See Also 1967 Celtic Matches



Celtic had absolutely no chance of winning the European Cup according to outsiders. As Inter Milan had won the trophy twice before and had a glittering array of stars on the park, then Celtic were only there as cannon fodder. Big mistake, someone had forgot to tell big Jock and the rest of the Lisbon Lions. Celtic took to the field signing the Celtic song, to the amazement of the Milan players. Milan manager Herrera was furious when big Jock took the bench he had earmarked for himself, but his arse was planted and he was not moving. Mazzola opened the scoring for Inter from a penalty award in the 7th minute.

Celtic followed the Stein script to the letter by firing in shot after shot until the Italian stronghold broke. They got their just rewards, when Big Tam Gemmell blasted the ball into the Milan net from 20yds.With 5 minutes left in the match it was Gemmell again, with a clever pass to Bobby Murdoch who drove the ball into the area, cannoning off Steve Chalmers and into the net for the winner. Celtic had ripped the script to shreds.

Jock Stein had been manager for a little over two seasons and had taken Celtic to the pinnacle of club success, the European Cup, the first British side to mount the summit.

Celtic win the treble.

Details

Location: Estádio Nacional, Vale do Jamor, near Lisbon
Date: May 25, 1967
Attendance: 45 000 spectators
Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (Germany)

Celtic Team
Manager: Jock Stein
Ronnie Simpson (GK);
James Craig, Thomas Gemmell; Robert Murdoch, Billy McNeill (captain), John Clark;
Jimmy Johnstone, William Wallace, Stevie Chalmers, Bertie Auld, Robert Lennox

Internazionale
Manager: Helenio Herrera
Giuliano Sarti; Tarcisio Burgnich, Giacinto Facchetti; Giancarlo Bedin, Aristide Guarneri, Armando Picchi (captain); Angelo Domenghini, Sandro Mazzola, Renato Cappellini, Mauro Bicicli, Mario Corso

Scorers:
6' Sandro Mazzola 0-1
63' Tommy Gemmell 1-1
84' Stevie Chalmers 2-1

Stats:

	Inter	Celtic
Goal Attempts	5	42
Shots On Target	4	24
Shots Off Target	0	16
Fouls	20	20
Corners	0	10
Offside	2	7

Pictures

• Picture Links

Links

• Lisbon Lions
• The Road to Lisbon

Pre-match Report

• The Times

Match Reports

• The Times
• The Times (Picture Article)
• The Guardian
• The Scotsman
• The Sporting Post
• The Celtic View
• Daily Record
• Stranded Celtic fans article (source?)

Stadium

• Estadio Nacional

KStreet

• Pre-match (mock) from 40th Anniversary
• Match thread (mock) from 40th Anniversary

Quotes
Stein's inspiring pre-match battle cry was: "If you're ever going to win the European Cup, then this is the day and this is the place. But we don't just want to win this cup, we want to do it playing good football - to make neutrals glad we've won it, glad to remember how we did it."
Jock Stein before the game

'We thought it would be impossible. We had seen Real Madrid play and all those teams, Milan and all those and we thought they were magnificent.'
Bobby Lennox speaking in 2003 about the players assesment of success in 1967

'At that point we had no thoughts about winning the European Cup. In fact it was a big thrill for us to just go to Zurich because we had never been there.'
Bobby Lennox speaking in 2003 about Celtic's opening tie of the European Cup 66/67.

"Big Jock always said we'd win," Jinky recalled last time we met, "but, to be honest, I thought we'd get a right gubbin'. I can see them yet standing alongside us in the tunnel waiting to go out on the pitch: Facchetti, Domenghini, Mazzola, Cappellini, all six-footers wi' Ambre Solaire suntans, Colgate smiles and slicked-back hair. Each and every wan o' them looked like yon film star Cesar Romero. They even smelt beautiful.
"And there's us midgets. Ah've got nae teeth, Bobby Lennox has'nae any either, and old Ronnie Simpson's got the full monty, nae teeth top and bottom. The Italians are starin' doon at us and we're grinnin' back up at 'em wi' our great, gumsy grins. We must have looked like something oot o' the circus."
Jimmy "Jinky" Johnstone

It (Winning the European Cup) might have been for Scotland, but it definitely wasn't for Britain...it was for Celtic.
Billy McNeill on European Cup Final win of 1967 (1995)

"My time will come!"
(Jock Stein to John Mackenzie of the Scottish Daily Express, prior to European Cup final 1967 after enduring snubs and mind games from opposite number Herrera (Inter Milan Manager))

Stein's inspiring pre-match battle cry was: "If you're ever going to win the European Cup, then this is the day and this is the place. But we don't just want to win this cup, we want to do it playing good football - to make neutrals glad we've won it, glad to remember how we did it."
(Jock Stein before the game 25th March 1967)

“Tell me, the 9 o’clock and 10 o’clock mass are all ticket?”
Jock Stein joking to Hugh McIlvaney on the surge of Celtic fans coming to Lisbon to see the team play in the European Cup Final (retold by Hugh McIlvaney)

"I am now going to tell him (Herrera) how Celtic will be the first team to bring the European Cup back to Britain. But it will not help him in any manner, shape or form: we are going to attack as we have never attacked before. Cups are not won by individuals, but by men in a team who put their club before personal prestige. I am lucky - I have the players who do just that for Celtic"
(Jock Stein 23rd May 1967)

"We must play as if there are no more games, no more tomorrows..."
(Jock Stein, shortly before kick off in Lisbon)

"We don't just want to win the European Cup. We want to do it playing good football, to make neutrals glad we won it, please to remember how we did it."
(Jock Stein before the European Cup win in 1967)

“Come here you’ve made history, go out and play to you capability and enjoy yourself”
Jock Stein to the players as they were to go out to play in the European Cup Final (1967)


(After wining the European Cup)
"We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football".
“There is always a time to move on.”

"This team will never be beaten!"
(Jock Stein to Bill Shankly on bus back, overheard by Bertie Auld)

"There is not a prouder man on God's Earth than me at this moment. Winning was important, aye, but it was the way that we have won that has filled me with satisfaction. We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football. There was not a negative thought in our heads. Inter played right into our hands; it's so sad to see such gifted players shackled by a system that restricts their freedom to think and to act. Our fans would never accept that sort of sterile approach. Our objective is always to try to win with style."
(Jock Stein, 1967)

“What a performance, what a performance”
Bill Shankley

Interviewer : “What a wonderful Season”
Jock Stein: “Aye, but what do I do next year?”

“We hope that the next hands on the European Cup are yours”
Prophetic words from Jock Stein to Matt Busby in 1967, as he received the BBC Sports team of the year award form 1967 (Man U under Matt Busby ended up winning the European Cup in 1968)

"Rangers or Celtic?
My first feeling was Celtic. When I was 13 years old I saw for the first time in my life a European Cup final - Inter against Celtic. That image is, even today, clear in my mind; that day, that game, Jimmy Johnston, Riva... I was so impressed. When I was in Mozambique, far away from football in Europe, I always remembered that day and that team. Especially because when they started to play in the national stadium in Portugal I thought Celtic were Sporting Lisbon because they dressed like Sporting."
Carlos Quieroz (Man U assistant manager in 2007)