It’s football but not as we know it, as Argentina Madrid come to town…

April 1974 opened with a midweek Scottish Cup semi-final with Dundee at Hampden. The rematch of the League Cup final attracted almost 60,000 supporters to the national stadium, more than twice as many who had suffered those atrocious conditions at the same venue four months earlier.

Celts ensured there would be no repeat of that result by taking the game to the Dark Blues from the kick-off. The only surprise was perhaps that it took a solitary Jimmy Johnstone goal to send Celtic through to a ninth Scottish Cup final in 10 years, a quite incredible record. Two minutes before the interval, the legendary winger thrashed the ball past Thomson Allan, after Billy McNeill had headed on Harry Hood’s corner kick. The Hoops would now meet either Hearts or Dundee United in the final.

It would take another single goal victory to defeat Dundee’s Angus neighbours Arbroath at Celtic Park, three days later, this time it was Kenny Dalglish with a header on the hour beating former teammate Gordon Marshall to inch the Hoops two points closer to a ninth successive League title.

Harry would sustain a head injury late on which forced his substitution by Paul Wilson, but thankfully he would recover in time for the midweek visit of Atletico Madrid. Having remained on the bench for the epic victories over Leeds United then the gut-wrenching disappointment of Milan in 1970, then missed out through injury as Celts and Inter fought out two goalless stalemates two years later, Harry would now have the opportunity to play in the final stages of the European Cup. It would be quite an experience.

The events which took place at Parkhead on the night of Wednesday, 10 April 1974 will live long in the memory of anyone who witnessed them. That number would include myself. It was another Celtic date with destiny, a second European Cup semi-final in three seasons and, unlike the Inter Milan game of two years earlier, I had not had to fight to get taken to see this one. At 13, it was more of an accepted rite of passage and so I made my way with the other adults and the ‘greetin’-faced weans’ as Spanish champions Atletico Madrid stood between Celtic and a third European Cup final.

It had started off so well, sat perched on a stanchion in the old Celtic End with another 73,000 with hope in their hearts on a lovely spring evening, giving me a glorious panorama of the most spectacular version of “You’ll never walk alone” I had ever seen. The old stadium was packed to the rafters with a sea of green and white scarves, the fanatical passion in those legions and generations of voices filling the night air. There was and is nothing quite like it. Anywhere. It is a cry from the very soul which still tingles my spine as I complete my sixth decade.

Unlike quarter-final opponents FC Basel, this would be a first meeting between the two clubs, although only the most remarkable of comebacks had prevented that clash taking place on the Road to Lisbon. Having pipped European champions and bitter city rivals Real Madrid to the 1965/66 La Liga title by a single point, Atletico had enjoyed home and away wins over Sweden’s Malmo FF in the first round of the 1966/67 European Cup, before drawing the powerful Yugoslavs, Vojvodina.

A 3-1 defeat in Novi Sad would leave them with much to do at their as-yet-unfinished new home, the Estadio Manzanares, opened the previous month on the banks of the Madrid river which bears its name, however, goals from club legends Luis Aragones and Adelardo had levelled the aggregate by half-time. With no further scoring and no ‘away goals rule’ in place as yet in the major continental competition, unlike the two others, which would of course have seen the Spaniards qualify, a play-off would now be required.

Atletico would presumably win the coin toss for home advantage, although, strangely, when this prospect reappeared at the quarter-final stage of the competition for Celtic, it had already been agreed that any play-off would take place in neutral Rotterdam. In any case, in the interim, the draw for the last eight of the European Cup had paired the winner of this tie with Jock Stein’s Celtic, who had just beaten French champions Nantes home and away.

The Parkhead boss would be in Madrid on Wednesday, 21 December 1966 to witness the second-round play-off in person, and he would probably have felt safe to leave after just six minutes, happy in the knowledge that his side would be returning there in the spring. By that time, goals from Adelardo and Enrique Collar had the hosts 2-0 ahead, whilst Irish referee Willie O’Neill would later send off two Vojvodina players. Game over? Not a bit of it.

