On 21 March 1967, Celtic learned their European semi-final destiny, drawn against Czech champions, Dukla Prague, with the first leg to be played at home, three weeks later. There was a frenzy for tickets, with the 75,000 briefs selling out quickly, in the lead-up to the big game.
In the interim, Celts had qualified for a third successive Scottish Cup Final, after a replay win over local rivals, Clyde. Their opponents would be Aberdeen, who had beaten Euro giant-killers Dundee United, thanks to an early own goal at Dens Park, watched by an unbelievable crowd of over 41,000.
There was also a huge personal honour for Ronnie Simpson, chosen as Scotland’s goalkeeper for the forthcoming fixture against World Champions England at Wembley. This would be a first international cap, making him the oldest Scottish debutant ever. It was yet another incredible chapter in the life of ‘Faither’, the man who had played in the Olympics in the 40s, won two FA Cup medals with Newcastle United the following decade then feared his career was over, after Hibernian manager, Jock Stein, sold him to Celtic in 1964, as back-up to John Fallon, after the pair had fallen out. Little did he know…
Like many of the sides Celtic had come up against in their early European campaigns, Dukla were a club with a proud history including some special characters. Formed as ATK Praha in 1948, they enjoyed the patronage of the Czech army, having first call on all players completing military service.
They won the first of what would be eleven national titles, five years later, by which time the club name had changed to UDA Praha. Whilst that would have made for an interesting ‘half-and-half’ scarf in 1967, thankfully, a further identity change was to follow in 1956. Their second Czechoslovak First League crown prompted a rebrand to Dukla, honouring those who had died at Dukla Pass on the Polish/Slovakian border, during the Eastern Front conflict of 1944.
Very much the dominant Czech side of the era, they had been Champions no less than eight times before they faced Celtic in April 1967. They also had European Cup experience in spades.
Their first European game was a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford in the Champions Cup, in November 1957. Tragically, less than three months later, many of the Busby Babes would perish in Munich, returning home after a successful Second Round tie against Red Star in Belgrade. Dukla did enjoy a 1-0 victory in the return leg in the old Strahov Stadion, as United progressed to their saddest of dates with destiny.
The following season saw Dukla back in the European Cup, this time opening with a 4-3 aggregate win over Yugoslav champions, Dinamo Zagreb. In the Second Round, they were paired with the Austrian champions, Wiener Sport-club, this time the Czechs losing out by the odd goal in five.
Their next appearance in the premier competition was in 1961/62, CSKA Sofia defeated in Prague after a thrilling 4-4 draw in Bulgaria. And the goals kept flowing at both ends, a 3-1 lead becoming a 4-3 loss to Servette in Geneva, Dukla’s home form again seeing them through, winning the return 2-0. The Quarter-final paired them with English double-winners, Tottenham Hotspur, a 1-0 Dukla win setting the second leg up nicely at White Hart Lane. However, Spurs would prove far too powerful in London, both Bobby Smith and Dave Mackay netting twice as they qualified comfortably, 4-2 on aggregate.
It was Germany calling next for the Prague side, in the following season’s European Cup, a second-half hat-trick from Jozef Adamec in Berlin seeing off Vorwarts. Adamec had a long, successful international career with Czechoslovakia, with Brazil, Ireland and Scotland all featuring prominently. He was part of the Czech squad who beat Scotland in a Brussels Play-off in 1961, to progress to the following year’s World Cup Finals in Chile, albeit only playing in the 7-1 Strahov win against Ireland, in the qualifying section. He featured in all three Group matches in South America, as they beat the Spain of Gento, Di Stefano, Puskas and Suarez, drew with the Brazil of Garrincha, Vava and Pele, then lost to Mexico.
The Mexico game would be his last appearance in the competition. Czechoslovakia, featuring several Dukla colleagues, would go all the way to the Final, before losing to group rivals, Brazil, in Santiago. Adamec would have to wait for his moment, although his patience would be rewarded with a hat-trick against the Samba superstars in Bratislava in 1968, the first person to do so since Ernst Wilimowski of Poland, thirty years earlier. The following year, he scored the winner in Dublin, as the Czechs qualified for the Mexican World Cup Finals of 1970, having also been part of the side who won a Euro68 qualifier at the same Dalymount Park, four days before the Lisbon European Cup Final of 1967, the second and final appearance for Celtic’s Charlie Gallacher, the first Scottish-born player to be selected by Ireland.
