As expected, the Danes were under the cosh from the off, as Celts set about repairing the damage from the first leg. However, in a rare breakaway, it’s heart-in-mouth time, as a long-distance lob bounces off the crossbar in front of us, with Evan Williams hopelessly beaten.
Thankfully, normal order is soon restored, a through ball from David Hay slipped into the net by Willie Wallace, who had replaced the unusually-ineffective Jimmy Johnstone at half-time in Copenhagen. With BK1903 tiring, Jock Stein made another interval change in Glasgow, this time John Hughes for Bobby Lennox.
‘Yogi’ made an immediate impact, his strong runs down the left flank terrorising the part-time defenders, the big winger eventually dragged down for a stick-on penalty. Taking it himself, he is aghast as keeper Jensen makes the latest in a series of superb saves. He is finally beaten again with eleven minutes remaining, a stunning bullet header from Tommy Callaghan giving Celts the lead in the tie. With five minutes to play, another expert turn and finish from Wallace tied things up at 3-0. Job done. No cigar.
This would prove a pivotal night for another two of the Lions. After twelve years at the club, John Hughes would not play for Celtic again, his spot-kick miss a low note to go out on for a player who gave us so much pleasure.
And Willie Wallace’s double would be his last goals in the Hoops. He would start three days later, as St Johnstone earned a rare win at Parkhead, having beaten SV Hamburg in midweek, then appear as a substitute, as Celts qualified for the League Cup Final with a 3-0 Hampden victory over St Mirren.
Then, the day before the next European Cup match, against Maltese side Sliema Wanderers, both Hughes and Wallace would be sold to Crystal Palace.
In the aftermath of the awful 4-1 defeat by Partick Thistle in that League Cup final, the revolving door would continue to spin. Denis Connaghan, who had impressed in the semi-final, would be Stein’s new first-choice keeper within days, following his move from Paisley, and striker John ‘Dixie’ Deans signed from Motherwell. And by Christmas, Tommy Gemmell was heading to Nottingham Forest, as the ruthless Stein swung the axe.
Celts would go all the way to the semi-final of that season’s European Cup, before Inter Milan gained a degree of revenge for defeat in Lisbon, five years earlier, Deans the only man to miss from the spot after 210 minutes of goalless stalemate in Milan and Glasgow, denying Celtic another crack at Ajax.
There would be Danish victories in the years to follow for Celtic, in Vejle and Aarhus but no return to the capital before the aforementioned visit of 2006.
