| Match Pictures | Matches:1966 – 1967 | 1966-67 Pictures |
Trivia
- Dukla were hidden away before the game in a hostel 22 miles from Prague to prepare for the match.
- Celtic arrived on Monday in the Czech capital taking with them hampers of provisions for their safety. After training Jock Stein made the unusual decision to release the team to the Czech press, including the option of Hughes or Lennox on the left wing.
- Celtic lined up very unusually in a defensive formation.
- Wallace was given the job of man marking the great veteran Czech player Josef Masopust.
- Masopust refused to shake hands at the final whistle due to bitter disappointment but comes into the Celtic dressing room afterwards to apologise.
- Celtic became the first British club to reach the European Cup final.
- In the other semi-final Internazionale of Milan beat CSKA Sofia after a third game decider in Bologna.
- If a third game was required for the Celtic semi then the venue would have been Amsterdam or Cologne.
![[Untitled]](https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/Ye8QNxb75Rjb1Ukc6Z9abg24174 "[Untitled]")
Review
Stein’s only team dilemma was to name Lennox instead of Hughes on the left flank. Stein had said beforehand that Celtic would defend as Dukla were required to do all the running as they were 2-0 down.
The Juliska stadium was full of soldiers who had came along to cheer on their comrades.
Celtic won the toss and played with the bitter cold wind at their back.
In the first half Celtic were rarely seen in attack and Simpson calmed the nerves by making two early saves from Strunc and this bred confidence throughout the team.
As half time approached Simpson had to make a great save from a powerful Strunc shot.
At half time as well as the cold wind there were now flurries of snow.
In the second half it seemed like a goal was inevitable as Dukla attacked desperately though Simpson only had one save to make from Nederost as Celtic defended deeply.
McNeill was a superb captain and was unbeatable in the air and as the game wore on Dukla ran out of ideas and the crowd became silent.
At full time the players exchanged shirts and the Celtic players celebrated joyously, in stark contrast to the serious mood they had shown before the game started.
The game was an afternoon kick off as the stadium had no floodlights and by tea time the tremendous news had filtered back to Glasgow that the Celts had made it to the European Cup final.
Lisbon awaited.
Teams
Celtic:
Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld , Lennox
Scorers:
Dukla Prague:
Viktor, Cmarada, Novák, Táborský, Zlocha, Geleta, Štrunc, Pnebort, Masopust, Nedorost, Vacenovský
Scorers:
Referee: Guttfried Dienst (Switzerland)
Att: 19,157
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times 25/4/1967
Celtic march into European Final
Dukla Prague 0, Celtic 0
(by Geoffrey Green, The Times)
Scotland can beat the big drum, Celtic, in their first run in the European Cup, today made football history in the Julisce stadium here where they held Dukla, to a goalless draw.
If one were to say that today’s match was in its way the nadir of football, that perhaps may be a rather harsh. Yet in many ways it must surely have been one of the poorest, most guileless matches yet played in the semi-final of this European Cup where the cream of Continental football meets.
In Glasgow, Dukla, for nearly an hour, had looked a talented, dangerous collection of technicians, cleverly led by their ringmaster, the wily but aging Masopust, a World Cup final player and European Footballer of the Year, 1962. That is, until they ran out of steam against the busy, non-stop Scots who, in their first leg, kept things open as they themselves went for goals. But now that Celtic pulled a steel curtain around themselves they reduced the Czechs to a baffled foe.
However much Dukla held the ball it did them no good since their midfield build-up was far too lateral and easily read by the Celtic defence as it threw a ring around its own penalty area.
Here was a tension of personalities; Masopust with his extensive reportoire and talent now fading against the youthful vigour and strength of Murdoch, and wise old Auld in midfield.
After half an hour Masopust lay wounded temporarily in midfield. IN other days he would have shaken that knock off. But now he slowly became a spent force which left McNeill, Clark, Gemmell and others to master the Czech attack that tried every device to find a way through the curtain.
Strunc, Knebort, Nedorost and the rest were, in the end, like fish trying to escape the net. They failed. Celtic kept a hold of themselves; they were utterly disciplined and they spoiled and suffocated every Czech ploy.
The first quarter of an hour was critical. In that period Simpson was called upon to make his best save of the match when he tipped over a right-foot shot from Knebort. Soon Nedorost shot past the far post. Those were near things for Celtic, but having survived them their confidence grew minute by minute. This was reflected in the anxiety of Dukla when Nedorost a nd Zlocha had their names taken by the referee, Mr Deinst, who was in charge of the World Cup final last summer.
From half-time onwards it was only a question of Celtic standing up. . .
As the final minutes unwound, with Chalmers still chasing his heart out behind every long clearance and Lennox and Johnstone probing down the wings, it was little Johnstone who grew stronger and trickier with his deep, probing dribbles down the right. The Czech crowd was still sending up their salvoes of rockets. Whether that wass to keep their spirits up or to keep themselves warm I do not know. All I know is that Celtic are now in the final of Europe and have earned the congratulations of every Briton.
Celtic: Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld , Lennox
Dukla Prague: Viktor, Cmarada, Novák, Táborský, Zlocha, Geleta, Štrunc, Pnebort, Masopust, Nedorost, Vacenovský
Referee: Guttfried Dienst (Switzerland)
Att: 19,157
Celtic legend Bertie Auld’s fury after Lisbon Lions are branded ‘lucky’
Jul 22 2008 By Alan Marshall
(July 2008, Evening Times)
LISBON LION Bertie Auld has reacted angrily to claims he and his Celtic team-mates were fortunate to win the 1967 European Cup.
The astonishing attack on Jock Stein’s legendary side came from Czech star Josef Masopust who played for the Dukla Prague team beaten by the Hoops in their semi-final.
Stein’s men recorded a 3-1 aggregate win over the Czechs before going on to stun favourites Inter Milan in the final in Lisbon.
Skipper Masopust, voted European Player of the Year in 1962, now insists Celtic did not deserve to go through.
The 77-year-old broke his 41-year silence on the game to say: “Before we played against the Scots, we had beaten Esbjerg, Anderlecht and Ajax.
“We lost the away match in Glasgow 3-1, although we deserved more from it.
“It was 1-1 after the first half, then we had two big chances but failed to score.
“And then Celtic did it with two quite lucky goals.
“Before the second leg in Prague, we felt we could beat them but they came to defend and we didn’t succeed.”
Auld, who was in direct opposition to the former Czech international skipper in midfield, was stunned by the comments. He said: “The guy is joking, isn’t he?
“We beat them 3-1 at our place but could have scored four or five that night.
“Stevie Chalmers had a good goal disallowed and Willie Wallace hit the bar.
“This sounds like sour grapes to me.”
The Czechs came back to level Jimmy Johnstone’s opener but Celtic were in control after the break.
Auld added: “What was lucky about our second-half goals?
“Willie Wallace put us 2-1 ahead with a brilliant flick off the outside of his right boot after a great ball forward from Tommy Gemmell.
“And I set up the third when I tricked the Dukla defence at a free-kick. I knocked the ball to the side for Willie to blast it into the net.
“Time seems to have dimmed Masopust’s memory bank. Maybe I’ll send him a video of the games just to remind him.”