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Jock Stein on Celtic's triumph in Lisbon [1] [2]
The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967, [3] defeating Inter Milan 2–1.
The name is likely due to the fact that the Lisbon-based Sporting football club's mascot is a lion, and the club wear green and white striped jerseys like Celtic. [4]
All but two members of the 15 man squad were born within 10 miles of Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland (Bobby Lennox, who was born 30 miles away in Saltcoats, and Tommy Gemmell, who was born in Motherwell 11 miles away). [1] Celtic's style was the antithesis of the cynical – but highly effective – defensive style of Inter. Jimmy Johnstone described the team's style as "like the Dutch speeded-up". [5]
In the stadium where his father Valentino played his last match, [6] Sandro Mazzola opened the scoring for Inter with a 7th-minute penalty after Jim Craig had brought down Renato Cappellini. The Italians then retreated into their famous 11-man defence. Inter did not win a single corner and forced Celtic goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson to make only two saves. Celtic had two shots off the crossbar, and 39 other attempts on goal, 13 of which were saved by Italian goalkeeper Giuliano Sarti, seven were blocked or deflected, and 19 were off-target. Craig made amends for his penalty mistake on 63 minutes, when he laid off the ball for Tommy Gemmell to fire home for the Celtic equaliser. With 83 minutes on the clock, Gemmell was allowed space, and he played the ball to Bobby Murdoch, whose long-range shot was deflected by Stevie Chalmers past Sarti into the net.
Celtic were the first British club to win the European Cup, and still the only Scottish club to have reached the final. Having already triumphed in the Scottish top flight, Scottish Cup, and Scottish League Cup, the Lisbon Lions became the first winners of the European Treble and remain the only winners of the fabled Quadruple. [7] [8] Celtic are also one of just three European clubs to have won five trophies in a single season, thanks to their Glasgow Cup triumph over Partick Thistle. They reached the European Cup final again in 1970 but were beaten 2–1 by Feyenoord after extra time in the San Siro Stadium in Milan.
| 1966–67 European Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Venue | Opponents | Score | Round | Celtic scorers | |
| 28 September 1966 | Celtic Park, Glasgow (H) | FC Zürich | 2–0 | First round, 1st leg | Gemmell, McBride | |
| 5 October 1966 | Letzigrund, Zürich (A) | FC Zürich | 3–0 | First round, 2nd leg | Gemmell (2, 1 pen.), Chalmers | |
| 30 November 1966 | Stade Marcel Saupin, Nantes (A) | FC Nantes | 3–1 | Second round, 1st leg | McBride, Lennox, Chalmers | |
| 7 December 1966 | Celtic Park, Glasgow (H) | FC Nantes | 3–1 | Second round, 2nd leg | Johnstone, Chalmers, Lennox | |
| 1 March 1967 | Karađorđe Stadium, Novi Sad (A) | FK Vojvodina | 0–1 | Quarter-final, 1st leg | n/a | |
| 8 March 1967 | Celtic Park, Glasgow (H) | FK Vojvodina | 2–0 | Quarter-final, 2nd leg | Chalmers, McNeill | |
| 12 April 1967 | Celtic Park, Glasgow (H) | Dukla Prague | 3–1 | Semi-final, 1st leg | Johnstone, Wallace (2) | |
| 25 April 1967 | Stadion Juliska, Prague (A) | Dukla Prague | 0–0 | Semi-final, 2nd leg | n/a | |
| 25 May 1967 | Estádio Nacional, Lisbon (N) | Inter Milan | 2–1 | Final | Gemmell, Chalmers | |
Notes: Celtic did not wear numbers on their shirts at this time. The numbers shown were sewn onto their shorts.
A second goalkeeper was the only substitute allowed at the time. The other members of the squad who played in Europe during that season were Charlie Gallagher, John Hughes, Joe McBride and Willie O'Neill.
James Connolly Johnstone was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right. Known as "Jinky" for his elusive dribbling style, Johnstone played for Celtic for 13 years, and was part of the 'Lisbon Lions', the team who won the 1967 European Cup Final, as well as winning nine consecutive Scottish championships. He scored 129 goals for Celtic in 515 appearances and was voted the club's greatest ever player by fans in 2002.
John "Jock" Stein was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish League championships between 1966 and 1974.
