Celtic’s nightmare in Bratislava…
On Wednesday, 27 July 2005, just over two months from the day of his appointment, Gordon Strachan made his competitive debut as Celtic manager in Bratislava in a Champions League second qualifying round tie against Slovakian title-holders Artmedia…
The club from Petrzalka, a southern district of Bratislava on the banks of the River Danube, just a stone’s throw from the Austrian border, had evolved from FC Petrzalka and then through a series of name changes to emerge in 2004 as Artmedia Bratislava, the latest branding reflecting both their advertising agency sponsor and the recently integrated Rapid Bratislava.
Artmedia had won their first-ever Slovak Superliga in 2004/05, thanks largely to 22 goals from star striker Filip Sebo, who would move to Austria Vienna in the close-season and so would miss the imminent ties with Celtic. However, in the remarkably small world that is European football, Sebo would face the Hoops in the colours of Rangers within a year, his name thereafter becoming a byword for wayward shooting at Celtic Park which persists to this day.
With Artmedia’s Stadion Petrzalka failing to meet UEFA standards, the game would be played at Slovan Bratislava’s Tehelne Pole home in the north of the city. This should have been a good omen for Celtic.
In March 1964, the 11 men immortalised in the famous old song, “Celtic, Celtic, that’s the team for me,” had played Slovan there in the quarter-final of the European Cup-Winners’ Cup, defending the slender lead given to them by a late Bobby Murdoch penalty at Parkhead.
Minus key midfielder Jozef Venglos but roared on by a partisan 30,000-strong support, the Slovaks laid siege on the Celtic goal. However, a fine defensive performance by the Bhoys was rewarded with just five minutes remaining, John ‘Yogi’ Hughes picking the ball up at the halfway-line and outstripping several Slovan defenders before slotting the ball past Viliam Schroif in the home goal, to seal a tremendous Celtic victory.
More than 40 years later, in front of just 17,000 spectators, the man facing Gordon Strachan in the home dugout was Vladimir Weiss. Son of a Czech international of the same name from the early 1960s, Weiss had also represented his country, notably as a teammate of Lubo Moravcik as Czechoslovakia progressed to the last eight of Italia ’90 under that same Jozef Venglos.
Weiss had come off the bench for the opening two games in Florence, replacing Lubo for the last few minutes against the USA with the Czechs 4-1 up, before making another late cameo in the single-goal defeat of neighbours Austria. He then started the final group game, against the hosts in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, making way on the hour mark as a header from Toto Schillaci and a wonderful solo effort from the Devine Ponytail, Roberto Baggio, confirmed that the Italians would qualify as section winners ahead of Czechoslovakia.
Vladimir Weiss was an unused substitute as the Czechs comfortably beat Costa Rica in Bari in the Last 16, Scotland’s Central American conquerors losing by 4-1 with Moravcik again completing the full 90-minutes in the white ‘11’ shirt.
The midfielder had just agreed a transfer from his hometown club FC Nitra to St Etienne in France, and it would be the best part of a decade before Lubo, once infamously described by a well-known Scottish journalist as “a Slovakian has-been,” would light up Celtic Park, having been brought there aged 33 from MSV Duisburg by – yes, you guessed it – Jozef Venglos. A two-footed footballing genius, the Slovakian ‘gift from God’ Moravcik remains an iconic figure for those of us fortunate enough to have witnessed that particular four-year spell towards the end of his career.
Inter Bratislava midfielder Weiss remained on the bench as the Czech’s brave journey ended in the San Siro, a first-half penalty from Lothar Matthaus – the German skipper at that time plying his trade with Inter Milan, so playing in his home stadium – enough to take the favourites through to a tear-filled semi-final with England in Turin and eventual World Cup glory in Rome.
Having started every game in Italy, Lubo Moravcik’s tournament then ended 20 minutes early, the playmaker dismissed when a second yellow card was brandished by the Austrian referee for alleged simulation following a heavy tackle on him in the German box, the little Czech playmaker having picked up a caution in the opening quarter of the match. Lubo left the pitch clutching his left boot and a strong sense of injustice. At 25, it would be his farewell appearance at a major international tournament.
Having returned to Bratislava in 1996 to see out his playing career with the then FC Petrzalka, Vladimir Weiss had remained to cut his coaching teeth with the club, teaming up with one of Lubo Moravcik’s former Nitra colleagues Michal Hipp to steer a rebranded Artmedia to the Slovak Cup in 2004 then the national title the following season.
Their opening tie in the qualifying phase of the 2005/06 Champions League had gone surprisingly well. Seeded second for that round behind cup-holders Liverpool – the Merseyside club having been given special dispensation by UEFA to defend their trophy, despite finishing fifth in the English League – Artmedia drew the lowest-ranked side in the competition, Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.
A 2-0 defeat in the first leg in Almaty’s Central Stadium left them with much to do in the return, played at the Slovakian Football Association’s National Training Centre at Senec, 25 kilometres north-east of Bratislava for reasons mentioned above.
However, the Slovaks fought back well to level the tie after 90 minutes before falling behind again in the opening minute of extra-time. An immediate response from the penalty spot, courtesy of Slovak international midfielder Jan Kozak, took the tie to the brink of a shootout for the right to face Celtic in the second round, but Pavol Stano struck in the dying seconds to ensure Artmedia would porogress as 4-1 winners on the night. As a brief aside, Kozak signed for West Bromwich Albion six months later and would later skipper his country.
