League Cup joy plus Lisbon and back for £33, Celtic glory on a toss of a coin

26 November 1969

Benfica 3-0 Celtic. Despite thumping the Portuguese title-holders a week prior to the two historic teams meeting for the European Cup second round second leg in Lisbon, Benfica enacted their revenge on Stein’s men with a comprehensive 3-0 victory of their own.

The twist? The Hoops went through to the quarter-finals of the competition thanks to a coin-toss!

Following Diamantino levelling the tie with virtually the last kick of the ball, referee Laurens Van Revens called club captains Billy McNeill and Mario Coluna into his dressing room after the game. Joining the skippers were the two linesman, some of the press pack and both managers.

Cesar was given the honours of tossing the silver Dutch 2-guilder piece coin in the air and called heads. Heads it was, and McNeill had called correctly despite asking his manager Jock Stein to make the decision for him.

Celtic’s iconic club captain in his book ‘Hail Cesar’ revealed in later years that, “I couldn’t believe that I would win again, [McNeill called heads to decide who would call the actual toss] but I did! And it was the greatest relief of my life.”

Rumour has it that it was King Billy’s head on the Dutch whistler’s coin. In later years Celtic chairman Bob Kelly made a proposal to UEFA that the art of coin tossing should no longer be a tie decider. Instead, if the teams are level on aggregate, Kelly argued that the corner count should be what decides which club goes through. A bizarre episode which UEFA would fix in later years with the introduction of something called penalty-kicks!

Of course, the 90 minutes in Portugal itself was a forgettable one for Celtic, but Benfica were another side ticked off as Stein embarked on another European final. Up next in the quarter-final was Fiorentina.

Celtic v St Mirren and that Green Brigade banner on the next page…