rel=”noopener”>competition Celtic eased past TPS Turku of Finland, who played like TPS Turkeys and who were gobbled up in a 9:1 aggregate defeat which could easily have ended up 90:1.
Danish champions Vejle BK were made of somewhat sterner stuff and managed to by CouponDropDown” rel=”noopener”>earn themselves a 0:0 draw at Parkhead after Celtic turned in what many described as one of our worst European performances ever. By comparison with what was to come during the 80s and 90s it was probably a class show! It was left to Kenny Dalglish to score in Denmark for a 1:0 aggregate victory.
The quarter-final produced a cracking match against last year’s nemesis, FC Basel. The Swiss won the fist leg in their home stadium by 3:2. They then showed they were no cuckoos by coming back from 0:2 down at Celtic Park to draw level. Tommy Callaghan put Celtic in front again but there were no more goals in a nail-shredding finish. Stevie Murray headed the decisive goal eight minutes into the first period of extra time, which was enough to see the Celts looking forward to their fourth semi-final in eight years.
Bayern Munich were drawn to play Ujpest Dosza and so, as fate would have it, Celtic were drawn against Atletico Madrid.
At the time not a great deal was known about Atletico. They had been living in the shadow if city rivals Real for years. However, alarm bells started ringing when it was revealed that their coach was the infamous Juan Carlos Lorenzo. He had been in charge of the Argentinian national squad at the 1966 World Cup who had been branded ‘animals’ by Alf Ramsey after their quarter-final match against England at Wembley.
Atletico’s arrival in Glasgow for the first leg of the European Cup tie did little to dispel growing unease that we were in for a similar kind Donnybrook. The Madrid players had been limbering up for the Wednesday night’s game by kicking the seven shades of **** out of each other during a training session. Things got so out of hand that two of their Argentinian contingent had a square go in the middle of the pitch, pictures of which appeared in the Tuesday night’s evening paper.
In front of 70,000 at Parkhead the teams lined up on Wednesday 10th April 1974 as follows:
CELTIC: Connaghan, Hay, Brogan; Murray, McNeill, McCluskey; Johnstone, Hood, Deans, Callaghan, Dalglish.
ATLETICO MADRID: Thug; Psycho, Punch; Spit, Hatchet, Bludgeon; Hammer, Thump, Wallop, Gouge, Axe-Murderer
The unlikely – and downright unlucky – referee chosen to officiate that evening was a hapless Turkish gentleman by the name of Dogan Babacan. He looked a bit like Arthur Lowe’s officious bumbling bank manager character, Mr. Mainwaring, from Dad’s Army. He probably felt greatly honoured being entrusted with such a major football spectacle. Little did he know, he stood as much chance of controlling this game as the last referee at the Rome final of 46 BC, Christians FC versus Lions United.
The first name was in Mr. Babacan’s notebook after only seven minutes following a vicious assault on Johnstone. It set the tone for the rest of the evening’s football extravaganza.
Babacan got a chance to practice more Spanish a minute later. Jinky’s bruises from the game against Racing in Montivideo seven years before had just cleared up the previous week when a lump nut by the name of Ruben Diaz – who had actually played in that match – decided to renew his acquaintance with the Celtic winger. It was merely the first of his many assaults that night.
With the crowd already worked up into a frenzy at the sight of the atrocities being committed by the Atletico players, Celtic had a goal disallowed after ten minutes. It did little to dampen an atmosphere which had taken a decided turn towards the volatile.
Neither did the antics of Atletico Madrid. It became clear very quickly that the remaining eighty minutes of the match was simply going to be replay of the first ten. Name followed name into the ref’s notebook, which he was forced to swap at half-time for a 200 page ring-binder.
Eventually, having flashed the yellow ten times, he sent off the first Atletico player midway through the second half. By this time Dixie Deans had been substituted and was soaking his bruises in the bath. Hearing the roar of the crowd which greeted the dismissal of the Spanish player and thinking it might be a goal, he decided to get out of the bath to investigate. Wearing nothing but a towel he was met in the corridor by an irate Argentinian – who proceeded to give him a kick on the way past!
