1967 European Cup Final

Round	Opponents	First leg	Second leg	Aggregate score
First round	Zürich	2–0 (h)	3–0 (a)	5–0
Second round	Nantes	3–1 (a)	3–1 (h)	6–2
Quarter-finals	Vojvodina	0–1 (a)	2–0 (h)	2–1
Semi-finals	Dukla Prague	3–1 (h)	0–0 (a)	3–1

Celtic qualified for the European Cup after winning the 1965–66 Scottish Division One, their 21st title, by two points over rivals Rangers.[1] Celtic entered at the first round where they faced Swiss side Zürich. Celtic won 2–0 at home, with goals from Tommy Gemmell and Joe McBride. They then won the away leg 3–0 as Stevie Chalmers scored and Gemmell got a brace. Celtic faced French side Nantes in the second round, and won the away leg 3–1. Nantes had taken the lead through Francis Magny, before McBride had equalised to level the match at 1–1. In the second half, Bobby Lennox and Bertie Auld scored to seal a victory. Celtic won the home leg by the same scoreline. Jimmy Johnstone put them in front, before Gérard Georgin equalised. Celtic again scored twice in the second half, as Chalmers and Lennox secured the victory.[2]

Celtic faced Yugoslavia (now Serbian) side Vojvodina Novi Sad in the quarter-finals, and lost the first leg 1–0 after a goal from Milan Stanić; this was Celtic's only defeat of the competition. The tie looked like it was going to end in a draw after Chalmers had given Celtic a 1–0 lead in the second leg. This would have resulted in the teams having to go to Rotterdam for a replay. However, in the 90th minute captain Billy McNeill scored to give Celtic the victory.[3] In the semi-finals, Czechoslovakian side Dukla Prague were beaten 3–1 in Glasgow, Johnstone put the hosts in front, before Stanislav Štrunc equalised. A second half brace from Willie Wallace gave Celtic the victory. The teams then drew 0–0 in Prague, which meant Celtic progressed to the final.[2][4]

Round	Opponents	First leg	Second leg	Aggregate score
First round	Torpedo Moscow	1–0 (h)	0–0 (a)	1–0
Second round	Vasas SC	2–1 (h)	2–0 (a)	4–1
Quarter-finals	Real Madrid	1–0 (h)	2–0 (a)	3–0
Semi-finals	CSKA Red Flag	1–1 (a)	1–1 (h)	2–2
Play-off	CSKA Red Flag	1–0 (n)

Inter Milan had won the 1965–66 Serie A, their tenth title, by four points over second placed Bologna.[5] As a result of this, they qualified for the European Cup and their first round opponents were Soviet side Torpedo Moscow. Inter won the first leg 1–0, thanks to an own goal by Valery Voronin before drawing 0–0 in Russia. Their second round opponents were Vasas of Hungary, Inter won 2–1 at home, with goals from Carlo Soldo and Mario Corso, while Lajos Puskás had scored for the visitors. Two goals from Sandro Mazzola gave Inter the victory in the second leg.

Inter beat six-time champions and holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. Inter won 1–0 at home, through a Renato Cappellini goal. Before defeating Madrid 2–0 in Spain, thanks to another goal from Cappellini, and an own goal from Ignacio Zoco. In the semi-finals. Inter faced Bulgarian side CSKA Red Flag (now CSKA Sofia). Giacinto Facchetti scored for Inter, as they drew 1–1 at home, with Nikola Tsanev scoring for the visitors. Facchetti scored again in Bulgaria, but his goal was cancelled out by Nikolay Radlev, meaning that a play-off was needed to settle the tie. The play-off was supposed to be held in Graz, Austria, but CSKA were persuaded to let it be moved to Bologna in Italy, after they were offered a larger share of the gate money.[6] The match was won 1–0 by Inter, thanks to a goal from Cappellini, sealing their place in the final.[7]

The final was held in the Estádio Nacional, Lisbon

Inter had won the European Cup in two of the previous three seasons, 1964 and 1965. Pre-match talk focused on Inter winning a famous tripletta of European Cups and they were considered strong favourites going into the game.[8][9]

Inter were very well known for using a defensive tactic, the Catenaccio, which meant that they won many matches by slim scorelines and rarely conceded.[10] Their manager, Helenio Herrera, was the highest paid in Europe and was considered to be the catalyst of their success.[11] By contrast Celtic were an attacking team. Before the match their manager Jock Stein said that, "Celtic will be the first team to bring the European Cup back to Britain... we are going to attack as we have never attacked before,"[10]

One of Celtic's most important players, striker Joe McBride was to miss the match. He had suffered a long-term knee injury and his last match of the season was on 24 December 1966. McBride would definitely have played had he been fit. He was in such good form for Celtic that, despite missing half the season, McBride finished as the top scorer in Scotland that year with 35 goals in 26 appearances.[12]

Inter's most important player, spanish international and Ballon d'Or winner Luis Suarez, missed the match with an injury. He was replaced by veteran Mauro Bicicli, a player with very few appearances in the season, and the loss of their star in the middle of the field would prove decisive in shaping Inter's destiny in the match.[13][14]

Both Inter and Celtic had been performing well domestically throughout the season. Only a few days before the final Inter had been on the verge of winning a historic treble but losses in their last two games knocked them out of the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia and cost them the Scudetto. The European Cup was the last chance for them to redeem what had initially been such a promising season. Celtic came into the final having already won the Scottish Division One, the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup as well as the Glasgow Cup earlier in the season.[15][16]

Inter had the first attack of the match, with Renato Cappellini running down the wing and supplying a cross to Sandro Mazzola whose header hit Celtic goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson's knees. Inter won a penalty minutes later when Jim Craig fouled Cappellini in the box, and Mazzola converted to put Inter in front after only six minutes. Once they had taken the lead, Inter retreated back into their defensive style, which allowed Celtic to attack. However, they struggled to get through Inter's defensive wall and were mainly restricted to long shots from outside the box. Bertie Auld hit the crossbar, then a cross from Jimmy Johnstone was gathered up by Giuliano Sarti, who then tipped a header from the same player over the crossbar. Inter pulled nine men back, but Celtic kept attacking them. Tommy Gemmell's dangerous free-kick was saved by Sarti, he then speculatively attempted to lob the Inter 'keeper and hit the bar. Despite Celtic's inability to break through their opponents defence they were in complete control of the match and Inter were not able to attack. Inter had not had another chance since their goal, whilst Celtic found themselves foiled time and again by outstanding goalkeeping from Sarti.

After just over an hour, Gemmell finally managed to equalise for Celtic when Craig passed to him from the right wing and he scored with a powerful 25 yard shot.[17] The balance of play remained the same with Inter defending deeply against sustained Celtic attacking. With about five minutes remaining, a long-range shot from Bobby Murdoch was diverted by Stevie Chalmers past a wrong-footed Sarti – rather than an instinctive intervention, Chalmers and his teammates asserted that they had practiced the same move many times in training.[18] This proved to be the winning goal.[19][20]