Lisbon Lions

The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on May 25, 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2-1. All the members of this team were born within 30 miles (48 km) of Glasgow, Scotland. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/25/newsid_5071000/5071020.stm] 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 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 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 Giuliano Sarti into the net. 2-1 to Celtic.

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.

Note: Sporting Clube de Portugal, of Lisbon, are informally known within Portugal as "The Lions" due to their club mascot. Coincidentally, they also play in green and white shirts.

Celtic's European Cup results 1966-67

The team

#Ronnie Simpson (Goalkeeper)
#Jim Craig (Right back)
#Tommy Gemmell (Left wing 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 actually sewn onto their shorts.

A second goalkeeper was the only substitute allowed at the time.

quad 1966/67

Celtic's lineup in Lisbon

Video Game

The 1967 Lisbon Lions team can be played on the game Fifa 2000 by EA sports.It is the only time the team has been licensed for a video game.

ee also

*
*1967 European Cup Final
*European Cup 1966-67
*History of Celtic F.C.
*The Bhoys from Seville
*Hampden in the sun

External links

* [http://www.chrishunt.biz/features40.html Local Heroes: The story of the Lisbon Lions] , by Chris Hunt, published in FourFourTwo magazine, June 2007
* [http://www.jive.nl/~mag/celtic.html Year of Triumph] a scanned-in commemorative magazine from 1967.
* [http://home.online.no/~hharsson/lisbonlions.htm Lisbon Lions site] in Norwegian.
* [http://football.guardian.co.uk/Champions_League/Story/0,5764,91450,00.html Match report] from the Guardian, 1967.