Lisbon Lions
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We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football.
—Jock Stein on Celtic's triumph in Lisbon
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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, defeating Inter Milan 2–1. All the members of this team were born within 30 miles (48 km) of Glasgow, Scotland. [1] Celtic's style was the antithesis of the cynical, but highly effective, defensive style of Internazionale. Jimmy Johnstone described the team's style as "like the Dutch speeded-up."
Alessandro Mazzola opened the scoring for Inter with a 7th minute penalty, after Jim Craig 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, 7 were blocked or deflected, and only 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, and the first Northern European club to win the European Cup and are still the only Scottish club ever to have reached the final, and are the only club to have won a "Quadruple". They reached the final again in 1970 but were beaten 2–1 by Feyenoord after extra time in the San Siro Stadium in Milan.
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[edit] Celtic's European Cup results 1966–67
| European Cup 1966–67 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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, Zurich (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 | 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 | Na Julisce Stadion, Prague (A) | Dukla Prague | 0–0 | Semi-final, 2nd leg | n/a | |
| 25 May 1967 | Estádio Nacional, Lisbon (N) | Internazionale Milano F.C. | 2–1 | The Final | Gemmell, Chalmers | |
[edit] 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)
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.
[edit] Squad 1966–67
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[edit] See also
[edit] 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.
