British Clubs In Three Finals

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32274, 17 April 1970, Page 15

British Clubs In Three Finals

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON.

British clubs have i reached the finals of all three major European soccer competitions Glasgow Celtic (Champions’ Cup), Manchester City (Cup Winners’ Cup) and Arsenal (Fairs’ Cup)

Celtic gained its second champions* Cup final in four years when it beat Leeds United, 2-1, yesterday, in front of 134.000 delirious fans at Hampden Park. Glasgow.

Celtic, which won the first leg of this semi-final tie, 1-0. at Leeds, was jolted when the Leeds captain, W. Bremner, scored with a long shot after 14 minutes.

But the Scottish champions’ relentless pressure wore down Leeds, and J. Hughes and R. Murdoch scored twice in five minutes early in the second half to clinch a 3-1 aggregate victory.

Leeds, which had hardly had time to draw breath after its English Cup final with Chelsea last Saturday, lost its goal-keeper, G. Sprake, four minutes after half-time when he was injured in a collision with Hughes Celtic, which was the first British club to win the champions’ Cup, in 1967, dominated Leeds as completely as it had in the first leg, and would not have been flattered by a bigger winning margin. Feijenoord Rotterdam qualified to meet Celtic in the final in Milan on May 6 when it beat Legia Warsaw, 2-0, in their second, leg semi-final. The first leg ended in a goalless draw.

Feijenoord thus followed in the footsteps of Alax Amsterdam, which last season became the first Dutch club to qualify for the Champions’ Cup final. It had the tonic of an early goal against Legia. and in spite of having scored only four goals in its last nine league games, added a second in the twenty-eighth minute. Manchester City recovered

from a 0-1 first-leg deficit to crush Schalke 04 (West Germany), 5-1, in the second leg of their Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final.

Manchester’s opponent in the final in Vienna on April 29 has still to be decided. A. S. Rome and Gornik Zabrze (Poland) remained deadlocked at 3-3, drawing 2-2 after extra time in their second leg semi-final. They will meet in a play-off in Strasbourg, France, on April 22. Arsenal was beaten, 1-0, by Ajax Amsterdam in its Fairs' Cup second-leg match, but its 3-0 win In the first leg took the London club into the two-leg final on aggregate. Arsenal’s opponent will be Anderlecht (Belgium), which surprisingly won 2-0 against Inter-Milan in Italy after losing the first leg, 0-1, on its own ground. In the English League, Sunderland lost its last chance of staying in the first division, being beaten, 1-0, at home by Liverpool. But the team to be relegated with Sunderland is still uncertain after a dra- ! mafic recovery by Sheffield

Wednesday against Manchester. United. ..

Wednesday, trailing 2-0 after eight minutes, pulled back to draw 2-2 with goals from A. Coleman and J. Whitham. It now has to win its remaining fixture, against Manchester City—a victory which would keep it in the first division at the expense of Crystal Palace. Sunderland, in the first division for the last six years, was beaten by a goal four minutes from time by the Liverpool full-back, C. Laid- ' Results of British league matches were:-*-' ENGLISH LEAGUE Division Oho.—Burnley 3, Chelsea 1: Manchester United 2, Sheffield Wednesday 2; Southampton 1, Derby 1; Stoke 3, West Bromwieh 2; Sunderland 9, Liverpool I. Division Two.—Cardiff 0, Millwall 0; Hull 3, Portsmouth 3; Norwich 6, Birmingham 0; Sheffield United 5. Oxford 1. Division Three.—Bradford City 0, Orient 1; Brighton 1. Mansfield 2; Fulham 2, Halifax 1; Shrewsbury 2, Bournemouth 0. Division Four.—Aidershot 1, Exeter 0; Chester 3. Grimsby 1; Crewe 0, Port Vale 0; Lincoln 2, Notts County 4; Wdrklngton 1, Bradford 0..