Meanwhile, back on the pitch things were degenerating quickly. Jinky was being kicked around like a discarded lager can as well as being treated by his opponents like a red-haired punchbag. Dalglish and Hay were also being singled out for special attention. It was all too much for poor Mr. Babacan who must have wished he was somewhere on the Russian Front rather than at Parkhead.
By the end of the game Madrid had been reduced to eight players, five of whom, including the ‘keeper, had been booked.
They had achieved their 0:0 draw but they weren’t finished yet. On the way up the tunnel Jimmy Johnstone was brutally assaulted yet again. It was the final provocation for the Celtic players. A punch-up ensued which had to be sorted out by Strathclyde’s Finest.
Next morning a picture appeared on the back pages of the papers. It featured Jimmy Johnstone semi-naked showing off his bruises. He looked as if he’d been battered for a fortnight with a hammer then given a good rub down with sandpaper.
Although the first leg had been shown live on Spanish TV, Atletico quickly got to work after the match with their propaganda campaign. They claimed that they were the victims of a concerted and orchestrated campaign of abuse at the hands of Celtic, the referee and, of all people, the Glasgow Police. They alleged that the Feds had come into their dressing room and beat up their players. It was preposterous, as anyone who has ever had any contact with the Glasgow Police will know. As was the assertion that Celtic had bribed the referee. If only the Spanish people had realised how difficult it was to prize open Desmond White’s Biscuit Tin to pay our own players never mind find extra money to give backhanders to the ref.
Despite public clamour for Celtic not to play the second leg, the spineless board decided in their infinite wisdom that they risked retribution from FIFA should they fail to fulfil the fixture, so they travelled to Madrid to play out the remainder of the farce.
Training for the players in the Spanish capital was carried out under the watchful gaze of heavily armed police, while a death threat to Jimmy Johnstone added to the friendly reception. It was the ideal preparation for such an important match.
On April 24th 1974 the Celtic team which took the field for the second leg was: Connaghan; McGrain, Brogan; Hay, McNeill, McCluskey; Johnstone, Murray, Dalglish, Hood, Lennox
Celtic duly lost two late goals and the Atletico team, which bore little resemblance to the one which played in Glasgow – due to the fact that the hatchet men had all been restored to their shebeens in the back streets of Marseille – went through to the final in Brussels.
What was to be done? Rangers had been banned from Europe a mere two years previous to this following the performance of their lunatic fringe in Barcelona when they won the Cup Winners Cup, events over which the club itself had no control. Atletico had actually sanctioned the atrocities which they passed off in the name of football which themselves could have started a riot.
Surely UEFA would have to take drastic action? Not a bit of it. Atletico were fined £14,000 – little more than the average bribe for a match official in those days – and six of their cloggers were banned for a couple of games. Only if Babacan had been forced to abandon the match at Parkhead by sending off another of their players, and God knows he wasn’t short of candidates, could the football authorities have been expected to take stronger action.
An article in World Soccer provided as good a summary of events as any:
What a shame it is a team from Madrid who have to leave the fans with such cruel feelings and agonising memories.
Up until the Parkhead first leg fiasco Madrid had always thrown up visions of the legendary Real with di Stefano gliding through the centre, Gento sweeping magnificently down the wing, Puskas and his lethal shooting power, the towering defensive work of Santamaria. One giant, ugly, clumsy foot has trodden these cherished memories well and truly into the dirt.
Postscript
Atletico went to Brussels to play Bayern and for a while it looked as if they were going to win the trophy. 0:0 at the end of 90 minutes, the Spaniards scored with six minutes of extra time to play. But, mercifully, the Germans scored in the final minute to take the game to a replay, which Bayern won by 4:0. Ten years after the Parkhead fiasco we eventually got our chance for revenge against Atletico, this time in the Cup Winners Cup. However, thanks to another shower of cheating bastards – in this case Rapid Vienna – the match was ordered to be played behind closed doors. We’ll have to nurse our wrath for a few more years yet.