The Yugoslavs levelled the tie just after the hour, thanks to goals from Silvester Takac and Dimitrije Radovic, and when Takac scored his second on the night towards the end of the first period of extra-time, it would be the nine men from Serbia who would progress to provide the opposition for Celtic, for what would turn out to be the most memorable night in Glasgow’s east end in March 1967.

Ironically, Atletico would again have to overcome Yugoslav opposition to qualify for the semi-final meeting with Celtic in April 1974, this time Red Star Belgrade their opponents in the last eight, following aggregate wins over Galatasaray and Dinamo Bucharest. This time the hard work was done by Atletico in the Serbian capital, with a 2-0 victory in the first leg, their third successive away win in the competition. Unusually, the Spaniards had drawn all three of their home games.

Time can sometimes play tricks with the memory, in the sense that I don’t specifically recall whether or not the background of Atletico’s coach and compilation of their playing squad was made much of an issue before the match.

Argentinian Juan Carlos Lorenzo had followed the path of his illustrious countryman and predecessor Helenio Herrera to Italy and Spain, in his case as a player at Boca Juniors, Sampdoria then Atletico Madrid. His management CV included spells at both Rome clubs, sandwiched between leading the Argentinian national side at the World Cups of 1962 and 1966.

31 JULY 1966: ENGLAND MANAGER ALF RAMSEY AND CAPTAIN BOBBY MOORE (RIGHT) HOLD UP THE JULES RIMET TROPHY AS OTHER ENGLAND PLAYERS LOOK ON DURING A LUNCH RECEPTION AT ITV ELSTREE TELEVISION STUDIOS AFTER ENGLAND WON THE WORLD CUP FINAL AGAINST WEST GERMANY. Photo: Allsport Hulton/Archive

It was his Argentina team to whom England manager Alf Ramsey had directed his infamous ‘animals’ reference, after the Wembley quarter-final had witnessed ridiculous scenes involving his captain, Antonio Rattin. Celtic would sadly experience this somewhat different approach to football the following year themselves, in three games against Racing Club de Avellaneda, incidentally another club who would later be managed by Lorenzo.

There would be four Argentinians in Atletico’s starting line-up in Glasgow, the most notorious of whom being left-back Ruben Diaz, who had kicked Jimmy Johnstone up and down the Hampden pitch in the colours of Racing Club back in October 1967. He was nicknamed ‘The Baker,’ presumably as ‘The Butcher’ had already been claimed when he signed up, although, surprisingly, Diaz did not feature in rounds two and three of the battle in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

Of Atletico’s Spanish contingent, Adelardo was in his usual place, however, there was no sign of the talisman Luis Aragones, whilst international goalkeeper Miguel Reina was between the sticks. Reina’s son Jose, better known as Pepe, would play against Celtic in the UEFA Cup for Villarreal, 30 years later, before moving to Liverpool then Napoli.

The teams lined up as follows, as Jock Stein sought a first-leg advantage to take to Madrid.

Celtic:
Denis Connaghan; Davie Hay & Jim Brogan; Steve Murray, Billy McNeill & Pat McCluskey;
Jimmy Johnstone, Harry Hood, Dixie Deans, Tommy Callaghan & Kenny Dalglish.

Substitutes; Ally Hunter, Danny McGrain, Bobby Lennox & Paul Wilson.

Atletico Madrid:
Miguel Reina; Francisco Melo & Ruben Diaz; Domingo Benegas, Iselin Overjero & Eusebio Bejerano;
Ruben Ayala, Adelardo Rodriguez, Jose Garate, Javier Irureta & Ramon Heredia.

Substitutes; Quique Vicente & Alberto Fernandez.

There is a critical moment early in the match which tends to be overshadowed by subsequent events. Tommy Callaghan’s pass found Harry and Kenny Dalglish springing Atletico’s offside trap, Hood doing superbly well to round Reina and clip the ball back for Dalglish to tap home. Incredibly, the Turkish officials ruled the goal out, presumably on the basis that the ball had crossed the line before Harry cut it back. Photographic evidence should later show this to be a travesty of justice. Had the Spanish game plan been blown away so early and had Celts had that vital lead to build on in front of that massive home support, who knows how history may have changed.

