Celtic European Cup – The Scotsman
'Hundreds invaded the field. Some knelt and kissed the turf, some took clods as souvenirs'
See Also 1967 Celtic Matches
• How John Rafferty, The Scotsman football correspondent, reported from Lisbon in 1967
THERE were scenes unprecedented at such a match when Celtic won the European Cup in Lisbon yesterday, beating the Italian champions, Inter Milan 2-1. There was a crowd of 54,000, but so noisy and colourful were the 7,000 Celtic supporters who travelled across Europe by air and road that it seemed at times that it was a home match for them.
When the final whistle blew hundreds invaded the field. Some knelt down and kissed the turf, some took clods as souvenirs. And in the excitement the players were badly mauled by those who sought to congratulate them. When they were finally shepherded to the pavilion it was remembered that the cup had not been presented.
Billy McNeill had to be taken back through the crowd and up the terraces to the rostrum to receive the great trophy. Later he was seated on a motor car roof and the cup in that way was paraded before the crowd.
Scottish supporters pushed their way into the dressing room and were given sips of champagne from the cup. Twenty minutes after the finish excited supporters – some of them wearing the kilt – were still dancing about the field and falling full length to kiss the turf.
There had been tremendous traffic chaos before the match all round Lisbon and some had deserted cars and buses and set out on the five-mile walk to the stadium. Afterwards the cheering, singing supporters began the march into Lisbon, and the streets of the old town were noisy and excited. Towards midnight there were frantic efforts to round them up and get them to the airport in time for the planes which were flying out.
Jock Stein, the Celtic manager, said: "This was a triumph for attacking football against defensive methods. This victory by Celtic will be good for the game, because attacking soccer is what the fans want to see.
"Even before half-time, I thought Inter were slowing and when we went out in the second half we were confident we were going to win.
"After Gemmell had made it 1-1 Inter had nothing left. They didn't even fight back."
Helenio Herrera, the Inter coach, said: "It was impossible to stop the onslaught of Celtic. The better team won. But we were without Luis Suarez and Jair da Costa, and Sandro Mazzola was not fit."
The players' wives and sweethearts, who had been flown out in the morning, met the team later at a restaurant where Celtic had their own private celebration after the official banquet at which medals were presented. They have made a clean sweep of European and Scottish football and await a match with the South American champions for the championship of the world.
• This brief extract comes from reports filed by the late John Rafferty, and was originally published in The Scotsman on 26 May 1967.