Adamec played in all three Group defeats in Mexico, to Brazil, Romania and England, before facing the World Champions and Scotland in the Independence Cup in Rio in 1972, both games finishing goalless. His penultimate cap came in the famous clash at Hampden in September of the following year, as the Scots gained revenge for 1961 by qualifying for the West Germany finals at Czechoslovakia’s expense.
Back in the 1962/63 European Cup, Adamec completed his one-man crusade by scoring the only goal of the second-leg against Vorwarts Berlin in the Juliska Stadion, the new home of Dukla. The Czech champions went one better in the next round, with a 5-0 demolition of Danes Esbjerg, all the goals coming in the Prague second-leg. The journey was ended for another year in the Quarter-final, by Benfica, winners of the previous two competitions. They gained a narrow 2-1 advantage in Lisbon, courtesy of a double from the legendary Mario Coluna, a goalless return in Prague seeing the holders advance towards a third successive Final, although this time they would lose to AC Milan at Wembley.
The third successive appearance with Europe’s elite commenced, later that year, with an 8-0 trouncing of Valletta, a Kucera hat-trick in Prague as Dukla hit six, rendering the return in Malta meaningless. The ante was raised considerably in the next round, Polish champions Gornik Zabrze, featuring the great Lubanski, taking a 2-0 lead to the Juliska, where it was overturned by 4-1, Kucera again at the double. Dukla moved the Quarter-final tie with Borussia Dortmund to the larger Eden Stadion, home of rivals Slavia, a presumably-commercial decision they would perhaps look back on with regret. The Germans inflicted a rare home defeat on Dukla, with a convincing 4-0 win, although, strangely, they then won the away leg by 3-1. But it would be too little, too late for them to remain in the competition.
Also on the scoresheet against Gornik in Prague was a certain Josef Masopust. In the long line of football masters already encountered by the fledgling Celtic in Europe, he is up there with the best. Born in 1931, his career began in Most, the club now known as FK Banik Most playing their games in the Football Stadion Josefa Masopusta, after their most famous son. He joined the armed forces and, therefore, Dukla Prague, in 1952. He would remain there for sixteen years, before moving to Crossing Molenbeek as a 37-year-old player/coach in 1968, taking his club up to the Belgian First Division.
His time at Dukla is littered with honours, anchor of the team who won eight championships and three Czech Cups, perennial competitors in Europe’s major competitions for a decade. He also enjoyed a fabulous twelve-year career with the national side, following his debut against the Mighty Magyars in 1954. He played all four Group games for Czechoslovakia in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where they surprisingly lost a play-off to Bertie Peacock’s six-county warriors.
Two years later, he was a key part of the Czech side who finished third in the inaugural European Nations Cup in France, losing to eventual winners, the Soviet Union, in the Semi-final, before beating the hosts in Marseilles. Masopust was selected by UEFA, as was legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin, in the Team of the tournament.
The following year, he captained Czechoslovakia in World Cup qualifying matches against Scotland and Ireland, coming up against a young Billy McNeill in Bratislava, as the hosts won 4-0, then again at Hampden, as the Scots won 3-2, Pat Crerand joining Cesar for that one. There were home and away wins over the Irish, with Masopust scoring in the 7-1 victory in Prague, mentioned earlier, before the Czechs broke Scottish hearts and dreams of a third consecutive World Cup Finals appearance, with a 4-2 extra-time victory in the Heysel Play-off, Crerand the lone Celt on duty in Brussels that evening.
So it was the Czech Lion who roared in Chile instead, and roar it most certainly did. Masopust was one of seven Dukla players in the 22-man squad, beside his long-time club colleague and captain, Ladislav Novak, a veteran of the 1954 campaign. Both would later go on to manage the club. Czechoslovakia were drawn against holders Brazil, featuring the star of the previous World Cup, 21-year-old Pele, Spain, managed by Herrera and including his Internazionale general, Suarez, as well as the naturalised Real pairing of Puskas and Di Stefano, and Mexico, captained by another legendary goalkeeper, Antonio Carbajal, the first man to play in five Finals tournaments.
It was a tough ask but the Czechs responded well, beating Spain, then drawing with Brazil, meaning that defeat in the last game against Mexico did not prevent progress. Knock-out victories over Eastern European rivals, Hungary, featuring our old friend Karoly Sandor, and Yugoslavia, set up a re-match with Brazil in the Final. Despite Masopust opening the scoring in Santiago, the South Americans, now minus the injured Pele, hit back to win 3-1, thanks to goals from Amarildo, Zito and Vava, becoming only the second side to retain the Jules Rimet Trophy, following the Italians of 1938. Curiously, there would be Scottish representation at the Final, our old friend R H Davidson of Airdrie, running the line!