Teams
Celtic:
Connaghan, Hay, Brogan, Murray, McNeill, McCluskey, Johnstone , Hood, Deans (Wilson 70), Callaghan, Dalglish. Sub:Hunter, McGrain, Lennox.
Athetico Madrid:
Reina, Melo, Diaz, Benegas, Overjero, Eusebio, Ayala, Adelardo, Garate (Quique), Irureta (Albert), Heredia
Referee: Dogan Babacan (Turkey)
Attendance: 70,000
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
KDS
Memories
(by thinker of the KDS forum)
I can’t even describe the emotions I get thinking of that game. More a kind of hollow numbness than hatred of any kind. No one really knew much about Atletico, other than them sharing a city with the mighty Real, who were still held in awe by the people of Glasgow, who has developed an affinity with them after due to their performance the 1960 final at Hampden. Even arriving in plenty of time, in order to secure my usual place on the wall between the Jungle and the Celtic End, the place was packed. I believe the official attendance was around 75,000, but there was certainly more than stated there, as my dad slipped some money to the turnstile operator, as we had no ticket. We were not alone in bribing our way in either; there were a quite a few others in our queue who entered by the same means.
I was a little confused, but strangely proud, at how the Celtic support greeted them, in a rousing and appreciative way, as they took to the field. What followed was the most bizarre, and appalling, 90 minutes Of “football” I have ever, and surely will ever, witnessed. The game is documented well enough elsewhere, but amid all the mayhem there was one moment which, to me, seemed to sum up the cynicism more than any other. Obviously I has never seen so much violence in a game, nor so many dismissals, but I could kind of understand that; that was just a severe version of things I was familiar with in football. What really took my breath away was when an Atletico player received the ball in the centre of the pitch; under no pressure whatsoever he flicked the ball up in the air. turned sideways, and just blootered the ball into the crowd. This was a new type of cynicism to me. Surely one needed to at least pretend to be playing the game fairly!
I remember feeling really cheated as I left the stadium afterwards. I had entered prepared to see the most exciting game, and hopefully victory, I had ever attended. There was another horrible thought running through my head. Notwithstanding the 4 European Cup semi finals in the previous 8 years (Here perhaps I should point out I was 12 year old at the time. The age when a year, the length of time between 2 summer holidays, seemed an almost infinite period of time) that given a couple of bad breaks, it could be 3 or 4 years before I next got to see a European cup semi at Celtic Park. One containing some football hopefully.
I wonder if I will ever see another.
Articles
Football Years 1973/74 preview from the Sun April 2011
DIXIE DEANS took one look at the copper then unleashed a series of blows on the scruffy Argentine player in the inspector’s grip.
All hell had just broken loose in the Parkhead tunnel at the end of 90 minutes never to be forgotten for all the wrong reasons.
It was April 10 1974 and Atletico Madrid had just kicked their way to a goalless first leg draw in a brutal and bruising European Cup semi-final.
Jimmy Johnstone was black and blue after being targeted from the off by a Spanish side of South American hardmen.
Long-haired frontman Rubén Ayala was the first of THREE Atletico players sent packing on a night when the violent visitors conceded FIFTY free kicks.
So there was a score to settle at full-time and even the local constabulary were happy to help out. Striker Deans was alongside Davie Hay in the melee when they were given a chance they weren’t about to miss out on.
Deans recalled: “Atletico just started kicking us off the park. They scythed us down, most of all wee Jinky.
“The wee man was black and blue from the chest down, I kid you not. They were animals.
“There was a bit of bedlam in the tunnel at the end. The big inspector grabbed that Ayala in amongst the scuffle.
