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The 1967 European Cup Final was contested at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on May 25, 1967. The game featured the Italian giants Inter Milan taking on Celtic, who were seen as the underdogs[citation needed].
At the end of the match it was Celtic who ran out 2-1 winners over the Italians after a thrilling match. The winning Celtic team went on to be known as the "Lisbon Lions".
[edit] Match Summary
The final was to be a true clash of styles. Internazionale lined up with their tried and trusted five men at the back, while Celtic played 4-2-4 with two attacking wingers feeding the two forwards in the middle. The Scots relied on their wingers. On one side was Jimmy Johnstone, who would twist and turn past defenders, while on the other wing was the fast and direct Bobby Lennox. These two were at the heart of the Celtic attacks as they fed Stevie Chalmers and William Wallace in the middle. Jock Stein spoke before the game about how their style of play was almost as important as the result, while for Herrera, winning was everything.
Inter were handicapped by the absence through injury of both Jair and the influential Luis Suarez, but they were still big favourites as they took to Lisbon’s Estadio Nacional pitch, despite the 12,000 Scots that had made the long journey to roar their team on. The odds on the cup returning to Milan shortened even further after just seven minutes as the dangerous Cappellini was brought down in the penalty area by Celtic’s right-back Jim Craig. Sandro Mazzola stepped up to stroke the penalty home and the game seemed to be as good as over even at this early stage of the game. At the time an early goal for Inter seemed to be the worst possible thing that could have happened to Celtic, but in hindsight it may well have made their task easier. Celtic’s strength was undoubtedly in attack and now they were forced to throw everything forward. Inter retreated into defence as they had so successfully done so many times before, but they can rarely have come up against a side so committed to attack. Celtic’s two attacking wingers ran at the Inter defence, their two forwards caused havoc in the middle, their two central midfielders pressed forward, while Inter’s policy of leaving just one man up front left Celtic’s full backs free to join in with the attacks.
With no Suarez to set Inter away on their counter attacks, the Italians just fell back into their penalty area as wave upon wave of Celtic attacks rained in on them. Both Bertie Auld and Tommy Gemmell hit the crossbar, while an inspired Giuliano Sarti made a number of desperate saves to keep his team ahead. Under the circumstances it was remarkable that Inter held out for as long as they did for there was less than half an hour remaining when Celtic finally broke through, but such was the pressure on the Italians penalty area that a goal was almost inevitable. It came from Craig who had given away the penalty kick. This time he found some space on the right wing where he pulled the ball back to the onrushing Tommy Gemmell who took the ball first time and shot home from 25 yards.
Inter now without a lead to hold on to, needed to change their game plan, but it was too late. Celtic had all the momentum and Inter seemed unable to break off their defensive shackles. With just six minutes remaining Tommy Gemmell squared the ball from the left to Bobby Murdoch whose shot was deflected into the net by Stevie 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. As well as the thousands of Celtic fans who cascaded onto the pitch on the final whistle, Europe celebrated as attacking football had overcome Inter’s dreaded negativity. Even Kurt Tschenscher the German referee exclaimed after the game: ‘It was a wonderful game and Celtic fully deserved to win.’ The Celtic players were so excited that they almost forgot to collect the cup. They were carried shoulder high by their jubilant fans to the dressing rooms, and Portuguese President Americo had to wait for over ten minutes to hand over the trophy. But eventually captain Billy McNeill stepped forward to raise the European Cup high above his head to the delight of the roaring Celtic hordes.
[edit] Match details
- Referee:
Kurt Tschenscher
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Celtic
