Benfica v Celtic 1969, AT MAYS flight to Lisbon on Wednesday 26 November 1969. £33 return.
The toss of a coin in Lisbon, Celtic’s lucky place
Two weeks later and Celtic arrived back in Lisbon, scene of their most famous moment. This time however they were playing at the Estadio da Luz, Benfica’s home venue. With such a strong advantage from the first leg, Celtic expected to ease into the next round. It proved to be a false belief.
On 35 minutes, the great Eusebio gave the home team hope, and then a second goal was added just before the interval. With 45 minutes still to play, the Portuguese believed they now had the advantage. However, the second 45 minutes came and went without an equaliser. It seemed Celtic were through, but three minutes of injury time were added and Benfica scored with the final kick.
Extra-time was played but there was no further scoring. In those days, penalties were not used, and so instead the fate of the game came down to a coin toss! Billy McNeill twice correctly chose ‘Heads’ (the first time to be allowed to toss the coin, and the second to decide the winner). Celtic then marched on.
Celtic won but protested and as a result penalties were introduced by UEFA
Despite the club’s happiness at reaching the European Cup quarter-finals, the Bhoys were not pleased at how it happened. Celtic protested that football games should not be decided in this manner, and the following year, penalties were introduced to settle tied games. This would later cost the Celts in Europe; the Bhoys’ first penalty shootout saw them lose the European Cup semi-final to Inter Milan in 1972.
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