It's gray skies in Glasgow. It is not new in Scottish lands. However, the features of the statue of Jimmy Johnstone, one of the greatest stars of Glasgow Celtic in its history, shine, a few meters from Celtic Park. That prototype of a “small, skilled and strong-legged” footballer, as Javier Irureta, former Atlético de Madrid footballer in the 70s, defines to EL MUNDO. Johnstone was the great protagonist of the match that the green and white team played on April 10, 1974. , 50 seasons ago. A match? “A war,” defines Ramón Cacho Heredia, another of the red-and-white soldiers of what was described as the Battle of Glasgow.

Heredia walks slowly around the outskirts of that stadium that he described at the time as “a caldera.” Today no one bothers him. It is a calm atmosphere, very different from the one found in 1974. “You had to have a lot of courage to play that game. It was like doing it in Argentina,” he tells EL MUNDO.. But half of Atlético at that time was from the South American country so, let's say, courage was presupposed. “We had a group of very competitive Argentines. Sheepdog, Baker, Heredia… We were a crossroads of players who got along well,” Irureta reveals.. With ups and downs.

The former '74 players, Heredia and Bermejo, at Celtic Park. ATLETICO DE MADRID

In a round before that first leg of the 1973/74 European Cup semi-finals, Panadero and Ovejero “hooked like dogs”, according to Heredia.. A fight that delighted the Scottish press and made headlines about the incident: “The killer ko”, with a photo of Panadero on the ground and Ovejero standing. Although it may seem incredible, from that brawl a greater unity emerged in the group to face what was coming.. Adelardo was the glue that brought those two strong personalities together. “We have to calm down, because since we are here we have to take Atlético to the final,” the Extremaduran legend told them both.

Match day arrives and Atlético suffers pressure from Scottish fans. “They hit our bus on the way to the stadium to scare us,” says Heredia. And all the surroundings of Celtic Park, full from two hours before the start time. Among the players it was said: “We can't give up”. The coach, Toto Lorenzo, a coach who had already coached Heredia in Argentina, tells them that they had to pass because they were the better team. But, although they had just won the League, Celtic had won the European Cup in 1967.

Protests by the red and white players to Babacan. EM

They go out on the field revved up, but Heredia does not attribute the abruptness of the game so much to his style, but rather to Dogan Babacan's way of refereeing.. “I cut off all of our plays and let them shoot crosses,” explains the Argentine defender, while Irureta, more slowly, admits: “There were two strong tackles and that got out of hand.”. “It was a pitched battle,” exacerbates Heredia

Jimmy Johnstone drove the defense crazy of a team that that day wore a red shirt and blue pants. In the second half, the Madrid team suffered the expulsions of Panadero Díaz and Ayala, the latter a childhood friend of Cacho Heredia. “Johnstone looked for the fray so that you would go and touch him and then it seemed like he had died,” says Heredia. Quique, who had come on for Gárate in the 65th minute, was also sent off and did not last 20 minutes on the pitch.

Then the figure of goalkeeper Miguel Reina emerges. The true hero of Glasgow, he stopped everything he could and what he couldn't, too. Miraculously, the rojiblancos finish the 90 minutes with a 0-0 scoreline. But everyone had seen what had happened on the lawn. That was too much for the Scots present.

Tangana between the Scots and the Red and Whites in 1974.

“At the end of the game, the Celtic players got together and hit Becerra, one who didn't kill a fly.”. “We all got into a fight,” recalls Heredia.. When he talks about “everyone”, he talks about players, coaching staff and even police officers.. “I grabbed an agent by the neck, I stuck a pineapple in him and I had to run to the locker room to pretend I was taking a shower because they were taking me to prison,” reveals the Argentine defender. “Punches were flying,” completes Irureta.

That bad feeling with the police moved to the airport. “At passport control, the president was kicked in the ass, some players had their passports thrown to the ground and they were even spat on,” says Heredia.. “Don't do anything, Cachito,” the president, Vicente Calderón, asked the Argentine player.

In the second leg Atlético won 2-0. A victory that earned them qualification for the final against Bayern. That semifinal in Glasgow was not a match, but the most violent battle that Heredia and Irureta have seen on the field of play. “I have it engraved in my head and in my feelings. One thing is playing and another is hitting,” says the Argentine. “The hardest I have ever played and, also, with a certain fear,” Irureta replies.