“He held him in a way that said ‘Dixie, Davie, on you go, have a punch’. I kid you not. And we did. We helped ourselves. We hooked Ayala.”
Hay added: “I think someone even attacked Jimmy on the touchline at the end.
“One or two of us might have lost it going up the tunnel.”
Over 73,000 had packed into Parkhead hoping to see their side go some way to getting themselves through to the final at Brussel’s Heysel Stadium.
But it was clear from early on, the ref wrongly chalking off a Celtic goal saying the ball had gone out of play, that it wasn’t going to be their night.
Striker Harry Hood said: “We had a goal disallowed in the first couple of minutes. Why it was disallowed I don’t know.
“The ball most certainly wasn’t over the line. What happened after that was just incredible. Football just wasn’t allowed to be played.”
Jock Stein cut a frustrated figure in the dugout as his side, who would win their record-breaking nine-in-a-row title just weeks later, fell for Atletico’s antics.
Skipper Billy McNeill said: “Any time we got the ball they fouled, they fouled, they fouled.
“Thee front players got slaughtered. Wee Jimmy was massacred. Even when they were down to eight men they just ran about and fouled us. The ref could have sent off the whole team to be honest.
“But they succeeded because they upset us. We should have held on to our emotions.
“We should have been able to beat them at home but we lost the plot a bit ourselves.”
Hay said: “When the final whistle went I think you realised you’d been done in by a team that had used any means possible to get the result. There was a bit of frustration.”
Things got heated with Hoops keeper Denis Connaghan recalling: “It was one of the prime tournaments but they’d been disgraceful. There was no attempt to play football.
“Then as we were heading towards the tunnel a fracas broke out. There were punches thrown, not just the players but certain police followed in too from what I could see.
“There was hair being pulled, kicks being thrown, it was virtually a free for all.”
Seething Stein was nowhere to be seen at that point. He had charged after Atletico’s Argentine gaffer Juan Carlos Lorenzo at the final whistle.
Hood said: “I think he tried to get hold of him but he couldn’t because their manager had run all the way to the dressing room and barricaded himself in there.”
Celts got a hostile welcome for the second leg a fortnight later. It was less fierce on the pitch but despite holding out for 77 minutes Atletico won 2-0 before losing the final 4-1 to Bayern Munich in a replay.
Hay said: “There was resentment that they made the final.”
But Hood admitted: “If I remember rightly we still got our match bonus because of the way we conducted ourselves.”
McNeill added: “I remember getting a letter from the Atletico Madrid Supporters’ Club inviting me to their annual dinner. I didn’t go.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpxoTiKkvw8
Celtic v Atletico Madrid ‘scum match’ ref Dogan Babacan: UEFA congratulated me on my display
The Record
Sep 14 2011 By Gavin Berry
Dogan Babacan
THE man in charge of the infamous battle at Parkhead between Celtic and Atletico Madrid 37 years ago was hailed by UEFA in a letter congratulating him on his performance.
Dogan Babacan spoke out yesterday after the flames of controversy were re-ignited by Hoops legend Billy McNeil when he branded the Spaniards scum for thuggish antics during their 1974 European Cup semi-final first-leg clash in Glasgow.
And the hugely respected former Turkish whistler defended his own display despite Atletico Madrid making a complaint against him for sending off three of their players – and dishing out another 10 yellows on a night of madness and mayhem.
But Babacan insists Europe’s governing body were on his side and he has the letter to prove it . In it they praised the way he handled an incredible situation which he blames on Juan Carlos Lorenzo’s side being wracked by nerves and shaking with fear.
In a week when many involved in that match have had their say on an ugly 90 minutes, it was the turn of arguably the most important man on the night to have his say from his home in Turkey where is now in charge of his country’s referees as well as working in the media.
Babacan, who made history as the first referee to issue a red card in the World Cup finals at Germany 1974, said: “I can still remember the game in Glasgow.
“It was such an important game and ended in a scoreless draw. But I got all the attention because of my cards – 10 yellow and three red. All the reds were for Atletico Madrid.
