Real good, by George, Charlie’s historic hat-trick
ANOTHER ASTONISHING BBG NIGHT AS MIGHTY MADRID SWEPT ASIDE
BACK in the mid-1950s, when Spanish giants Real Madrid were winning the European Cup in the first years of the competition’s existence, Derby County were struggling to get out of the Third Division North.
The gap between the two could hardly have been greater; the suggestion that the Rams might one day meet the Spanish champions as equals would have been greeted with derision.
Twenty years later, however, that moment arrived. On Wednesday, October 22, 1975, the Rams, as English champions, were not only qualified to play in the European Cup, but they also went on to produce a magnificent performance, destroying Real Madrid with a classic display at the Baseball Ground.
It was, said the Derby Telegraph’s Gerald Mortimer, “a victory of startling brilliance”.
Even more heartening was that Real were a much better team than the Benfica side well beaten at Derby three years earlier.
Indeed, Real played quite brilliantly in patches; it was just that the Rams were brilliant throughout.
Matches against Accrington Stanley, Gateshead and Barrow in the old Northern Section seemed light years away as Derby tore into the Spaniards from the start, storming ahead after only 10 minutes.
Colin Todd swept out an astonishing pass to David Nish on the other side of the pitch and then Archie Gemmell sent in a low, hard centre.
Charlie George was running across the face of goal and his firsttime left-foot shot was just about the sweetest thing one could ever see on a football pitch; goalkeeper Miguel Angel had no chance.
Todd was singled out by Gerald Mortimer: “Todd, faultless at the back, exciting when he moved forward, has never played better.
“Indeed, I doubt if any defender in the history of the game can have played substantially more effectively than Todd.”
Seven minutes later, the Rams were 2-0 up and George was again the scorer. Francis Lee was bowled over by Jose Antonio Camacho and George stepped up to hammer the penalty past Angel.
Real had been unusually disorganised but instead of falling to pieces they regrouped and pulled a goal back after 25 minutes, when Amancio chipped the ball through and Pirri chested it down before beating Colin Boulton with a neat shot.
Real were now buzzing and Derby certainly needed another goal. It came two minutes before half-time, when Roy McFarland laid the ball off to Nish, who whipped his shot under Angel’s body to make it 3-1.
In the second half, Angel made amends for his slip, stopping a ferocious free kick from Bruce Rioch, and then twice saving from Lee, first holding a free kick and then tipping a header over the bar.
Real might have reduced the margin to a single goal once more but Pirri had what looked like a fine goal ruled offside by Soviet linesman Bakhramov, the man who had signalled that Geoff Hurst’s controversial goal in the 1966 World Cup Final had crossed the line.
Real protested even more fiercely when Gunter Netzer was ruled to have fouled Kevin Hector and, with 12 minutes remaining, George scored his second penalty of the game to complete his hat-trick.
It was a fitting finale to a wonderful performance by the former Arsenal star.
Never mind his goals, George’s running and passing that night had stamped an indelible image in the
minds of those fortunate enough to have witnessed it.
Gerald Mortimer said: “Derby County are good enough to win the European Cup. That much was announced with a victory of startling brilliance over Real Madrid.
“And they can win it the way Dave Mackay would want: gloriously, with flair and surging football that tears at the guts of continental teams.”
But he also warned: “The feeling is that the tie is by no means over yet. In their own Estadio Santiago Bernabeau, Real could still make Derby sweat it out.”
And so it proved. In Madrid, without the suspended Lee, the Rams went down 5-1. In later years, Dave Mackay remarked: “I always say we won 4-1 at home and lost 4-1 away because we lost in extra time.
Despite his Baseball Ground hattrick, Charlie George reckons that one of his best goals was the one he scored that night in Madrid: “It was a great move and I always fancied scoring.”
Overall, it was a bitter disappointment, of course.
But nothing could diminish the memory of the night when Real Madrid came second-best at the Baseball Ground.
Todd, faultless at the back, exciting when he moved forward, has never played better.
Gerald Mortimer