More than 37,000 daydream believers were on the Dens Park slopes on May 1 1963, praying for a miracle comeback that would have shamed Lazarus.
They couldn’t… could they?
After AC Milan’s 5-1 win in the San Siro on April 24, it seemed an all-but-mathematical certainty that the Italian side would progress to the European Cup final at Wembley.
It was a near-impossible task.
But Dundee had already succeeded at mission improbable, having hit the Euro stage with a bang when they destroyed Cologne 8-1 at Dens Park in the preliminary round.
Sporting Lisbon and Anderlecht were knocked out 4-2 and 6-2, respectively, on aggregate so the underdogs were still clinging to the hope of a dramatic turnaround in the second leg.
Dundee skipper Bobby Cox was in confident mood before second leg with AC Milan
A knee injury ruled skipper Bobby Cox out of both legs.
He said: “I think the boys are in with a chance.
“If they can get two goals in the first half I think they’ll pull through.
“After all, four of Milan’s goals came in the second half.
“Dundee will have a strong support, I don’t think we will make as many mistakes this time and the refereeing cannot possibly be as bad.
“I don’t think our task is impossible and nor do any of the players.
“My only regret is that I won’t be able to play myself but I’ll be rooting for the boys, knowing that if they get the breaks they have the ability to reach the final.”
The Milan players were said to be on a highly lucrative £700-a-man to reach the European Cup final and were staying at the Royal Hotel in Dundee.
The Courier’s Tommy Gallacher managed to pin down manager Nereo Rocco for a chat “through the helpful services of Alex, an Italian waiter, who acted as an interpreter”.
Gallacher asked him if he thought that Spanish referee Vicente Caballero had been too harsh on Dundee’s tackling in the first leg in Milan?
Rocco replied: “I don’t think so at all.
“Surely the Scots are not blaming the 5-1 defeat on the referee?”
Would there be any special tactics?
“No, no,” said Rocco.
“Football is a simple game.
“Too many ideas only complicate it.
“Dundee played much better in Brussels than in Milan.
“I think they will be hard to beat.
“I don’t mind if Dundee win 2-1, 3-1, or even 4-1, as long as they don’t win 4-0!”
Shaking hands with Michael Marra
On the Tuesday, the Milan players had a long lie-in then a light breakfast of coffee and rolls before doing a spot of shopping in the city.
High on the agenda was the world-famous Scotch Whisky and the group returned to the
Royal Hotel with more than 20 bottles between them.
Belgian referee Lucien van Nuffell and his linesmen went shopping for tartan souvenirs and enjoyed a tour of the Keiller’s factory provided by local employee John Gordon.
Would he be fairer than his Spanish counterpart had been in Milan?
The Milan players spent the day of the match looking around town and were to come across a future singing star when they went for a walk in the Nethergate.
Gianni Rivera was among those who shook hands with 11-year-old schoolboy Michael Marra, who would go on to achieve stardom in his own right as The Bard of Dundee.
Dundee had never experienced excitement like it.
As in the previous rounds, the Evening Telegraph published a magnificent European Cup souvenir programme and these were to be found on the counters and in the windows of newsagents and other retail outlets throughout the city and beyond.
Dundee: Slater, Hamilton, Stuart, Seith, Ure, Wishart, Smith, Penman, Cousin, Gilzean, Houston.
Milan: Ghezzi, David, Radice, Benitez, Maldini, Trapattoni, Mora, Pivatelli, Altifini, Rivera, Barison.
Dundee left nothing in the dressing room and went for goals straight from the kick-off.
They might have had a penalty on three minutes when Alan Gilzean was pushed off the ball going for a Gordon Smith free-kick in the Milan goalmouth.
On eight minutes Pivatelli appeared to handle a Seith shot but another penalty appeal was turned down.
Altafini could have put the contest out of sight after 10 minutes when he pulled down a high ball and beat Seith and Ure but side-footed the ball inches past the post.
In 14 minutes Seith almost opened the scoring for Dundee.
He gathered a pass from Hamilton and struck from 22 yards.
Ghezzi tipped his shot over the bar.
There was plenty of needle and both teams were fighting tooth and nail.
Dundee could have been awarded yet another spot-kick near the half-hour mark when Smith was unceremoniously thrown to the ground by Peruvian international Benitez.
A few minutes later Dundee’s luck was out again when Gilzean appeared to have been deliberately fouled inside the box as he ran in to meet a cross.
On both occasions the Belgian referee awarded free kicks for obstruction.
A mix up between David and Maldini then gave Penman a chance on goal but Ghezzi dived at his feet before he could shoot.
Things finally looked up just a minute before the break.
A twice-taken free kick was picked up by Smith who chipped the ball into the middle with his left foot and Gilzean rose to head home and give Dundee the opener.
Dundee fans started to dream when they scored again within a minute of the restart when Penman put the ball in the net from a Gilzean knock-down.
But the hope was short-lived as Gilzean was judged to have been offside when he got his head to the ball despite the linesman having flagged for a goal.
Dundee kept up the attack and Ghezzi had to punch out desperately to foil Gilzean after Wishart took a free kick from the edge of the box.
Dundee should have scored midway through the second half when Alan Cousin broke through on the left and passed to Gilzean, who was in space.
Gilzean’s shot was blocked and Penman blazed the ball wildly over from the rebound.
Milan used every trick in the book to make sure the miracle comeback didn’t happen and the Dark Blues flooded forward but were often stopped by a kick or a punch.
Dundee’s opponents were also guilty of play-acting and time-wasting to burn down the clock and Smith complained he was being fouled every time he was on the ball.
Gilzean was also targeted and afforded similar rough treatment.
With 15 minutes remaining Slater almost gave Milan the equaliser when he completely misjudged a Barison cross.
Mora picked up the ball on the bye-line, only for his soft effort to hit the side of the post.
But the keeper recovered to turn a Rivera shot round the post two minutes later.
Gilzean was ordered off after finally losing his temper and lashing out at his marker, Benitez, although it was hard not to have sympathy with Dundee’s top scorer.
There was no further scoring and despite their massive disappointment, Dundee sportingly lined up to applaud the Milan players off the field at full-time.
Though defeated, Dundee had every right to be proud of their own performance and the fighting spirit shown by the team was also hugely appreciated by the supporters.
Stand-in captain Bobby Seith said: “We fought hard and we are consoling ourselves with the fact that we at least did win, so our record in the European Cup is won five, lost three, which is pretty good.
“I thought Penman’s scoring shot should have been allowed in the second half, and we should have had those penalties in the first period.
“But our biggest stumbling block was the four-goal margin.
“If it had just been a couple, I think we could have pulled it off.”
A grimmer aspect of Milan’s glory
Bobby Cox had just managed to stay awake long enough to see the match highlights that evening on television, after going under the knife in hospital for a cartilage operation.
He was given the match ball from the second leg by his team-mates and this was put alongside the match ball used when he skippered the team to the league title in Perth in 1962.
Dundee’s conquerors, Milan, meanwhile, went on to win the European Cup with a 2-1 victory over Benfica at Wembley to deny the Red Eagles of Lisbon their third success.
Away from the pitch, though, there was an even grimmer footnote to Milan’s glory.
In the weeks after the semi-final, referee Caballero was found to have accepted extravagant gifts from the Italian club prior to the first leg at the San Siro, and subsequently he was banned on various other charges of bribery.
The bittersweet sense of what might have been was even more acute.
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