April 10 – Putting the ‘Mad’ in Madrid
FOR those of us too young to remember football in the 1970′s, watching footage of Norman Hunter and ‘Chopper’ Harris running around the pitch kicking lumps out of each other without the referee batting an eyelid are miles away from what we’re used to today. But even Don Revie’s finest would have winced at the levels of violence seen in Celtic’s European Cup semi-final first leg against Atletico Madrid that saw the Spaniards reduced to eight men, today in 1974.
Back in the ’70′s Atletico had not yet emerged from the shadow of their cross-town rivals and were relatively unknown in the British Isles. Celtic were a genuine European force, with three members of the legendary 1967 Lisbon Lions still in their line-up as the two sides got ready to rumble.
The first warning sign was that Atletico were coached by the Argentine Juan Carlos Lorenzo, famous for guiding his national side to the 1966 World Cup quarter finals, where they tried to kick their way past England, leaving Sir Alf to describe them as ‘animals.’
Atletico trained at Parkhead the night before and already had the bit between their teeth as the tackles flew in, and team-mates brawled with each other on the pitch in front of the bemused local press.
The lucky man in black charged with bringing order to the match was Turk Dogan Babacan. It took only seven minutes for his yellow card to come out as Atletico targeted the Celtic dangermen and begun to kick them off the park.
Particularly hard done by were Kenny Dalglish, Davie Hay and Dixie Deans (not that one), who was eventually substituted. After 90 minutes Atletico were down to eight men, 5 of whom had already been booked. Atletico’s tactics had helped them secure a 0-0 draw, but the final whistle didn’t slow them down, as Jimmy Johnson was set-upon on his way back into the tunnel, causing the police to intervene.
Atletico were as gracious after the match as they were during it, as they accused Celtic of bribing the referee and also claiming that the Strathclyde police came into the dressing room to beat them up.
The fun and games continued into the second-leg as the pitch at the Vicente Calderon was surrounded with armed police following a death threat to Jimmy Johnson. Celtic eventually went down 2-0, thanks to two late goals.
UEFA took a dim view of the affair, fining Atletico £14,000 and banning six of their players for two games. A 4-0 loss in the replayed final against Bayern Munich compounded this, as karma evened-up the score. Sadly there isn’t much footage of the game knocking around, so you’ll have to make do with this clip of footballing violence instead. Head over here tomorrow for a far more sedate affair.
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