1984 European Cup Winners Cup
1984 was the year and the old UEFA Cup Winners Cup was the competition. Rapid had won the bad-tempered first leg in Vienna 3–1. Alan McInally was sent off and Peter Grant accused of stamping on one of the Austrian players. This got the tie off to a fiery start and set the second leg up to be a tense affair
The atmosphere in the second leg at Celtic Park was hostile to say the least. The hostility towards Rapid helped rally Celtic as they won 3-0 to turn the tie around and win 4-3 on aggregate. However, the tie was not to be settled that night. During the game the tackles were flying in and both teams were being aggressive in their approach.
At one point in the game, a bottle was thrown from the Celtic support and landed near Rapid's goalkeeper, Herbert Feurer. Feurer collapsed in a heap seeking the abandonment of the match. He was unsuccessful and the match continued and finished, only for it to come out later that the linesman had been struck by missiles from the Celtic support. Rapid lodged a formal complaint to UEFA and the match was to replayed at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Novelty Fixture At Old Trafford
Remarkably, more people attended the match in Manchester than the tie at Celtic Park! Rapid won the second leg reply won 1-0 which gave them a 2-0 aggregate win and they progressed to the next round. The reply of the second leg was not devoid of any violence.The keeper was targeted by the Celtic fans and another Rapid player took a kick to the groin as the teams were escorted off the pitch at full time. The Parkhead side were fined £17,000 and ordered to play their next home European game behind closed doors.