Ronald Campbell Simpson was a Scottish football player and coach. He is mainly remembered for his time with Celtic, where he was the goalkeeper in the Lisbon Lions team that won the European Cup in 1967. Earlier in his career, Simpson had won the FA Cup twice with Newcastle United. He also played for Queen's Park, Third Lanark and Hibernian. Simpson represented Great Britain in the 1948 Olympics, but was not selected for Scotland until 1967. He made his international debut in the famous 3–2 victory against England at Wembley.
Thomas Stephen Chalmers was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre-forward and spent the majority of his career with Celtic. He is the club's fifth-highest goalscorer with 236 goals and is considered one of their greatest players. He is particularly known for scoring the winning goal in the 1967 European Cup Final against Inter Milan. Chalmers later played for Morton and Partick Thistle. He also represented Scotland five times in international matches.
Robert White Murdoch was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as a midfielder for Celtic, Middlesbrough and Scotland. Murdoch was one of the Lisbon Lions, the Celtic team who won the European Cup in 1967. He later also managed Middlesbrough.
Robert Auld was a Scottish football player and manager. He was a member of Celtic's Lisbon Lions, who won the 1967 European Cup Final.
Celtic Football Club was constituted in 1888 with the purpose of creating a club for Irish Immigrants. Celtic play home games at Celtic Park, having moved there from their original ground in 1892. The club has always competed in the highest level of football in Scotland, currently the Scottish Premiership, since the inception of league football in Scotland. Celtic quickly established itself as a dominant force in Scottish football, winning six successive league titles during the first decade of the 20th century. A fierce rivalry developed with Rangers, and the two clubs became known as the Old Firm.
Thomas Gemmell was a Scottish football player and manager. Although right-footed, he excelled as a left-sided fullback and had powerful shooting ability. Gemmell is best known as one of the Celtic side who won the 1966–67 European Cup; he scored the first Celtic goal in the final. Gemmell played 18 times for Scotland, and also played for Nottingham Forest, Miami Toros and Dundee. After retiring as a player in 1977, Gemmell managed Dundee and Albion Rovers.
John Clark is a Scottish former football player and coach. He has been employed by Celtic for more than forty years over eight decades, since signing as a player in 1958, then having spells as a coach, assistant manager and currently kit controller.
The 1966–67 season was the 94th season of competitive football in Scotland and the 70th season of Scottish league football.
James Philip Craig is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a right back. Most closely associated with Celtic, he was a member of their Lisbon Lions side which won the 1967 European Cup.
The 1967 European Cup final was a football match contested between Italian team Internazionale and Scottish team Celtic to determine the champion of the 1966–67 European Cup. It took place on 25 May 1967 at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal, in front of a crowd of 45,000. The match was Celtic's first European final and Inter's third; the Italian club had won the tournament in two of the previous three years.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Glasgow, which has regularly taken part in European competitions since its first appearance in the 1962–63 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Since then, the club has competed in every UEFA-organized competition, with the exception of the UEFA Super Cup and the defunct Intertoto Cup.
Willie O'Neill was a Scottish footballer who played for Celtic and Carlisle United as a full-back. Willie was a member of the famous 'Lisbon Lions' Celtic team who became the first British club to win the European Cup in 1967.
The 1967 Intercontinental Cup was a football tie held over three legs in 1967 between the winners of the 1966–67 European Cup, Celtic, and Racing Club, winners of the 1967 Copa Libertadores.
Newmains United Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the village of Newmains, near the towns of Wishaw and Motherwell. They play their home games at Victoria Park and compete in the West of Scotland League Fourth Division.
Celtic competed for five trophies in the 1966–67 season and the club won all of them: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the European Cup, and completed the only ever European Quintuple. However, their European Cup victory from this season qualified them for the World Championship the following season, which they went on to lose in a playoff to Racing. Over the course of this season, Celtic scored a world record 196 goals in the major competitions they took part in.
Football in Scotland has been dominated by two clubs, Celtic and Rangers, both based in Glasgow and collectively known as the Old Firm due to the mutual economic benefits of the public interest in their longstanding rivalry, since the introduction of a national league system in 1890. While many of the league contests have been closely fought between the pair and have occasionally involved other clubs, periods of one-team dominance have occurred, most significantly three periods of nine championship wins in succession since the 1970s which has led to the term "Nine in a row" becoming a commonly-used phrase, and a topic which has drawn much attention.