1967 FROZEN IN TIME

The shocking scenes in Buenos Aires that forced the Copa Libertadores second leg between River Plate and Boca Juniors to be abandoned were extreme, even by Argentinean standards.

Fifty-one years ago, Celtic got a taste of the hostility for themselves when they travelled to play Racing Club.

The Lisbon Lions had won the first leg of the Inter-continental Cup tie 1-0 at Hampden, a bruising encounter that saw them subjected to every dirty trick in the book.

It continued a fortnight later in South America, with captain Billy Mcneill describing his side’s reception inside El Cilindrio as “horrific” and keeper Ronnie Simpson put out of the game before kick-off after being hit by a missile.

Celtic lost 2-1, forcing a play-off in Montevideo, capital of Uruguay.

That was when the real mayhem ensued. A poisonous 90 minutes saw Lennox, Johnstone, Hughes and Auld sent off, though the latter refused to go and saw out the game.

Two Racing players were also sent off and the game went down in history as the Battle of Montevideo.

Oh, and Racing won 1-0.

Celtic players tend to Jimmy Johnstone after he’d been poleaxed for the umpteenth time against Racing Club in Montevideo. Meanwhile, in the background riot police react to yet another incident as the match descends into chaos