Famed Atletico Madrid skipper Adelardo Rodrígue sensationally attempted to frame Jimmy Johnstone for the infamous shame game mayhem caused by the Spaniards.
He would brand the Celtic icon a "great actor" and accused him of hiding in the second leg. Brendan Rodgers' side will duke it out with Atletico on Wednesday in the Champions League, but La Liga giants have dragged up painful memories of one of the most notorious games ever to take place by insisting on wearing the exact same replica strip of the one they wore on April 10, 49 years ago in the first leg of the European Cup semi-final.
Turkish ref Dogan Babacan ended up sending off three players from Atletico, who conceded a total of 51 free kicks that night and Johnstone – voted the greatest-ever Celt in a fans' vote in 2002 – took the brunt of it. However, Rodriguez, who is now 84 and won three Spanish titles in 553 appearances, put the blame squarely on Johnstone. He said: "Jimmy Johnstone was the one who caused it all. He was a very skilful player, very quick, good. Of course he was fouled. That's normal. What happened is that he multiplied it tenfold with his gestures, his pretending and that's why he got on our nerves and got the crowd going.
"He was a great actor. The ref sent off three players and I had to mark him and I had a hard time with him. I called him everything, in Spanish and with some ugly words in English that I knew. I think he understood me, from the look on his face. When I finished I told him, 'I'll wait for you in Madrid'. The police and his coaches surrounded him so that no one would mess with him. They didn't let me go any further.
"In the second leg, he didn't even dare to move. He didn't look like a winger, he looked like a linesman
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