Europa League Venue: Celtic Park Date: Thursday 1 October Kick-off: 2005 BST Coverage: BBC Sport website (live text), BBC Radio Scotland MW
MacLeod scored one of Celtic's goals in the infamous 3-0 win in Glasgow
By David McDaid
When the draw was made for the Europa League group stage, Rapid Vienna's visit to Celtic Park is the one fixture that instantly caught the imagination.
If at that point you weren't aware of the circumstances surrounding the Austrian club's last visit to Glasgow, you will almost certainly know the story by now.
Trailing from the first leg of their 1984 European Cup-Winners' Cup tie, David Hay's team beat Rapid 3-0 to apparently seal their place in the quarter-finals 4-3 on aggregate.
But the Austrians appealed to Uefa for the match to be replayed after one of their players, Rudi Weinhofer, claimed he had been injured by an object thrown by the home fans.
Uefa eventually ruled the second leg be re-played at least 100 miles from Glasgow. The venue chosen was Old Trafford, where - with their second bite at the cherry - Rapid progressed courtesy of a 1-0 win.
Murdo MacLeod scored one of Celtic's goals on that infamous night in Glasgow.
Weinhofer claimed he was struck by a missile thrown by Celtic fans
You might expect him to wince at the very mention of the Austrian club, who then went on to lose to Everton in the final.
But, after a quarter of a century, any wounds the Rapid tie inflicted on the former midfielder have long since healed.
"I know some old team-mates are still very angry about it, but I've moved on," he said.
"Far from being a horrible night, it was a great night because we had turned the whole thing around and knocked them out.
"After the game, we thought we were through and we celebrated in style because it was a fantastic comeback.
"It was later on it turned out to be really sour. But, initially, we just felt we would beat them again."
Television footage showed that Weinhofer was not struck but took advantage of the disorderly behaviour of one spectator in the old Celtic 'Jungle' terraces.
"We knew Weinhofer was at it," said MacLeod. "We were all looking over and we saw the bottle go over his head.
Grant relives Vienna memories
"That type of play-acting was rare back then, but you see players go down without contact all the time nowadays. So I suppose we were early victims of it."
Because of this back-story, Thursday's meeting between the teams has been hyped up - not least by the Austrian club themselves.
To 'commemorate' the 25th anniversary of the tie, they've decided to produce a new red away shirt as worn at Old Trafford in '84.
Coach Peter Pacult, who scored the goal in Manchester, has also been quoted saying that it was correct the game was re-played.
But even Celtic have billed Thursday night on their website as 'Rapid Vienna - 25 years on'.
Few, if any, of the current squad are old enough to remember the tie, so you would think it unlikely they feel any personal sense of enmity.
But MacLeod believes it's important that Tony Mowbray's men do not get sucked in by the surrounding hysteria.
"Rapid are trying to upset the players and the supporters because angry people can't function properly," he said.
"Some of their former players, like Hans Krankl, say we were physical. In football, you're allowed to be physical - but not cheats.
"It's definitely added a real edge to this game. But I'm not interested in any talk of revenge. I just want Celtic to do well in this campaign."
How well Celtic do could depend on results in their home matches, especially after the disappointing reverse against Hapoel in Tel Aviv.
Although fourth seeds in the group, the current Rapid team have made a few waves in the Europa League themselves, having already claimed the scalps of Aston Villa and Hamburg in the competition.
Former Everton and Scotland winger Pat Nevin watched at Villa Park as Pacult's side reached the group stage with an away-goals victory.
"I think Celtic have landed in the hardest group there is," said Nevin.
"There's no team they're guaranteed to take points from and Rapid will certainly not be bottom of the group at the end.
"Rapid shocked Villa. Martin O'Neill's side were probably the better team on the night, but you never felt comfortable for them because Rapid were always extremely quick and dangerous on the break.
Jelavic is Rapid's danger man and scored against Aston Villa
"Up front, they have a Croatian striker called Nikica Jelavic, who is the most dangerous player they've got.
"He scored the goal that knocked Villa out. He's a class act and will cause Celtic problems.
"Without a doubt, he will go on to play for a bigger club at some point. But they were an all-round good, strong team.
"Pacult also coached them really well and had their tactics down to a tee.
"A lot of teams would've buckled after going 2-0 down to a strong, experienced Villa side - but not Rapid."
However, despite being impressed, Nevin says he also picked out some weaknesses in Die Grun-Weisen that Celtic would do well to try to exploit.
"In the full-back areas, especially the left side, James Milner was tearing them to shreds - likewise Ashley Young on the other flank," he said.
"They were able to fire in cross after cross all night.
"The wings are areas where Celtic are strong, but I'm not sure if Aiden McGeady will be fit.
"That could mean an important role for Paddy McCourt and, if he can play only 45 minutes, I think he could cause them a lot of damage."
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?