Josef would later receive some consolation for the disappointment of losing that Final, voted European Player of the Year for 1962, joining the legends Matthews, Di Stefano, Kopa, Sivori and Suarez, as early recipients of the prestigious Ballon d’Or award. Soon the names of Yashin, Law, Eusebio, Charlton and Best, would be added to that list but sadly not Jimmy Johnstone’s, ‘Jinky’ finishing third in 1966/67.
In the autumn of 1964, Masopust and Dukla commenced a fourth consecutive European Cup campaign with a re-run of the previous season’s clash with Gornik. A 4-1 home victory for the Czechs, with both Masopust and Lubanski scoring for their respective clubs, was followed by a 3-0 loss in Chorzow, the tie then decided by a Play-off, with away goals not yet counting double in the premier tournament. The third match, in neutral Duisburg, finished goalless, so it was left to the lottery of a coin toss, Dukla guessing correctly, to eliminate the Poles again.
Their luck would soon run out, drawn against five-time winners Real Madrid in the next round. The tie was effectively over after the first leg in the Santiago Bernabeu, an Amancio hat-trick the highlight in a 4-0 Spanish victory. Almost 40,000 packed into the Strahov for the return, a Geleta double having the Czechs ahead until the closing minutes before Amancio had the last word, the game ending 2-2.
After four successive championships, there was an inexplicable blip for Dukla in 1964/65, finishing a lowly eighth as Sparta Prague romped to the title, although they did win the Czechoslovak Cup. This ensured a first European Cup-Winners’ Cup appearance in 65/66, and so as Celtic were going ahead in Deventer and Liverpool were seeing off Juventus, Dukla were disposing of Stade Rennais with a 2-0 win in Prague followed by a goalless return in France. Their Second Round tie with Honved was unusual in that both teams won their away leg. This time the ‘away goals’ rule did apply, the Hungarians’ three strikes in Prague proving decisive. The Budapest side then faced Liverpool in the Quarter-final, the Merseysiders winning 2-0, to go through to a Last Four meeting with Celtic, on the Road to Hampden.
There was an incredible finish in the Czechoslovak First League of 1965/66, with the three major Prague sides, Dukla, Sparta and Slavia, all finishing on 33 points. Defending champions, Sparta, had the same goal differential as Dukla and had actually scored seven more goals, however, the tiebreaking criteria of the day was ‘goal average’, Dukla reclaiming their crown by the narrowest of margins, for a fifth national title success in six seasons.
The 66/67 European Cup assault commenced on familiar territory, Esbjerg in western Denmark. Dukla had beaten the Danes 5-0 on aggregate four years previously and this time they would go one better, after 2-0 and 4-0 wins, Vacenovsky on target twice as the goals were spread around. Next up were Belgian champions Anderlecht, Masopust opening the scoring in a fine 4-1 victory in the Juliska, Dukla then following this up with a 2-1 success in Brussels.
The Quarter-final draw saw Dukla paired with Ajax, the Dutch side fresh from a 7-3 destruction of Liverpool and strongly fancied to go through. There were 55,000 in the Olympisch Stadion to watch the first leg, the hosts drawing first blood early in the second half, when winger Jesaia Swart fired home from a tight angle. Swart was a decade and two medals into a 17-year career with his only club. ‘Mr Ajax’ would go on to play more games than anyone else for the team, almost 600, eventually winning seven Eredivisie titles, five KNVB Cups and three European Cups, as the Dutch side’s ‘Total Football’ swept all before them. He would not have the last word tonight, though. Ten minutes later, Ivan Mraz finished off a counter-attack to equalise, the vital away goal silencing the home crowd.
The 1-1 draw in Amsterdam left the tie in the balance, and when Swart scored his second goal of the tie on the hour in Prague, Dukla were facing elimination. Then with twenty minutes remaining, Strunc equalised from the spot, after he was bundled in the box. As we entered the closing stages, a Play-off looked certain. However, just as in Celtic’s last-eight tie with Vojvodina, there was a dramatic ending, the unfortunate Soetekouw lobbing his own goalkeeper, to gift the game and the tie to the Czechs.
So it was on the back of six successive continental campaigns, five of them in the European Cup, and a victory over Cruyff’s exciting young Dutch stars, that Dukla Prague prepared for their Semi-final date with Jock Stein’s Celtic, in April 1967. In the Czech dugout would be the coach who had been with the club through all of these adventures and more, since 1953, Bohumil Musil. His latest spell in the hot-seat had commenced midway through the 65/66 season, replacing Jaroslav Vejvoda. That decision would be vindicated by the delivery of Dukla’s first League and Cup double since his predecessor had achieved the same feat five years earlier.
