Early Eighties Classics – Celtic v Rapid Vienna, the second leg

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·3. November 2025

Early Eighties Classics – Celtic v Rapid Vienna, the second leg

EARLY EIGHTIES CLASSICS- CELTIC v RAPID VIENNA. Part 2 of 3…

Rapid Vienna won the first leg by 3-1 and were understandably confident about their chances of reaching the quarter final. However, a 2-0 win for Celtic would see them qualify instead. On 7 November 1984, Celtic produced a wonderful performance of attacking football which overwhelmed their Austrian opponents. Tragically, the events of the final twenty minutes would see the match descend into chaos and see Celtic’s brilliant performance completely overlooked.

The match was officially watched by 48,813 but, more likely, by around 10 000 more. Roared on by the huge, passionate crowd, Celtic drove forward from the very start. Rapid looked taken aback and appeared to be a shadow of the side which had performed so skillfully- and cynically- a fortnight earlier. Brian McClair, Roy Aitken and Paul McStay all missed decent chances before McClair scored the first goal of the evening, taking advantage of the Rapid goalkeeper’s hesitancy to slide in and finish Provan’s cross. The second arrived just before half time, when Murdo MacLeod drove a low left foot shot across the box and past the keeper.

OneFootball Videos

The atmosphere at half time was electric, very like that at the Sporting Lisbon game a year earlier. Celtic were now ahead on aggregate thanks to the away goal scored in the first leg. Rapid had barely kicked a ball in the first half and momentum had swung firmly in Celtic’s favour, helped no doubt by the second goal just before the interval.

Immediately after the match restarted, Rapid’s cynicism emerged with several incidents taking place off the ball. The Austrians were clearly rattled by the pace, skill and power of Celtic’s performance and were resorting to some of the underhand tactics seen in Vienna.

TV commentator Jock Brown noted that the referee “would need to have eyes in the back of his head to see all that’s going on”. In one of a few prescient remarks he made that night, Brown noted that the match was “being played just below boiling point”. Feuds were simmering all over the pitch, with many of these being continuations of those which had started in the ill-tempered first leg.

Despite the ongoing ill-feeling, Celtic continued to play very well and came close on two occasions before the third goal came. Murdo Macleod missed an open goal from six yards out after a clever cross by Willie McStay. Shortly after, Tommy Burns had an effort cleared off the line.

07/11/84 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP 2ND RND 2ND LEG CELTIC v RAPID VIENNA (3-0)The third goal came when Tommy Burns won a 50/50 ball at the expense of the Rapid keeper.

The third goal came when Tommy Burns won a 50/50 ball at the expense of the Rapid keeper.

Burns slid in and knocked the ball away from the keeper. He then got up and slotted the ball home whilst the keeper stayed on the ground protesting that he’d been fouled. At no point did the keeper have the ball in his hands or have it under control.

It was the kind of challenge that would be expected of any striker, and the decision could arguably have gone either way. However, the Rapid players protested furiously and at length that Burns had fouled the goalkeeper. To their fury, the referee allowed the goal and, in the words of Brian McClair, “all hell broke loose.” This was the first of THREE occasions when the Rapid players would explode with anger, lose their discipline and display appalling levels of dissent.

The second Austrian eruption came two minutes later, when Reinhard Kienast (that man again) flattened Tommy Burns in the penalty box with a blatant punch on the back of the head. He was ordered off but the Rapid players surrounded the referee to protest and appeared to be on the brink of completely losing control. Incredibly, in the mayhem caused by the unjustified protests by the Rapid players, the referee omitted to award Celtic a penalty! Shortly after this, Brian McClair was very unlucky to see his shot crash off the bar.

The third explosion, and by far the most serious, happened a few minutes later. Burns was again blatantly fouled in the Rapid penalty area, this time by the goalkeeper who gathered the ball and then stuck out his right leg to kick Burns in the stomach.

The referee immediately pointed to the spot and the Rapid players went crazy. Surrounded by irate and vocal Rapid players, the referee was basically hustled by them over to his linesman who was positioned just in front of the “Jungle”.

