CELTIC
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 1966/67
"THE LISBON LIONS"

The 1967 European Cup Final took place at the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal on the 25h of May, as Celtic took on Inter Milan in front of 70,000 fans.

 

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The story of this history making Celtic team, which would earn the nickname of 'Lisbon Lions' is simply incredible, every player was born within 30 miles of Celtic Park!

 

 

Celtic had a disastrous start as Jim Craig conceded a penalty in just the 7th minute, which Sandro Mazzola fired past Ronnie Simpson to put Inter 1 up. Celtic never gave up and Jim Craig gained some redemption when his pass found Tommy Gemmell and he thundered a shot from 25 yards to make it 1-1.

 

 

With both teams exhausted Bobby Murdoch tried his luck from range and it was diverted by Steve Chalmers to wrong foot Giuliano Sarti and give Celtic a 2-1 lead, which they held to win their first ever European trophy, becoming the very first British side to do so.

 

 

Corinthian immortalised this historic achievement by releasing the Celtic European Champions 1966/1967 "The Lisbon Lions" Celebration Pack, which required them to produce 11 new sculpts, the only existing sculpt in the pack was that of club captain Billy McNeill.

 

 

The full line up is Ronnie Simpson, Jim Craig, Billy McNeill, John Clark, Tommy Gemmell, Bobby Murdoch, Bertie Auld, Jimmy Johnstone, Steve Chalmers, Willie Wallace, Bobby Lennox and manager Jock Stein.  Jimmy Johnstone would be released again but that was part of the ProStars Fan Favourites range.

 

 

Corinthian released the Celtic European Champions 1966/1967 "The Lisbon Lions" Celebration Pack in August 2007,with 3,200 packs being produced, however they were not come with an individually numbered certificate of authenticity. Each pack contained the 12 figures, 12 collector cards and a free platinum pack of one of the figures.

 

 

There were 267 of each Platinum pack produced, which was far higher than the team pack platinum's that were released prior to this one, that said they are still hard to locate and Jock Stein is by far the most sought after pack.