There was a poignant note on the day of the Glasgow first-leg, news breaking that Sam English, the Rangers player involved in the 1931 collision which claimed the life of John Thomson, had passed away following a battle with Motor Neurone Disease, the dreadful condition which would later claim Don Revie and our own Jimmy Johnstone, amongst others. English was only 58 years-old. Rest in peace.
The latest Battle of Dukla kicked-off in the cauldron of a packed Celtic Park. The first half-hour saw chances missed at both ends, Simpson saving from both Strunc and Nederost before Chalmers’ headed ‘goal’ was disallowed for high feet by Johnstone in the build-up. Jinky then popped up in an identical position to chip Celtic into the lead and as half-time approached, things were looking good. As so often happens though, when players’ thoughts turn to the interval, a crucial goal was lost, Strunc taking advantage of defensive hesitation to fire the Czechs level, following a through ball from Masopust.
On the hour, on his first European appearance for the club, Willie Wallace made his mark on Celtic history forever. First, he latched on to a Gemmell ‘up and under’, which had deceived the Dukla defence, to fire the ball high past Viktor with the outside of his foot. Five minutes later, as a free-kick was awarded for a catch which Yashin himself would have been proud off, Auld deceived the Czechs by pretending to reset the ball, instead nudging it to his right for Wallace to strike a tremendous shot inside Viktor’s post. The former Hearts man almost notched his hat-trick shortly afterwards, instead hitting the bar from close-range. Nevertheless, Stein had the two-goal advantage he had demanded.
Five days later, Celtic returned to Prague, to the adopted home of Johnny Madden, the revered ‘Father of Czech football’, who had revolutionised the game with Slavia, in the opening decades of the century, after appearing in the first-ever episodes of Celtic Football Club in 1888.
The game took place on the Tuesday afternoon, an unseasonably cold day for the most vital game in our history, a place in the Final of the European Cup at stake.
It was a third Semi-final in four seasons for Celtic in continental competition, both having previously ended in disappointment, at the hands of MTK Budapest and Liverpool. But in front of a noisy Juliska crowd, this would be our day. A defensive approach from Stein, as unusual as it was necessary, took the sting out of the early Dukla pressure, Simpson making some crucial saves to defy the Czech forwards. Celtic gradually settled into the game, occasionally hitting on the break themselves, primarily through lone striker Chalmers.
With fifteen minutes remaining, Johnstone revived his Nantes cameo, dragging defenders across the pitch as their legs tired and their spirits sank. The Swiss referee finally blew for time, the cue for an eruption of joy from the Celtic bench. There were iconic scenes, which remain fresh in the memory, more than fifty years later, Tommy Gemmell hoisting Jinky aloft, both wearing the distinctive red-and-yellow Dukla jersey, which would become a cult-purchase in the next Millennium. I know…I was that Santa!
As the news filtered home, the reality of the moment would take some time to sink in…Celtic would play in the European Cup Final in Lisbon, the greatest show on earth, the following month. Our opponents that day were as yet unclear, as the second leg of the other Semi-final would take place the following day. As things stood, Herrera’s Inter Milan, twice World Club Champions in the previous three years and Quarter-final conquerors of the six-time winners and current holders, Real Madrid, had been surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw in the San Siro by Bulgarian champions, CSKA Sofia.
That could wait for now. In the meantime, we had a Scottish Cup Final date with Aberdeen to look forward to at the weekend, and we were a point away from claiming a second successive League title.
It was a very special time for those with Celtic in their hearts
Hail, hail!
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on Twitter @Boola_vogue
Thanks as always to the folk behind the Celtic Wiki on Kerrydale St., a fabulous source of information for these stories.
THE VALENCIA FILE – Parts 1-7 are below (there are 2 articles for Part 6)…
The Valencia file (Part 7) – The flashing head of Cesar breaks Vojvodina hearts
The Valencia file (Part 6) – Introducing Yugoslav football, Celtic links and Mr Vojvodina
The Valencia file (Part 6) – The Canaries are ‘bossed in France’ by the Flying Flea
The Valencia file (Part 5) – Celtic face another Magyar legend in Zurich
The Valencia file (Part 4) – A linesman’s flag prevents Celtic playing a European final at Hampden
The Valencia file (Part 3) – McGrory of Valencia and the end of an era
The Valencia file (Part 1) – Celtic’s European adventure begins
