1967 - Celtic Football Club Win the European Cup

On Thursday 25 May 1967 Celtic Football Club became the first ever british side to lift the coveted European Cup after beating Internacionale of Milan 2-1 at the Estadio Nacionale in Lisbon. The feat itself was great but made even more incredible by the fact that this side was made up, not from international football superstars but from local men who all grew up within a 30 mile radius of their home ground, Celtic Park.

Few of the neutrals among the 45,000 who crammed into the Portuguese national stadium would have given Celtic a chance against Inter Milan as the game began. Inter had already seen off CSKA Sofia, Real Madrid and Torpedo Moscow on the way to the final and there was a general feeling that they were turning up to collect the trophy. This feeling was not shared by Celtic under the management of the charismatic Jock Stein.

The game started badly for Celtic when Celtic player Jim Craig brought down Cappellini in the penalty area and Mazolla scored the resulting penalty. However Celtic then began to attack relentlessly and for the remainder of the game pressed Inter back with a display of total attacking football. After 65 minutes Tommy Gemmell scored from an unstoppable shot to level the game.

Celtic continued to press and minutes from the end Bobby Murdoch sent in a powerful shot which deflected off his team mate Stevie Chalmers and into the Inter net giving Celtic a 2-1 lead. When the final whistle came one of the greatest Scottish sporting achievements was complete.

The 11 Celtic players who took to the field on that sunny May afternoon in Lisbon subsequently became known as The Lisbon Lions, and their story is the stuff of modern-day football legends.