| Match Pictures | Matches: 1987 – 1988 | 1988-1988 Pictures |
Trivia
- Aggregate Score: Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Celtic.
- The game at Celtic Park had been the first game Celtic had played in Europe against West German opposition in a competitive match. That game had finished 2-1 to Celtic – a win but at the expense of conceding a crucial away goal
- By the time of this game McNeill had been to see the German side play three times – once during the pre-season tour of Scandinavia and twice immediately prior to this game, one of those games being a 3-0 loss away to Werder Bremen and the second a win against close-rivals Schalke 04. Whilst he felt they were a competent side he saw no reason for Celtic not to prevail and go through – in fact this appeared to be the general belief.
- There was quite a large degree of pre-match shadow-boxing between the two managers, both sides claiming that various players would not make the game only for them to appear on the night. The German side claimed that their goal-scoring duo of Raducanu and Dickel were both injured whilst McNeill claimed that there was little chance of McCarthy making it and things did not look good for Stark and Whyte who he said were carrying knocks.
- McKnight was preferred in goal to Bonner, who had been out recovering from a virus and had only played two Reserve games in the last five weeks; the back four of Morris, McCarthy, Whyte and Rogan saw McCarthy make his debut after eight weeks out recovering from a stomach muscle tear picked up on the pre-season tour of Scandinavia. He had only played one Reserve game before this; Aitken moved forward as a holding midfielder, with Stark, Grant, McStay and Burns and Walker up front.
- The match was sold out and 3,000 Celtic supporters travelled though with provision made for servicemen in Germany to buy tickets and support the Bhoys over there. At the end of the game the German fans invaded the pitch and raced towards the Celtic fans throwing missiles. Order was restored by the police but UEFA took a dim view of the post-game proceedings. The Club used the pages of the Celtic View to praise the fans for not getting involved in the afters.
- Borussia players on £1500 bonus per man to win.
- Borussia Dortmund progressed to the Third Round where they were defeated by Club Brugge with an aggregate score of 3-5. The competition was eventually won by another German side, Bayer Leverkusen who overcame Espanyol in the final (which was a two-legged affair) on penalties after tieing 3-3 home and away.
- (There is discrepancy between various sources as to who actually subbed Walker – whether it was Shepherd or McGuire. The reports give Shepherd, the stats show McGuire and the subsequent books all display this discrepancy. The true situation regarding subs is given here).
- Dortmund lost 5-3 on aggregate to FC Bruges in the third round after extra time.
- On their return home Celtic signed Frank McAvennie from West Ham for a club record fee of £725,000.
Review
Mick McCarthy’s debut in Germany in a defeat to go out of Europe.
Teams
Borussia Dortmund
De Beer, Klepinger, Kutowski, Pagelsdorf, Hupe (Sumnes), MacLeod, Helmer, Zorc, Dickel, Raducanu, Mill
Unused Subs: Lusch, Bansch, Wohlert, Meyer
Scorer: Dickel (72), Dickel (86)
Celtic:
McKnight, Morris, Rogan, Whyte, McCarthy, Aitken, Stark (McGuire, 87), McStay, Grant, Walker (Shepherd, 83), Burns.
Unused Subs: Bonner, O’Leary, Mathie
Aggregate Score: Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Celtic
Attendance: 53,000
Referee: Lobello (Italy)
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
KDS
Articles
(synopsis from The Herald)
Celtic Protect their Lead for Seventy Minutes.
Celtic’s resistance to a strong German side finally gave way in the last 18 minutes. Up to that point they had coped admirably and contained the Germans well with a possessional football, but then Dickel stole two goals and all the defensive qualities came to nothing. McCarthy was good for most of the game but tired towards the end understandably given his lack of match fitness. McStay was the Celtic MotM.
Celtic’s game was based on holding the Germans and retaining possession once they had weathered the opening flurry from Dortmund. Burns and McStay controlled the midfield and in fact Celtic could have scored early in the first half with a free kick from 22 yards. McStay touched the ball to Burns who teed up Grant and his deflected shot bounced off the goalkeeper’s body to safety.
There was entertaining play from both sides with any slackness being immediately punished by either team. A short back pass from Stark to McKnight was seized on by Dickel who rounded the goalkeeper only to be called back for off-side. Celtic had chances, with McCarthy going close with a diving header from a corner but the team had to be alert all the time for attacks. Rogan also had shots on goal. Stalemates were developing with Grant controlling the Dortmund striker Raducanu and Kutowski getting the better of Billy Stark. A short corner between Burns and Morris was crossed to Walker but ended up being bundled away.
At the other end McKnight had to make a one-handed diving save from a Kleppinger shot with Dortmund upping the pace towards half time.
With the scores even the second half began in similar style with Dortmund piling on the pressure. Mill was a constant threat and needed to be carefully marshalled by McCarthy. As the game continued with no score German worries increased and Sumnes replaced Hupe on 70 minutes signalling a siege of the Celtic goal. Everything went out the window on 72 minutes when a Dortmund corner taken by Mill fell to Dickel and his header was glanced across goal and into the net.
Celtic tried there best to come back from that needing a goal to avoid the away goal rule. There was a claim for a penalty from Dortmund on 83 minutes which was turned away by the Italian referee and in the aftermath McKnight appeared to receive an elbow to the face. Celtic brought on Shepherd for Walker on 83 minutes (see above) but on 86 minutes a passing movement from Dortmund saw the defence split on the left and Dickel side-footed home from 8 yards. McGuire replaced Stark at the death.
