A Real Madrid fan reaches his seat at the old Santiago Bernabeu and takes a swig of a cold Mahou beer. It’s July 11th 1968 and he’s ready to enjoy one of the biggest matches a Spanish football fan can see at this time: a Cup final between Barcelona and Los Blancos.

There are two things he still doesn’t know: that final will have nothing to enjoy at all, and that will be the last time he’ll be able to drink from a glass bottle in a football stadium.

With Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in the box –in fact at that time the Cup was called Copa del Generalisimo in his honour– the so called Government’s team faced their arch-rivals from Catalonia in a thrilling final.

However, as the newspapers of that time reported, the final was nothing but a “damp squib, a pathetic let down, even though both teams displayed the right sporting attitude.”

The match was controversial even before it started. The Referees’ Committee and the Spanish Football Federation had appointed Antonio Rigo, known as Barcelona’s favourite ref, as the judge of the game. “An unnecessary risk,” according to ABC’s reporter Gilera.

Barcelona were lucky to take the lead in the sixth minute thanks to Zunzunegui’s own goal in his attempt to clear the ball after a cross from Carles Rexach.

The focus then turned back into the referee, after he refused to send Gallego off after a violent tackle on Serena. The crowd went mad as their team was unable to breach Barca’s aggressive defence.

In the 19th minute of the second half, Los Blancos fans exploded when Serena was brought down inside the box and Rigo didn’t concede the penalty. One of the most shameful events in the history of Spanish football took place at that exact moment.

Real Madrid fans started throwing bottles onto the field, threatening the players’ and the referee’s physical integrity. The images were censured by the Government-controlled press, but a fragment can be seen at the end of the video above.

Barcelona won the Final of the Bottles

Barcelona went on to win in a poor football game, and Franco had to hand the Catalans’ the trophy while a rain of bottles kept falling over the field. Glass bottles were banned in football stadiums from that day.

Described as “one of the worst games in history”, the Final of the Bottles is also remembered as the day the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona became more violent.

It was a sad day for Spanish football and for the fans. The relation between both clubs changed for worse, and beer did never taste as fresh served in plastic cups.