It is 40 years since Atletico Madrid dined at the top table of European club football and their upcoming CL semi-final with Chelsea will bring back memories for many of the last time Spain took on the UK in the last four of Europe's Premier club competition.
The 1970's saw Scottish teams punch well above their weight in European competition and none more so than Jock Stein's Celtic.
Back in 1974 Atletico Madrid had not yet emerged from the shadow of their cross-town rivals Real 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 in Celtic's second European Cup semi-final in three years. Inter Milan had ousted the Glasgow giants on penalties after a 0-0 aggregate scoreline in 1972 and went onto meet Ajax in the final losing 1-0. Celtic were coming to the end of their nine year domestic dominance of Scottish football under Jock Stein but it was reckoned by most pundits in the UK that Celtic would progress without too much difficulty against the then poorer relations of Real Madrid and make it to their first European Cup final since losing 2-1 in Milan to Feyenoord of Holland in 1970.
The first warning sign that all might not be well with the Spaniards 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 Jimmy 'Jinky' Johnstone, Kenny Dalglish, Davie Hay and John 'Dixie' Deans, 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 Johnstone 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 Johnstone. 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. The First Leg of the infamous semi-final at Parkhead was live on ITV throughout the UK. with Arthur Montford taking ther mike 'for Scottish viewers only' and Brian Moore commentating for the rest of the British Isles. There are several clips of the game on Youtube plus a documentary feature featuring Celtic players of the time from STV's late 1990's football documentary series 'The Football Years'.
Bayern beat the Hungarians of Ujpest Dozsa on aggregate in the other semi-final tie 40 years ago and Atletico were over-run in the second game of the final which was played on a Friday after a 1-1 draw on the Wednesday night. At the time there was extra time but no penalties for European club finals although they were played at neutral venues.