Arsenal legend who scored hat-trick against Real Madrid sends warning to Gunners

Arsenal legend once scored a hat-trick against in Europe - and finished on the losing side. And as the Gunners prepare for their acid test in the Bernabeu cauldron, George rolled back the heartaches and warned: “I’ve been telling them it’s not over.”

Fifty years ago, after led to the title, the Rams hammered Real 4-1 in the European Cup second round at the Baseball Ground. George, who famously scored the final extra-time winner against in ’s 1970-71 Double season, was Derby’s hat-trick hero.

Although he scored again in the return leg, Real forced extra-time thanks to a hugely contentious penalty and went on to win 5-1 - and George has never forgotten the night glory slipped away in one of European football’s great citadels.

Checking in ahead of , George - now 74 - recalled the tie which should serve as an antidote against any complacency when ’s side defend their 3-0 lead in the quarter-finals on Wednesday night.

Arsenal have never lost a three-goal advantage in a two-legged knockout tie in Europe, but the former darling of the North Bank warned: “I scored four in two games against Real Madrid and came away with nothing. Let’s get the job done on Wednesday, but I’ve been telling them it’s not over. Strange things happen over there, it’s not over until it’s done.”

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George, who was voted No.9 in a fans’ poll of Arsenal’s 50 greatest-ever players eight years ago, was losing his way at Highbury when Mackay signed him for £100,000 in the summer of 1975. He soon became a Rams favourite, notably blowing kisses to the ‘Pop side’ after a first-time volley with his left foot fired Derby in front against Real.

Two penalties gave Derby a three-goal advantage to take to the Bernabeu for the return - the same cushion Arsenal will defend this week. Although the Spanish aristocrats wiped out the deficit, George’s brilliant strike from 25 yards appeared to have put Derby on course for a narrow aggregate win until a dubious late spot-kick.

And when Santillana’s goal in extra-time completed the turnaround, George could not believe the Rams’ cruel fate. “I feel people make a lot of the hat-trick in the first game, but two of them were penalties. I was always that confident when it came to penalties, so I always felt I should score them.

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“The other goal that night was a good one, and I actually think the one I scored in Madrid was the best – but it never got a mention because we were beaten 5-1,” he told Derby’s club website. “The one from open play at the Baseball Ground was all about timing, I managed to come onto it and find the bottom corner. I could strike a ball well, so it was all about timing and I caught it sweetly.

“It was devastating to lose how we did in the second leg. Personally, I managed to score four goals in two games against Real Madrid and still end up on the losing side. I think that we could have done really well in the competition if we had got through.”

George scored another hat-trick for the Rams in Europe a year later, against Finn Harps in a tie, and he would later score ’s winner against in the 1979 European Super Cup during a short loan at the City Ground.

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