Straight
In front of the main façade of Celtic Park, where Atlético faces Celtic this Wednesday (9:00 p.m., Movistar LC), three bronze statues pay homage to the Holy Trinity of the club that brings together the Catholic football fans of Glasgow. On the right, Brother Walfried, the Irish Marist priest who founded the entity in 1887. In the center, Jock Stein, the coach who led Celtic in 1967 to be the first British club to win the European Cup with the then revolutionary passing time, an offensive style with a quick touch far from the primary football that was imposed in the Islands. And on the left, Jimmy Johnstone, the Lord of the band, the nickname that gives the title to a documentary about the life of the man recognized as the best player in the club’s history, an unrepeatable and endearing figure of that team that ruled European football with players born all within a 15 kilometer radius around Glasgow. The French press called him the flying flea. The King of the Jungle, nicknamed him by the fans of the noisy tribune The Jungle, now defunct.
The silhouette that outlines the sculpture of the red-haired and small Jinky, measuring 1.57 meters, describes his football self as an inveterate dribbler. His torso leaning forward and the ball stuck to his right boot. The moment before his waist swayed before choosing whether his devilish speed passed the defenders on the right profile or on the left. Johnstone was the devil who unleashed the raw Glasgow battle between Celtic and Atlético in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final of the 73-74 season. Almost 50 years later, Atlético will wear a red shirt and blue pants this Wednesday, the same clothing as then. This Tuesday’s cover of the Scottish newspaper Record Sport titled “Pathetico Madrid”, recalls the tension experienced when Atlético returned to using the kit from five decades ago. “Using that shirt seems in bad taste, degrading and incendiary to me,” said Tommy Callagham, midfielder of that Celtic team that faced the red and whites. “It is a beautiful initiative by the club from a game from 50 years ago,” defended Koke.
At Atlético they insist that there was no intention to recreate the pre-war climate of that time. “The atmosphere was already inflamed because a few years before Celtic had faced Racing de Avellaneda in the final of the Intercontinental Cup and Panadero Díaz had marked them very hard. The Scottish press heated up the run-up by calling Panadero Díaz and our coach, Toto Lorenzo, who had coached Racing de Avellaneda in that final, a butcher. Johnstone was an artist, he was a very good puncher, he had a rope until he found Panadero Díaz,” remembers goalkeeper Miguel Reina. “Panadero knew him and told us ‘leave it to him and I’ll accommodate him’ so he doesn’t do so many tricks on me. Every time he passed him and he needed him he would roll around and that’s where the problems started. The start of the expulsion was abrupt, but not to cause harm,” says Heredia.
“He messed up for us, he had a very low center of gravity, he was a kind of Garrincha, he would stop, start, give short touches, tock, tock, tock, and he would take off. It was very difficult to get into it. He caused Panadero Díaz, Ayala and Quique to be expelled. We held on to 0-0 with eight on the field in the last twenty minutes,” recalls Jabo Irureta. “I had never been kicked so many times,” Johnstone admitted in an interview with this newspaper in 2002. Atlético committed 51 fouls, but the biggest explosion of violence occurred in the locker room tunnel. The two teams got into a brutal fight and the bobbies attacked the Atlético players. “I came in kicking and then the police beat me,” Reina recalls. “We are prepared for the return, with only one condition; “Let us play football,” cried Jock Stein. “Is the European Cup dead in Glasgow?” asked France Football.
“The locker room area was made of parquet and with the aluminum blocks it looked like an ice rink, it was difficult to stay standing with the blows and blows that the bobbies gave us. It was a bittersweet match because of how abrupt it was, but we kept it together. I think they were wrong, because when we were down to eight they started hanging balls and we had people who were well up front like Ovejero and Benegas,” says Bermejo, who did not play in the first leg, but from the bench he appreciated who he was. Jimmy Johnstone: “He was dribbling on a tile, he was driving us crazy. In the return we stopped him and won 2-0 playing well. We got into the final that we lost to Bayern.”
Died in 2006 at the age of 61 due to a degenerative disease, Johnstone was a winger of his time. “As children we all wanted to be Jimmy Johnstone,” says the lysergic Bobbie Gillespie, lead singer of Primal Scream, in his biography A Kid from the Neighborhood. Jinky was an icon of the club, but also of the city, where he also reigned in the pubs. Although it was in the band where he earned the title of Lord for his playful way of understanding the game: “I was an entertainer and the field was my stage. When the starting whistle blew it meant it was show time.”
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2023-10-25 05:47:26
#great #Jimmy #Johnstone #Glasgow #battle #Celtic #Atlético
