ON THIS DAY 7TH JUNE 1967 Real Madrid 0-1 Celtic, Testimonial - Alfredo Di Stefano Celtic invited to play Real Madrid to honour legendary player Alfredo Di Stefano Celtic win the Alfredo Di Stefano Trophy Real play in blue shorts to avoid a clash of colours. The great Di Stefano only played for the first 14 minutes. Bertie Auld was sent off with Amancio of Real Madrid after exchanging punches. Spanish newspaper Marca stated - May the football which Celtic play stay among us Spanish style. Amen. They assumed they would also have the trophy in the Bernabeu Stadium in 1967, but Celtic had other ideas. It appears that Real were rather ‘put out’ by Celtic winning ‘their’ trophy, with the Spanish press claiming that the European Cup belonged in Madrid. So it is understandable that, when choosing an appropriate team to honour the great Di Stefano, Celtic were approached and, indeed, were thrilled to accept the challenge. The sides had met back in 1963, with Celtic losing 3-1 in a charity game in Glasgow. On June 7, 1967, just two weeks after they won the European Cup in Lisbon, Celtic took on Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. There was one change from the Lisbon team, with John Fallon replacing Ronnie Simpson in goal. Di Stefano played for 20 minutes of the game and received a standing ovation from the 130,000 supporters inside the stadium when he left the pitch. Neither side played as one might expect in a friendly match, but instead competed fiercely to win the match. And taking centre stage on the night was Jimmy Johnstone, whose skill and artistry completely mesmerised the Madrid players. Indeed, such was the brilliance of Jinky that the Spanish support cheered him, shouting ‘Ole!’ whenever he was on the ball. Despite many discussions during my tours here at Celtic Park, when a good few men advised me that it was Jinky who scored the only goal of the game, such was the magnificence of his performance that night, it was, in fact, Bobby Lennox who netted the winner. It is also fitting to say that Alfredo Di Stefano had been in Lisbon for the European Cup and had apparently gone to Celtic’s hotel to wish Jock Stein all the best for the game against Inter Milan. It could be that it was during this game that the great man decided the famous green and white hoops would be the perfect opponents to celebrate his own wonderful football career. It was a fantastic night in Madrid. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, here was the icing on a big, fat, beautiful cake. Teams Real Madrid: Junqera Calgne De Feilipe Sanchis Pirri Zoco Serena Amancio Di Stefano (Grosso) Velasquez Gento Celtic: Fallon Craig Gemmell Clark McNeill ONeill Johnstone Murdoch Wallace Auld Lennox Subs: Simpson Chalmers Gallagher Cattenach Scorer: Lennox 69 Attendance: 120,000 Referee: S Zariqulegui (Spain)
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 06:49:02 +0000
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