Celtic on this Day…A European night at Celtic Park plus crucial away wins at Tynecastle and Pittodrie where in 2012, Celtic supporters unfurled a Freedom for Palestine banner…
17 November 1965
Celtic 2-0 Aarhus. Jock Stein’s men comfortably defeated part-time Danes AGF [Aarhus] via Billy McNeill and Jinky in the second round second leg of the European Cup Winners Cup. The Hoops had gone four matches on the trot in the competition keeping consecutive clean sheets whilst scoring 10 goals in the process. There seemed to be no selection dilemma for Stein who had went with the same Celtic side that had beaten St Johnstone 4-1 at Muirton Park four days earlier in the league. Having won the first leg in Denmark 1-0, the expectation was that a convincing victory at Parkhead would be a foregone conclusion. Therefore, Ian Young was not risked for the game thus Jim Craig stepped in at right-back.
On the same night as Celtic’s ECWC comfortable win, Ferenc Puskas and Francisco Gento featured at Rugby Park as Real Madrid drew 2-2 with Kilmarnock in the European Cup.
Interestingly, Bent Martin, the Aarhus goalkeeper in Glasgow’s East End 59 years ago today impressed the Celtic management team so much that they signed him in February 1966. Martin would only make one appearance for the Scottish champions before signing for Dunfermline in December 1966. Post-Aarhus, Celtic would go onto face Dynamo Kiev in the quarter-final before being cruelly defeated by Liverpool in the semi-final in April 1966.
17 November 2001
Hearts 0-1 Celtic. Henrik Larsson’s cooly dispatched penalty in the first half at Tynecastle was enough to create a new Scottish footballing record for Martin O’Neill’s side. It was the first time a Scottish Premier League team had won 10 successive games in a row since the competition’s inception/rebrand. However, Henrik’s spot-kick came at a cost. Andy Webster’s appalling high challenge on Didier Agathe which led to the penalty kick resulted in the Frenchman having to be substituted.
17 November 2012
12 years ago today, Aberdeen 0-2 Celtic. Having iconically beaten Barcelona at Celtic Park 10 days previously, Neil Lennon’s men still remained on an incredible high heading to Pittodrie. Ironically, despite defeating one the world’s best club sides of all time, Celtic failed to beat St Johnstone at Paradise four days after the Champions League encounter with the Spanish giants.
Returning to winning ways was a priority, although Lennon had one eye on the Hoops’ trip to Lisbon as they geared up to face Benfica in Europe’s elite club competition on the Tuesday night. Celtic knew that a win would seal a place in the last 16. Charlie Mulgrew, and Lassad Nouioui [remember him?]were on the scoresheet against the late great Craig Brown’s Dons.
Conor Spence
Matt Corr’s wonderful new books, Celtic in the Thirties, Volumes One & Two are both out now on Celtic Star Books and you can order a signed copies by clicking on the links below…