Inside the Celtic and Atletico Madrid 'Shame Game' as Kenny Dalglish insists only safe place was standing by keeper

Kenny Dalglish would prefer Atletico Madrid to have eight men at the start against Celtic this time as opposed to the end.

Tomorrow’s showdown against Diego Simeone’s brilliant outfit will write another chapter in the colourful history of the pair’s clashes in Glasgow. Atletico have been to Parkhead three times. Each occasion has been painful for the hosts. The first hurt was notoriously physical. Dubbed the Shame Game after an extraordinary evening where Dalglish faced an outfit intent on causing bodily harm.

Atletico were managed by the former Argentina manager Juan Carlos Lorenzo, who had been in charge of an Argentina side in 1966 described by England boss Sir Alf Ramsey as “animals.” Lorenzo reverted to type in Glasgow for the first leg of the 1973/74 European Cup semi-final. Jock Stein’s Quality Street Gang were fancied to win the tournament and their opposition went to extremes to stop them

Tactics were brutal. Jimmy Johnstone was singled out for such savage treatment that his constant assailant Ruben Diaz admitted years later he should have been “jailed.” Dalglish jokingly recalled he was spared some treatment as he smiled: “Aw naw, they just went for the good players, so they went for wee Jimmy.”

Turkish referee Dogan Babacan barely had a page left in his notebook having shown 10 yellow cards to the Atletico players by the midway point of the second half. Dalglish said: “I don’t think anyone had to speak to him [ref]. Their actions spoke louder than words. If you stood beside the goalie, you’d be alright.”

Ruben Ayala was sent off 10 minutes into that second period and was immediately followed by Diaz. With seven minutes to go, team-mate Enrique Hernandez joined them in the bath leaving Atletico with just eight