Lisbon Lions
We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football.
The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967, defeating Internazionale 2–1. All but one member of the 15 man squad were born within 10 miles of Celtic Park Glasgow, Scotland.[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."[3]
Alessandro 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 Steve Chalmers past Sarti into the net.
Celtic were the first British club to win the European Cup, and still the only Scottish club ever to have reached the final. Celtic are one of only three clubs to have won a "Quintuple", the others being Barcelona (2009 and 2011) and Inter (2010). They reached the final again in 1970 but were beaten 2–1 by Feyenoord after extra time in the San Siro Stadium in Milan.
Celtic's European Cup results 1966–67
| 1966–67 European Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Venue | Opponents | Score | Round | Celtic scorers | |
| 28 September 1966 | Celtic Park, Glasgow (H) | Fußball-Club Zürich | 2–0 | First round, 1st leg | Gemmell, McBride | |
| 5 October 1966 | Letzigrund, Zurich (A) | Fußball-Club 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 | Stadium of Vojvodina, 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) | Internazionale Milano | 2–1 | The Final | Gemmell, Chalmers | |
The team
- Ronnie Simpson (Goalkeeper)
- Jim Craig (Right back)
- Tommy Gemmell (Left back)
- Bobby Murdoch (Right half)
- Billy McNeill (Captain, Centre half)
- John Clark (Left half)
- Jimmy Johnstone (Outside right)
- Willie Wallace (Inside right)
- Stevie Chalmers (Centre forward)
- Bertie Auld (Inside left)
- Bobby Lennox (Outside left)
- John Fallon (substitute Goalkeeper, not used)
- Jock Stein (Manager)
- Sean Fallon (Assistant Manager)
- Neil Mochan (Coach/Trainer)
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.
Squad 1966–67
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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See also
References
External links
- Local Heroes: The story of the Lisbon Lions, by Chris Hunt, published in FourFourTwo magazine, June 2007
- Year of Triumph a scanned-in commemorative magazine from 1967.
- Lisbon Lions site in Norwegian.
- Match report from the Guardian, 1967.
- Celtic 67 more recent picture of two of the Lisbon Lions.
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