| Match Pictures | Matches: 1980 – 1981 | 1980-81 Pictures |
Trivia
- Game is a 50,000 sell out in University town of Timosoara.
- Estimated 40 Celtic fans travel to the iron curtain country of Rumania.
- Game kicked off at 2pm in warm sunshine.
- Danny McGrain won the toss but Greek referee let the Rumanians take centre and choose ends with Celtic forced to play into a strong wind.
- Roddy MacDonald and Frank McGarvey controversially sent off by an inept Greek referee.
- John Clark has heated arguement with referee after the match and is banned by UEFA as a result.
- Loud music played throughout the game contrary to UEFA rules.
- Latchford blatantly fouled at goal but referee allows it.
- Referee is accused of assaulting Frank McGarvey in the post match reception.
- Celtic are fined £6000 for their experience, Clark gets a 2 year touchline ban and MacDonald and McGarvey are banned for two games (after appeal) and one game respectively.
- Politechnica lost 4-1 on aggregate in the next round to West Ham United.
Review
This game was notable for a farcical performance from the Greek referee, Lagoyannis.
In 12 minutes McGarvey was assaulted by a waist high tackle only for the ref to remonstrate with the Celtic dug out as a result.
In 17 minutes MacDonald challenged the Politechnica keeper after he spilled the ball and the referee sent MacDonald off with Manea who had pushed him. Most observers said it wasn't even a foul let alone an ordering off offence.
The referee booked Latchford for time wasting as his eccentric decisions continued before McGarvey missed a good chance by shooting wide.
In 61 minutes Moise made a great save from a strong shot by Sneddon.
Celtic defended well and held out until the 83rd minute. Paltinisan clearly obstructed Latchford as he took a high ball and Aitken appealed for a foul as Paltinisan recovered to strike the ball into the goal.
This was a sore defeat by Celtic, not that they lost but in the manner that they felt cheated by the Greek referee who continued his shenanigans at the post match dinner.
Teams
Politechnica Timisoara:-
Moise, Nadu, Paltinisan, Sunda (Cotec 70), Manea, Serbaniov, Anghel, Dembrovski (Nicolae 65), Visan, Dumitru, Nedelcu.
Subs:-
Goal:- Paltinisan 81.
Sent Off:- Manea 17.
Celtic :-
Latchford, Sneddon, McAdam, MacDonald, McGrain, Sullivan, Aitken, MacLeod, McGarvey, Nicholas, Provan.
Subs:- Bonner, Conroy, Doyle, Duffy, McCluskey
Sent Off:- MacDonald 17, McGarvey 83.
Referee:- Nikolaos Lagoyannis (Greece)
Att:- 50,000
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times 2nd October 1980
