Het antwoord uit mijn boek waarvan de eerste oplage inmiddels is uitverkocht:
En route to Milanese San Siro, Celtic eliminated FC Basle from Switzerland and progressed to the quarter finals on a coin toss, having managed a 3-3 aggregate score with Portuguese SL Benfica in the second round.
At the time drawn ties were not settled by a replay or a penalty shoot-out but by tossing a coin. The referee would invite the two captains to the centre spot to perform the infamous 'act', leaving the entire ground in anticipating agony.
Not on 27 November 1969 though. Referee Laurens van Ravens, vainglorious and presumptious being only two of his middle names, single-handedly rearranged common practice in order to write his own annal in football history.
The Dutchman dictated captains Billy McNeill and Mario Coluna to his dressing room, followed by their team managers and accompanied by his two linesmen and press representatives.
t was Billy McNeill 's call, desperately seeking the support of 'his manager Jock Stein. Years later, he would reveal 'his stomach was churning' in his autobiography 'Hail Cesar' and that 'he would rather be anywhere else at that moment'.
Billy McNeill won the toss by calling 'heads'. Flummoxed as he was, the Celtic captain than learned he'd been playing the leading part in a cavalier act to determine which of the two captains would gain the privilege to spin the referee's coin.
Van Ravens handed the Scotsman a 2½ guilder piece who stuck with his charm of 'heads' only to see luck striking again. The result sent the Scottish contingent in the Estádio da Luz wild and Celtic into the quarter finals against Fiorentina.
On the same night Turkey’s Galatasaray also won on the toss of a coin elsewhere in the European Cup, resulting in knocking out Czechoslovakian Spartak Trnava after a 1-1 aggregate draw.
Eventually the UEFA would put an end to the extreme unsatisfactory practice of juggling coins to settle ties by introducing penalty kicks.
Celtic's encounter with Fiorentina served as a prelude for the semi-final clash with Leeds United, dubbed as the 'Battle of Britain'. The second leg was played at Hampden Park, attracting a 136,505 attendance, a record high for a UEFA competition and very unlikely to ever be beaten.