| Match Pictures | Matches: 1964 – 1965 | 1964-65 Pictures |
Trivia
- Leixoes is pronounced ‘Laysh-oyes’. They played at a small town not far from Oporto. The team were something of an unknown and were even considered lucky by the Portugese media to be involved in the Fairs Cup.
- Celtic took 17 players to Portugal including reserve full back Willie O’Neill.
- The Celtic party were given a tour of the local industries seeing sardine fishing and canning and green grapes at a vineyard. Training was carried out in the evening to work in the temperatures they would face for the game.
- John Cushley was available after recovering from the leg strain that had kept him out of the previous game against Dundee Utd. Other players were carrying knocks – Ian Young (knee) and Tommy Gemmell (ankle) both received treatment from Trainer Bob Rooney in Portugal but John Hughes’ leg strain failed to respond and Bobby Lennox took over at outside left.
- The Stade del Mar ground the game was played on was primitive and about as narrow as could be legally put forward for a first class pitch. It was also baked hard and bumpy and where there was grass this had been allowed to grow long – not conducive to a neat passing game. There was some dispute about playing the game here. Leixoes themselves tried to hire Porto’s ground for the night but Porto wanted not only a hire fee but one of the Leixoes players in payment
- In the Evening Times report before the game it is interesting to note the following comment:-
- “In fact, one of the first things the directors did when they arrived at their hotel was to hold a team selection meeting. They were given a report by Mr. McGrory and they immediately announced Cushley and Lennox would play.” This gives the clearest indication of who was picking the team at that time and that Jimmy McGrory was little more than a messenger between the directors and the team.
- John Clark and Charlie Gallagher had bite marks after the game courtesy of the opposition players.
- Billy was injured at Rugby Park in August 1964 and was out for over two months. He missed both legs of Lexoies and made his return in the Nou Camp v Barcelona in November.
Review
This game was played with a light crimson coloured ball which was described as being a ‘kiddies’ ball.
In a bad tempered game both Ian Young and Steve Chalmers are ordered off. Oliviera of Lexioes is also ordered off by the eccentric French referee Barbaran.
The French referee, Anton Barberan, ruined the match with an eccentric display of over fussy refereeing. In 85 minutes he sent off Chalmers after he challenged the keeper from a Johnstone corner and after keeper Rosas had rolled around Chalmers was harshly ordered off.
Ian Young followed him after a tackle on Oliviera and the Lexoies player then head butted Young in the groin. Young pushed him away and was unlucky to be ordered off also.
Celtic chairman Robert Kelly was incensed by the referee calling the Chalmers ordering off the worst decision he had ever seen in football but decided not to make an official protest.
Described as ’90 minutes of the normal continental shirt-pulling and fouling’, this was neither pretty nor well-controlled game.
Esteves scored for Leixoes when Celtic were still accustoming themselves to the conditions. Murdoch equalised when Celtic had became accustomed to the lighter ball.
Teams
Leixoes:
Rosas; Geraldino, Raul; Pereira, Moreira, Marcal; Esteves, Wagner, Oliviera, Ventura, Mateus.
Scorer: Esteves (6)
Celtic:
Fallon; Young, Gemmell; Clark, Cushley, Kennedy; Johnstone, Murdoch, Chalmers, Gallacher, Lennox.
Scorer: Murdoch (31)
Referee: A Barberan (France)
Attendance: 7,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
In a note from David Frier, lecturer in Portugese at Leeds University, a report in the Diario de Lisboa, which says that Celtic were brutal and displayed a level of teamwork equivalent to that of a Portuguese second-division team. But they also criticised Leixoes for being too slow in their movement and passing and suggested that faster work would have been needed to get a result. They also said that they thought the refereeing was ‘balanced’… But no mention of biting.
