European Match Reports

---

1967 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL CELTIC v Internazionale Milano F.C. DATE: 25/5/1967 VENUE: Estádio Nacional, Lisboa ATTENDANCE: 54,000 SCORE: 2 - 1

SCORERS: Celtic;  Gemmell (63), Chalmers (85), Inter;  Mazzola (7 pen.)

Celtic were crowned football kings of Europe in the exotic National Stadium here tonight. The scenes under the setting sun at the end were fantastic - but so was the match. Celtic came back from what seemed an early crippling disaster to annihilate the once proud Inter Milan with hurricane attacking football. Every one of the 60,000 crowd here tonight knew that Celtic were really great ... and the fans paid them tribute. How Celtic came back from disaster will become an epic in European football history. They were a goal down in exactly seven minutes from a penalty, and then they spent long minutes of frustration as the most brilliant moves and fiercest shooting anyone in Europe has ever known, failed. Failed, not because this was a great Inter defence, but failed mainly because of bad luck. In the end, however, it was a triumph of Celtic's football, the new football pattern manager Jock Stein has set, the pattern which must be adopted from now on in Europe. Celtic gave Europe a new conception of football. This was shown by that explosive character Tommy Gemmell, hero of the afternoon. He capped a highly successful season with a super goal, the goal of the season, the goal that sent all Celtic frustrations flying. What a goal!

DROOPED

And it showed that Celtic had all the accent on attack, for Jimmy Craig joined Gemmell in the assault. It was a night of wild triumph and now Celtic are unquestionably the greatest team in Europe. And if they play with this heart and courage they will be kings of Global football, for I cannot see any South American team matching them. Inter are dead, dead in European football. They were hissed, hooted and booed for their negative tactics, and Celtic became the idols of Portuguese fans, among the most knowledgeable in Europe, with their brilliant play. Before the kick-off the heat was tremendous. But this foreign stadium became a little bit of Parkhead, for everyone was cheering on Celtic. There was not a cheep from Inter fans. It seemed that Celtic had taken over Lisbon. But in seven minutes the banners of green around the terraces dropped when tragedy hit Celtic. In one of Inter's few raids Cappellini was running through and into a menacing shooting position when he was pulled down by Billy McNeill [Jim Craig]. The referee was well behind play, but he had no hesitation in giving the penalty. Celtic protested but they couldn't move him, and Mazzola scored neatly from the spot.

PACKED

That should have been a crippling blow for Celtic. For it compensated Inter for the loss of Saurez. But that was when Celtic came into the picture, the brave new Celtic, the Celtic of wonderful amazing stamina and courage. They hit Inter with everything, high crosses, wonderful moves, cunning feints and neat flicks. Lennox did the running and Auld supplied neat moves. But it all seemed in vain. Inter were pale shadows of the once great blue and black team. Their defence were anything but tight, anything but confident. But they packed every man into their goal. Only Mazzola and Cappellini were left up front. It was frustrating. Celtic could not get the goals they so richly deserved. Nothing went right. Auld hit the bar and then Sarti saved a terrific Gemmell shot. At half-time we all wondered just what more Celtic could do to bring equality in a match when they should have been so far ahead. But it wasn't long until Celtic showed that they had everything a great team needs. Their spirits should have been depressed when they were refused what seemed a justified penalty against Burgnich. Then from the indirect free-kick the ball appeared over the line but the ref waved on play. Bang, bang, bang went Celtic. But still the luckiest defence in the world held out. THEN TOMMY GEMMELL STRUCK. What a great goal it was and it shows you how much in command were Celtic that it was made by right-back Jim Craig. Gemmell to Craig and back, and what a shot from Tommy. His first-time right-foot shot thundered into the back of the net like a flash. The great Sarti was beaten and the exotic stadium turned into a green and white inferno. Helenio Herrera, who had been bawling instructions all afternoon from the bench, put his head between his knees and wept. And the Inter players knew in their hearts this was the end, the end of a once great team. It was only a matter of time until Celtic got the winner. Inter could not burst into attack when attack was called for. They did not have the know-how, the courage, the stamina to hit back again against superb Celtic. Anxiety set in, however, as the minutes ticked away and the winner Celtic deserved did not come. But the attacks grew fiercer and fiercer. Inter had never met a team like Celtic before.

ROBOTS

Were these footballers or robots, they wondered? They soon got their answer. With only five minutes to go Celtic scored the goal that made history, the goal that made them the first British club to win the European Cup. Bobby Murdoch was the man behind it. In yet another fast and fascinating attack, Inter's defence was ripped apart and Bobby slammed in a low hard angular drive. As Sarti moved to cover it, Stevie Chalmers stuck out a foot to deflect the ball into the goal. And what joy there was. For, with the ball in the net, the European Cup was in the bag. Be proud of Celtic. This was history and what terrific history it was. I think only Super Celts could have come back from such a disastrous start, a start that would have knocked practically every other team in Europe out of the ring. But not Celtic. They played all the harder, all the better. And they were entitled to call themselves great champions, GREAT CHAMPIONS they were.

TRAVESTY

It would have been the travesty of all time if Inter had won the Cup. For they took the lashing of a lifetime. This was no cool, contemptuous defence. This was Inter at panic stations. This was Inter meeting much more than their match. Burgnich, Sarti and Facchetti stuck grimly to their tasks, but in vain. They had no answers to Celtic, a Celtic going at top speed, a Celtic who have given the world a new concept of football. no wonder Di Stefano paid a special visit to Lisbon to see the final to try to plead with Celtic to play in his benefit match in Madrid. It was wonderful to be in this beautiful tree-lined stadium. To see the joy of the green and white bedecked fans at the end. They took over the stadium and they deserved their minutes of delirious joy. Every Celt was a hero. On an afternoon like this, on an afternoon of triumph, of triumph never achieved by a British team before, every Celt deserved praise, from Ronnie Simpson, who had hardly a save to make all afternoon, to the fast moving Bobby Lennox. This was also a triumph of tactics. Celtic proved they were masters of all the moves, of sophisticated raids, as well as spectacular high crosses. It was a triumph for football with a real kick. It was a defeat at last for the method men of Inter to whom defence is law. It was a game packed with drama, incident and excitement, and it all came from Celtic. Apart from their goal, Inter were never in the picture. Their main hope was to try and hang on to their goal at all costs. But against Stein's men it was a forlorn hope.