The 25th May 1967 and the city of Lisbon will always be indelibly linked with Celtic FC. It was on that incredible day 40 years ago that 11 men from the Glasgow area became the first team from Northern Europe to win the European Cup.
Celtic qualified for the European Cup for the first time by winning the league the previous season. The foray into Europe would be a wonderful experience for all those involved as the Bhoys would produce wonderful performance after wonderful performance.
The 1966-67 season began with a pre-season tour to America when the club remained unbeaten afer 11 games. The tour took place between 12 May 1966 and 12 June 1966.
Most of the players will agree that this tour led to a camaraderie between all the players that helped them to the most successful season in the long history of the club.
Celtic's european adventure began with a 5-0 aggregate victory over Swiss side FC Zurich. This was followed up with wins over FC Nantes and FK Vojvodina before a semi-final with Czech side Dulka Prague. Celtic won the first leg 3-1 and drew the second leg 0-0 to set up a final with the mighty Inter Milan.
Helenio Herrera's side were the clear favourites for the match as they had the European pedigree being champions in 1963/64 and 1964/65
and semi-finalists in 1965/66.
The Milanese began the match in fine style and took the lead when Jim Craig felled Cappellini in the 7th minute and Mazzola stepped up to stroke the resulting penalty home. The match should have been over as Herrera was the master of Catenaccio, a defensive system made famous by the Argentinean trainer who used it to grind out 1-0 wins over opponents in their games.
However it was Celtic who took the game to the Italians and with over 40 attempts on goal exposed serious weaknesses in Catenaccio. The equaliser was deserved and when it eventually came it was Tommy Gemmell who fired in from 25 yards.
Inter were now not ahead and had no answer for Celtic's attacking prowess and with just six minutes remaining Gemmell squared the ball from the left to Murdoch whose shot was deflected into the net by Chalmers. Celtic were in the lead and Inter never threatened to come back. The Scottish champions comfortably saw out the final few minutes to become not only the first British side to be crowned European champions, but also the first side to wrest the title away from the Latin countries of Spain, Portugal and Italy.
"We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football." - Jock Stein, Lisbon, 1967.
Celtic qualified for the European Cup for the first time by winning the league the previous season. The foray into Europe would be a wonderful experience for all those involved as the Bhoys would produce wonderful performance after wonderful performance.