Instead, the match became a battle of attrition, Atletico allowed to commit foul after horrible foul for 90 minutes, more than 50 in total, with Celtic’s attacking play broken up constantly. The yellow card count soon began to rack up, before the reds started to appear from referee Babacan’s pocket. The waist-high assault on Jimmy Johnstone by Paraguayan defender Domingo Benegas early in the second half – after ‘The Baker’ Diaz had tried unsuccessfully to slice him in half – was worthy of an ordering off in itself, however, incredibly, he survived with a caution.

Argentinian international striker Ruben Ayala would be the first to walk. In his first season in Madrid, following a transfer from Argentinian ‘Invincibles’ San Lorenzo and looking forward to representing his country in the summer World Cup finals, this would not be his finest hour. Ayala had already been booked early on for a pointless challenge on Denis Connaghan when he brought Davie Hay crashing to the ground with a two-footed lunge from behind right in front of the dugouts, a quick check of his number from referee Babacan enough to send him packing.

Next up was another Ruben, this time Diaz. He had gone through the full repertoire of tricks on Jimmy Johnstone, including a first-half rugby tackle which went unpunished, when the winger skipped past him for the umpteenth time. Having failed to stop Jinky legally, up went the boot to catch the winger’s trailing leg before the look of innocence and hands clasped behind his back would surely convince the Turkish referee that no wrongdoing had occurred. I suspect that by this time, even Babacan had had enough. Out came the red card and into the early Argentinian bath trudged the shocked and shocking Diaz. And then there were nine.

The shameful tactics adopted by the visitors continued, goalkeeper Miguel Reina actually elbowing Dixie Deans in the ribs as he cleared from his penalty area, only to then writhe about the ground in agony, despite the Celt making no contact whatsoever. Amongst all this, there would be the occasional outbreak of football, Harry glancing his header inches wide of the post from a Tommy Callaghan cross before the keeper dived to hold a Kenny Dalglish effort.

Normal service was soon resumed, substitute Quique deciding to seek his own form of retribution, 15 seconds after his introduction, by following through on a clearance to kick out at Jimmy Johnstone. He limped back to his feet before being shown the third red card of the night by referee Babacan.

With only eight players remaining on the pitch, one further misdemeanour would see the match abandoned, however, Atletico were too streetwise to allow that to happen. Callaghan would again deliver a perfect cross to pick out the head of Johnstone, and how fitting it would have been had the bruised and battered winger found the net to give Celts one foot in the Brussels final.

Sadly, the ball would drift wide, and with it would go the last hope of a home lead on a night when football and whatever reputation Atletico had was shamed in Glasgow. The final whistle triggered yet further disgraceful scenes, with both sets of players, officials and even police officers involved in an unseemly rumble as they headed down the tunnel. No beautiful game tonight.

Harry Hood recalled the events of that infamous evening in April 2011.

“We just thought it would be a nice Spanish football side who play nice, clever football and it would be a nice game of football because we were an attacking side, and we were hoping that this being a normal Spanish side it would be something similar.

“We had a goal disallowed in the first couple of minutes and why it was disallowed I don’t know. The ball most certainly was not over the line. What happened after that was just incredible. Football was not allowed to be played. If I remember rightly, we still got our match bonus because of the way we conducted ourselves.”

Celtic boss Jock Stein had sought out Atletico counterpart Juan Carlos Lorenzo after the full-time whistle, unsuccessfully as Harry remembers.

“I think Mr Stein lost the plot a little because he wasn’t happy with their manager and I think he tried to get a hold of him, but he couldn’t because their manager had run all the way to the dressing room and barricaded himself in there. I think Billy and I ran after Mr Stein and we tried to get hold of him. So, it was all happening behind us, but I think there was a fair Donnybrook going on.”