During the arguments which followed between the Rapid players and the officials near the touchline, some missiles were thrown onto the pitch. Rudi Weinhofer dropped to the ground a few seconds BEFORE a bottle can be seen landing a few yards away from him. This made Rapid even more enraged. As Weinhofer lay receiving treatment, the Rapid captain Hans Krankl motioned to take his players off the field in protest. Krankl was told by his own club official that they had to remain on the field and complete the match.

The furore over the penalty award and Weinhofer’s treatment led to the match being delayed for ten minutes and Weinhofer’s removal from the field. This reduced Rapid to nine players as they had already used both substitutes. After the lengthy hiatus, Peter Grant took the penalty and hit it wide.

Ironically, in all the drama and interruptions to play, it was overlooked that Rapid still needed only one goal to take the tie to extra time. They almost grabbed it in the last minute when, with one of their rare chances of the night, Krankl fired a low shot at goal which was well saved by Pat Bonner.

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v80), default quality

The match finished 3-0 and Celtic were through to the quarter final. It had been an excellent team effort, with outstanding individual performances from Paul McStay, Davie Provan, Murdo MacLeod, Brian McClair and Tommy Burns. Celtic had scored three goals, missed a penalty, hit the bar, missed an open goal, had one attempt cleared off the line and missed three other clear chances. In addition, they should have been awarded another penalty after Kienast’s sending off. By any reckoning, they were thoroughly deserving winners.

The Austrians, however, remained furious. They claimed that Celtic’s third goal should never have been allowed because Burns had fouled their keeper. They also complained that the missiles thrown had seriously injured one of their players and endangered the safety of others.

Whilst Rapid may have had some justification for their grievance about the third goal, and about the missile throwing, they could not complain at all about either Kienast’s sending off or the award of the penalty. As for Weinhofer’s alleged “injury”, the Red Cross man who immediately attended to Weinhofer stated that there was no sign of any injury.

This was supported by video evidence, which showed Weinhofer’s theatrical collapse to the ground before a bottle landed several yards away from him. The only logical explanation is that Weinhofer was play-acting or, to put it bluntly, cheating.

When the objects were thrown onto the pitch, it seems that the Austrians saw their chance to retrieve a tie which had run away from them. They were clearly aware that there had been precedents for clubs being punished for the incidents of this type. They could now use the missiles thrown to deflect from their own despicable behaviour on the night.

Whilst there could be absolutely no excuse for the missile throwing of a tiny number of Celtic fans in the 50 000 crowd, it must be stated that the antics of the Rapid players throughout the second half were an absolute disgrace. Rapid began the second half with cynical late fouls, off-the-ball-niggles and feigning injuries. This escalated into prolonged and aggressive protests against three key decisions in a manner which displayed the utmost comtempt for the authority of the officials.

Incredibly, in view of the appalling indiscipline shown by their own players, on their return home Rapid made an immediate complaint to UEFA demanding that the game be replayed. As expected, they cited the missiles hurled by the Celtic supporters, the severe injury to one of their players caused by a bottle thrown, and the disadvantage of having to play the final 15 minutes with only nine men. Interestingly, they didn’t draw too much attention to having one player sent off and three booked for foul play, two brutal assaults on Tommy Burns, nor to the lengthy interruptions to the match caused by the dreadful indiscipline of their players.

Everyone knew sanctions of some sort would be imposed on Celtic by UEFA because of the missiles. As Alan Davidson of the Evening Times said: “The bottle thrown on to the Parkhead pitch during the second half of the 3-0 victory over Rapid Vienna will cost Celtic a heavy fine at least”.

If only! A heavy fine would have been far preferable to what transpired next…

James McDevitt

Please tell us your memories of this match in the comments below if you were at the game.

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from celticstarbooks.com

Don’t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter’s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain Danny McGrain PLUS you’ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter’s Willie Fernie biography – Putting on the Style, and you’ll only be charged for postage on one book. Order from Celtic Star Books HERE.

Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star

Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Photo: Celtic Star Books