30 April 1977 - Austria Cranks Up The Heat

On 30 April 1977, six goals from striker Hans Krankl helped Austria to their record win, a 9-0 victory over Malta in a World Cup qualifier.

After finishing third in the 1954 World Cup, Austria had struggled, advancing only to the group stage in 1958, withdrawing in 1962, then failing to qualify for the 1966, 1970, and 1974 tournaments. But they started off their campaign for the 1978 World Cup by winning their first two games against Malta and Turkey by identical 1-0 scores.

For their third match, they hosted the return fixture against Malta in Salzburg. There, Krankl, who had scored the winner against Malta in the previous game, struck again with a goal in the 9th minute. He scored three more in the span of just over ten minutes (12', 18', 20') before Josef Stering added another in the 30th minute to give Austria a 5-0 lead at the break.

Things were little better for Malta in the second half, as both Krankl (53', 66') and Stering (69') again found the back of the net, along with Hans Pirkner (65'). The final margin of 9-0 remains Austria's biggest win.

They ultimately won their qualification group to reach the tournament, then won their first-round group, but were eliminated in the second group stage.

7 November 1984 - Rapid Slows Down Celtic's Travel Plans

On 7 November 1984, Celtic beat Rapid Wien 3-0 to advance in the European Cup Winners' Cup, but it didn't count.

The teams met in the tournament's second round, with Rapid winning the first leg in Vienna on 24 October, 3-1. Thirteen days later, Celtic hosted the second leg in Glasgow, where they drew level on aggregate with first-half goals from Brian McClair (32') and Murdo MacLeod (45'). Tommy Burns then added another goal in the 68th minute.

Four minutes later, Burns was involved in a incident that saw the referee eject Rapid's Reinhard Kienast. As the Austrian were protesting the decision, midfielder Rudi Weinhofer went down clutching his face, apparently hit by an object thrown from the stands. He had to leave the game, which left Rapid down to 10 men as they had already used all of their substitutes. Captain Hans Krankl threatened to lead his team off the pitch in protest, but the match eventually resumed after a 15-minute delay. It ended 3-0 to Celtic, which put them through 4-3 on aggregate.

Rapid protested the result, however, and a UEFA appeals panel determined that the injury to Weinhofer justified a replay which they ordered to be played at least 100 miles away from Glasgow. So the teams met at Old Trafford in Manchester on 12 December.

Rapid won that match 1-0 to advance 4-1 on aggregate and ended up going all the way to the final in Rotterdam, where they lost to Everton, 3-1.