Celtic will discover on Thursday afternoon who we will play in the Champions League Group stages this season.
But even the most optimistic supporter of the Scottish Champions could not hold out even the smallest hope that the club, now managed by Brendan Rodgers would have any chance at all of repeating the achievement of the 1966-67 season when under the legendary Jock Stein, Celtic won the European Cup on top of the Scottish league title, the Scottish Cup, the League Cup and the Glasgow Cup for good measure.
For Celtic supporters of course the Lisbon Lions – Ronnie Simpson, Jim Craig, Tommy Gemmell, Bobby Murdoch, Billy McNeill (captain), John Clark, Jimmy Johnstone, Willie Wallace, Stevie Chalmers, Bertie Auld, Bobby Lennox and the substitute goalkeeper John Fallon (not used) – have been extensively celebrated over the decades.
However there’s seldom a remark, or quote, photograph or piece of footage that these days catches your attention and makes you think about the achievement those Celtic players – all coming from within a 40 mile radius of Celtic Park in the East End of Glasgow – in a different way.
They secured eternal legendary status among the Celtic support when they became the first club from Britain or indeed the North of Europe to become European Champions, and playing fast, flowing, beautiful football very much in the Celtic tradition.
Celtic supporters to this day still talk proudly about that final on 25th May in the Estádio Nacional when the strong favourites Inter Milan were played off the park by this attacking football from these Scottish Bhoys and the bewildered Italians simply had no answer.
After conceding an early penalty few neutrals watching the 1967 European Cup Final on television screens across the content would have given Celtic much hope against the defensive masters from Milan but Celtic supporters in Lisbon or watching at home remained convinced that their team would prevail and and the jubilation that evening was like something they’d never experienced before or indeed ever again.
And the 12,000 Celtic fans who travelled to Lisbon in May 1967 certainly hit the jackpot as Jock Stein’s side piled on the pressure in the most one sided European Cup Final of all time and the final score of 2-1 flatters the battered Inter Milan side enormously. Celtic were still trailing at the interval but second half goals from Tommy Gemmell and Stevie Chalmers turned that around and brought glory to football in Glasgow, the likes of which has never been seen again.
But an observation from Matt Corr, of this parish, on social media illustrates just how awesome that Celtic side was in 1966-67 season. Matt noted:
“Jock Stein’s incredible Celtic side would beat the European champions of 1964 & 65 (Inter), ‘66 (Real Madrid) and ‘68 (Manchester United) in the same season, whilst claiming that 1967 title for themselves.”
This of course started with a 4-1 win over Manchester United side in a pre-season friendly on 6th August 1966 and Matt links to a video of that match, see below.
Jock Stein’s incredible Celtic side would beat the European champions of 1964 & 65 (Inter), ‘66 (Real Madrid) and ‘68 (Manchester United) in the same season, whilst claiming that 1967 title for themselves. ⭐️ https://t.co/aK2wjOWBwb
— Matt Corr (@Boola_vogue) August 7, 2023
After hammering Inter Milan in the European Cup Final on 25th May 1967 in Lisbon, Celtic were invited to play Real Madrid on 7th June 1967 for the legendary Madrid superstar Alfredo de Stefano’s testimonial match and with 100,000 in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium looking for Real to humble the newly crowned Champions of Europe. Jock Stein’s team had other ideas, as you can see below.
While Celtic won’t hit the heights of Jock Stein’s legendary Lisbon Lions in 1967, we can still set realistic ambitions for progress in European football. So what would that look like?
Well last season Celtic picked up just two points but that total should have been higher and it all came down to failure to take our chances. This time around we must do better at Celtic Park and look to be unbeaten at home.
Points while we should be targeting nine to have a chance of going into the knock-out rounds after Christmas but while those might be overly ambitious, the lower bar achievement really must be to finish third and in doing so drop into the Europa League, thus guaranteeing European football after Christmas.