“I don’t know why but it was an aggressive game. I think the key was maybe that the Spanish players were very nervous. But I’m satisfied with my work that night. I tried to calm down the tension by showing some yellow cards early on but the players just couldn’t stop playing hard.
“I sent off Ruben Ayala for his second yellow. The next player I sent off was Panadero Diaz but the third was very interesting.
“His name was Quique and he came on after 76 minutes – and 15 seconds later saw my third red card. This time it was a straight red. There can be no question marks over my performance.
“The French newspaper, France Soir, wrote that I was the best referee in Europe that night and the English media reported that Turkey should be proud to have a referee like me. But of course the Spanish were a bit mad at me.
“About two weeks after the game I received a letter from UEFA with a plane ticket to Geneva.
“I had to visit the disciplinary committee because Atletico had appealed the third sending-off. They wanted to know why I showed a straight red.
“I explained he’d been on the bench for 76 minutes and could monitor the game and how it was going, especially my performance. He could see what kind of referee I was for 76 minutes.
“He could focus on the fact I’d given out so many cards but I don’t think he watched the game as he came on the field and it was ‘bingo’ from his first move. The committee were happy with that.
“I later received a letter from UEFA president Artemio Franchi saying that I was one of the best referees in Europe and UEFA thanked me for a great game. My reward was to be in charge of the UEFA Super Cup that year between Dynamo Kiev and Bayern Munich.”
Atletico Madrid players have been enraged by McNeill’s comments ahead of the meeting between the clubs this week in the Vicente Calderon and ex-striker Jose Garate insisted Babacan was selective with his actions in Glasgow.
He said: “There were kicks and elbows all over the place but the referee chose only to see our actions and not those of the Celtic players.
“Our coach warned us it would be hard but really it was war. Many of our players were lucky to avoid serious injury. It was really dangerous but we imposed our quality on them. I want to see a match on Thursday without controversy.
“McNeill has said too much – maybe he still hasn’t digested the defeat.”
Why there’s ‘history’ between Atletico and Celtic
STV
A controversial game between Atletico Madrid and Celtic in 1974 has been a topic of discussion as the sides prepare to meet again in the Europa League.
15 September 2011 15:39 GMT
Celtic face Atletico Madrid in the Europa League on Thursday evening but as Neil Lennon’s side prepare to face the La Liga side, an infamous encounter between the sides 37 years ago is still being talked about.
Dubbed by some Celtic by CouponDropDown” rel=”noopener”>fans as “the dirtiest game Celtic have ever been involved in”, a 0-0 draw at Parkhead in the semi-finals of the 1973-74 European Cup makes for grim viewing even now.
Atletico approached the game with a ferocity that even spilled over into their pre-match training, when two of their players were reportedly separated as they started fighting each other.
Why there’s ‘history’ between Atletico and Celtic
In the stadium, they turned their attentions to the Celtic players and conceded no less than 50 free-kicks in a match where “the beautiful game” was unrecognisable to those in the stands.
The Spanish side had seven players booked and three sent off, with Celtic having two players booked for retaliation. A 0-0 draw was the final result but there was little football to be talked about in the following day’s reports.
Celtic keeper Denis Conaghan said of the ill-tempered match: “It was one of the prime tournaments but they’d been disgraceful. There was no attempt to play football.
“Then as we were heading towards the tunnel a fracas broke out. There were punches thrown, not just the players but certain police followed in too from what I could see.
“There was hair being pulled, kicks being thrown, it was virtually a free for all.”
Disgraceful – Atletico’s 1974 captain blames Jimmy Johnstone for shame game
By JUSTANORDINARYBHOY 25 October, 2023 2 Comments
Disgraceful – Atletico’s 1974 captain blames Jimmy Johnstone for shame game
Celtic v Atletico Madrid almost fifty years on…
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Celtic faced off against tonight’s opponents Atletico Madrid in an infamous clash back on 10 April 1974. Goalless draws are usually well forgotten but this one certainly wasn’t.
