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

The Celtic Star

·26 November 2024

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

Celtic on this Day Celtic lifted silverware at Hampden as Brendan Rodgers matched a Jock Stein record and Big Jock’s captain called two coin tosses correctly in Celtic’s favourite European city, plus there’s an early Green Brigade banner to appreciate…

Callum McGregor shows off his winners medal after the League Cup Final win over Motherwell at Hampden on 26 November 2017. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

26 November 2017

Celtic 2-0 Motherwell. Brendan Rodgers’ side clinched the Scottish League Cup in comfortable fashion over Stephen Robinson’s Steelmen courtesy of James Forrest and a Moussa Dembele penalty following the harsh red card of Motherwell defender Cedric Kipre.

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The Hoops hadn’t had the best preparation for their 17th Scottish League Cup triumph having been on the receiving end of a 7-1 demolition versus Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stages four days earlier.

Brendan Rodgers with the trophyl after Celtic’s League Cup Final win over Motherwell at Hampden on 26 November 2017. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Celtic’s League Cup final win meant that boss Brendan Rodgers became the first Celtic manager since Jock Stein to win four domestic trophies in a row – a feat that stood for 47 years. It was also the Treble winners 65th domestic match unbeaten, a record that would stand for five more games when they were finally beaten on domestic soil against Hearts at Tynecastle in December.

Amazingly, the League Cup final encounter between Celtic and Motherwell would be the first of three clashes between the two sides in seven days. The pair would draw at Fir Park 1-1 the game thereafter before the Scottish champions convincingly beat Motherwell 5-1 at Paradise a few days later.

James Forrest and Moussa Dembele with the trophyl after Celtic’s League Cup Final win over Motherwell at Hampden on 26 November 2017. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Benfica v Celtic, 26 November 1969 on the next page…

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.

Billy McNeill with the coin, Benfica v Celtic 26 November 1969. Photo The Celtic Wiki

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.

Benfica v Celtic 26 November 1969. Photo The Celtic Wiki

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.”

Benfica v Celtic 26 November 1969. Photo The Celtic Wiki

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 away day for £33. Benfica v Celtic 26 November 1969. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Press cutting. Benfica v Celtic 26 November 1969. Photo The Celtic Wiki

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

26 November 2011

Celtic v St Mirren, 26 November 2011. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Celtic 5-0 St Mirren. Gary Hooper may have scored his hat-trick but the shine was taken away from the Englishman due to youngster Dylan McGeouch producing one of the best solo-goals at Paradise in recent memory. McGeouch drove 60-70 yards before cooly placing the ball past Craig Samson with his left-foot.

Gaining momentum, Neil Lennon’s men had now won four on the bounce for the first time in the 2011/2012 league campaign and despite trailing Rangers by 10 points in October, Celtic had reduced the gap to four. The run of matches the Hoops won thereafter would prove to be decisive in reclaiming their first title in four seasons.