There are eighteen thousand fans in the stands, almost everyone came for Celtic Glasgow. Such a football classic, where the Slovak champion was once again limited to numbers.
For many, it was perhaps the greatest sporting experience in their lives. Artmedia, a club that is rejoicing in the league title for the first time, has the honor of hosting the giant. And yet just a few days before – with a huge amount of luck – he eliminated the below-average Kazakh Kajrat Almaty.
Although no one even hoped for it, Bratislava is witnessing one of the biggest football sensations ever in the 2nd preliminary round of the Champions League. The Scots write about total shame, and for the media there, the word Artmedia becomes a synonym for total failure and eternal disgrace for many years.
On July 27, 2005, Artmedia Bratislava, according to The Times tabloid, a pub club, inflicted a 5:0 debacle on Celtic. Until then, the “Catholics” had never lost in such a humiliating manner on the European stage.
The commentator almost called the round
Where to start, since there is so much happening on Bajkalská Street that day. I guess it could be the newspaper clippings that have been circulating the streets of Glasgow since this morning – against a team whose skill value is only one million pounds, it should be a comfortable ride, they say.
Čobej – Kotula, Debnár, J. Ďurica, Tchuř – Borbély – Vaščák, J. Kozák, Fodrek – Obžera, Halenár.
Scottish journalists have no idea what Artmedia is, for Celtic fans, the parsley club has a name that is more suitable for a graphics company than a football team.
But he who laughs last laughs… 43rd minute and Juraj Halenár sends the Slovak champion into the lead after Kozák’s fantastic pass.
The legendary Gordon Strachan makes his debut on the Celtic bench, he looks calm as if nothing is happening. After all, the second half is here – enough minutes not only to equalize, but also to make a perfect turn.
Gordon Strachan The then Celtic coach Gordon Strachan after arriving in Bratislava.
Slovak television will not broadcast the match, only cable station Galaxie Sport with minimal coverage. When Blažej Vaščák makes it 2:0, the screen reads:
“Let the one of you in front of the TV raise your hand who thought that Artmedia would win over Celtic 2:0,” says commentator Slavo Jurko.
We can’t see anyone in the living room, but we suspect that no one will raise their hand.
A corner kick and the boy, who just five days ago transferred to Artmedia from nearby Pasienko, makes it 3-0 with a great volley. A goal that deserves the Champions League. A football image from another planet, the memory that first comes to mind when Juraj Halenár is mentioned.
Allow a small digression from the match, because the striker with number nine really deserves it. Halenár was an extremely skilled footballer with an extraordinary sense of smell for goals.
Photo: Pravda, Roman Benický
Celtic Glasgow, Artmedia Goal joy of Artmedia players – from left Ján Ďurica, Branislav Obžera and Juraj Halenár.
In the summer of 2018, when the news that he had taken his own life spread around football Slovakia, a thread about this great gunner was created on the fan page of Celtic Glasgow – that is, thirteen years after the match. The Scots unanimously appreciated his qualities and expressed their condolences to the bereaved.
But back to “Tehelko”, because the end of the match is approaching. On the Artmedia bench, the players shake their heads in disbelief.
“Is it a dream? Isn’t it a dream?” can be read from their facial expressions. However, they have no idea what the last minutes will bring. Goals number four and five. The latter symbolically gives Halenár again and completes the hat trick…
“If Celtic can erase this deficit in the return, then I will pay for that round…” promises Jurko into the microphone. He has no idea that in seven days he will be clutching his wallet tightly in his hand, but we are getting ahead of that already…
And now you will be silent
What actually happened in Bratislava? The stadium rejoices euphorically on one side, gasps in disbelief on the other. All the paper assumptions are suddenly just a scrap of paper, the official UEFA website publishes an article about the huge sensation within minutes, while the Scots search for the right words.
One sharp but very funny pen can be found after all. A journalist from the Glasgow Daily Record glosses the situation perfectly.
“Shame. History has taught us that the absolute worst start to a new job was the night watchman on the Titanic who failed to notice that his ship was drifting toward an iceberg the size of Belgium. Unfortunately, it was valid only until yesterday,” an article with such a comment was published the next day.
“Gordon Strachan found out in Bratislava how the aforementioned poor man in the Atlantic felt when he heard the impact and began to wonder where the big noise was coming from.
Artmedia, which means virtually nothing in European football, has sunk Celtic’s Champions League hopes. Calling this loss embarrassing is too weak,” the text reads.
Stanislav Varga is one of the criticized Celtic players. Slovak representative who wore the jersey of this famous club.
Photo: ČTK / Kubáni Samuel
Stanislav Varga Stanislav Varga with Slovak journalists before the match against Artmedia.
Journalists are waiting for what he will tell them about the match. In vain. Everyone will be quiet, no one will say anything, that’s Strachan’s order. Finally, he stands in front of the microphones himself.
“I am coaching for the eighth season, before that I played for twenty-five years. After half an hour of the game, I would not have thought that something like this would happen. None of the players will forget this match. I feel humiliated, it’s hard to look someone in the eye,” he blurts out his sentences.
The novice coach Vladimír Weiss has completely different concerns. His name resonates all over Europe for the first time, the taunting of the opponent typically “weiss” makes him eat up after the match. “I believe that after this result Celtic fans will also remember our names.”
At that time, the elite Slovak referee Ľuboš Micheľ was relaxing on Aphrodite’s island, having just caught a seven-kilogram tuna, when his colleague Anton Stredák wrote him a text. “I couldn’t believe my display. Wasn’t he wrong? Shouldn’t it have been 0:5?” he describes his experience for Pravda.
There are many English and Scottish tourists in the Cypriot resort, they are said to be watching the news with amazement and when they learn that Micheľ is a Slovak referee, a good football debate can begin.
Godfather and Weiss
The lead is promising, irreversible under normal circumstances, but a small Slovak club with no experience will start in seven days in an iconic place. Where sparks fly and every football soul comes alive.
Playing in front of a 60,000-strong crowd in Celtic Park is something completely new for Weiss’ group, and if the phrase “defending a 5-0 lead” sounds like an oxymoron, then know that it happens in Glasgow.
0:1, 0:2, 0:3, 0:4, the whole of Slovakia has been listening with bated breath for the last ten minutes. One Scottish avalanche follows after another, but even the football gods will tell themselves that the story should end differently. That the little pub club has to go on after all.
“In retaliation, Celtic showed what Artmedia really is – a less than average group of footballers who simply do not belong to that level,” the Scottish media humiliated the Slovakian team the next day.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” they seek an explanation. After all, they were eliminated by an unknown club that changed its name eighteen times during its existence, its stadium did not meet the criteria to host a Champions League match.
The following months will prove how wrong they are. Artmedia twice takes points from rivals Rangers and shockingly wins in Porto. And if it weren’t for the false whistle of the German Markus Merk, she would have played in the LM round of 16 in the spring of 2006 and was drowning in money.
For the Scots, it is nevertheless a terrible blow that continues to hurt. When in 2016 Strachan – already as a national team coach – comes to Trnava for a match against Slovakia, everything in him wakes up. “It’s nice to be back in Bratislava, but I’m glad that we don’t have to play in Bratislava this time.”
Nineteen years have passed since the famous move, the stadium behind Starý most has been reduced to ashes, and football Artmedia no longer exists. The Petržalský club has survived difficult times and today plays in the 2nd league.
The story does not end, however, as Ivan Kmotrík, then owner of Artmedia, now owns Slovan and coach Weiss follows his steps on the coaching bench.
Glasgow is on alert, because next Wednesday they will both have a rehearsal with Celtic…
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