It was of course the first leg of the semi-final of the European cup at Celtic Park with Celtic being seen as favourites and the Spaniards would stop at nothing to halt us in our tracks. For me I wasn’t even born so don’t recall any of the details of the game, only from what I’ve read or what I’ve seen on You Tube, and it doesn’t look pretty.
Eddie Murray helped provide more context to what happened a few days ago on The Celtic Star and his article is well worth reading, especially by our younger supporters who weren’t around in 1974.
Here it is…The spectre of Atletico Madrid, 1974 still reeks of disgrace
Atletico from the word go kicked at any Celtic player to stop them in their tracks. They were nothing but thugs. The Celtic support called them Animals. Football was rougher back then, but Atletico were more than rough, they just went out to assault our players. Wee Jinky more than most because they feared him so much.
The wee man being our star player was halted at every turn by the thuggish Atletico players, kicking him and stamping on him. By the end you’d have thought the wee man was in a car crash due to the bruises visible on his body.
The fact Atletico had three players sent off and the rest barring their keeper booked on the night suggests how bad it was, especially in those days when anything went. Three off and there should have been more with the match abandoned as a result and Altetico should have been booted out of the competition in disgrace.
Celtic of course lost the second leg 2-0 and Atletico advanced to the final were they were comprehensively beaten 4-0 by Bayern Munich after a replay. Justice of a sort served and it is worth noting with some glee that this lot have never won the European Cup or Champions League and long may that run continue.
Atletico played Celtic a decade or so ago and also in the mid 1980s (that game at Celtic Park was played behind closed doors) and on both occasions the 1974 game was regarded as historic and nothing to do with the team we were playing at the time.
It’s different this time because Atletico Madrid have made it so, wearing a strip to commemorate that team of thugs, bringing to Glasgow two of these players and insulting the memory of Jimmy Johnstone by incredibly blaming him for all the trouble in that shameful night at Celtic Park.
One of the former Atletico thugs in Glasgow is their captain from that 1974 side. Adelardo Rodríguez outrageously has blamed Celtic’s Greatest Ever Player Jimmy Johnstone for causing all the trouble that night nearly fifty years ago.
“Jimmy Johnstone was the one who caused it all up,” Rodríguez said as reported by Glasgow Times.
“He was a very skillful player, very quick, good. Of course he was fouled. That’s normal. What happened is that he multiplied it tenfold with his gestures, his pretending and that’s why he got on our nerves and got the crowd going.
“He was a great actor. The ref sent off three players and I had to mark him and I had a hard time with him. I called him everything, in Spanish and with some ugly words in English that I knew. I think he understood me, from the look on his face.
“When I finished I told him ‘I’ll wait for you in Madrid’. The police and his coaches surrounded him so that no one would mess with him. They didn’t let me go any further. In the second leg, didn’t even dare to move. He didn’t look like a winger, he looked like a linesman because he was so far away from us. He didn’t want to know anything.
“Celtic were very confident that they would qualify, that’s why they were so angry. They were unable to beat us with eight players for more than 25 minutes.
“You had to be there to see what we had to endure. The Scots created this climate for a battle – the press, the fans, before we even got there, they said that Ruben Ayala and Ruben Diaz were butchers. For us, it was like the European Cup Final itself and we gave everything. It was like a war. In the airport on the way home, they threw our passports to the ground. The police beat us after the game. It seemed like an attack by an army.
“Actually, we were not a violent team. We went to Belgrade and won 2-0 and were applauded off the pitch. The thing about violence was an invention of the Scottish press.”
Disgraceful lies, coming from this club, attempting to tarnish the victim of their own violence. Wearing a specially commissioned shirt this evening to recognise the ‘achievement’ of their 1974 thuggish team disgracing the game, simply adds to anger many older Celtic supporters will be feeling towards tonight’s opponents.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy