Dundee United will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club’s remarkable European debut at their league match against Falkirk.
The Tannadice men grabbed the attention of the whole continent on the evening of October 25, 1966, when they beat the mighty Barcelona 2-1 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in the Nou Camp.
United, then managed by wily boss Jerry Kerr and playing their first-ever game in Europe, took the lead through Billy Hainey on 13 minutes.
That was stunning enough in itself but they then silenced the Catalonian crowd again by going 2-0 up on 59 minutes through Finn Seemann’s penalty.
Barca got one back when Josep Maria Fuste scored with eight minutes to go but the tenacious Terrors held on for the first of their two famous victories in one of football’s greatest arenas, the other coming during the run to the UEFA Cup final in 1987.
It was the first time any British club had won a competitive match in Spain and Kerr’s players would go on and finish the job at Tannadice by winning the return leg 2-0 on November 16.
Goalscorer Hainey and his teammate Lennart Wing will be VIP guests of the club at the Bairns match tomorrow, while family members will represent manager Kerr, playmaker Dennis Gillespie and captain Doug Smith.
Supporters will get the chance to cheer Hainey and Wing when they appear on the pitch at half-time.
There has also been a retrospective match programme produced for the occasion.
United’s Nou Camp heroes were: Sandy Davie, Tommy Millar, Tommy Neilson, Jimmy Briggs, Doug Smith, Lennart Wing, Orjan Persson, Ian Mitchell, Billy Hainey, Dennis Gillespie and Finn Seemann.
