| Match Pictures | Matches:1966 – 1967 | 1966-67 Pictures |
Trivia
- In the lead up to the game Celtic worked hard to get the fitness of all players to peak. Jimmy Johnstone was recovering from ‘flu and put in extra training sessions at Celtic Park whilst the rest of the team were at Seamills. He was joined by Bobby Murdoch recovering from his ankle injury and Charlie Gallacher who had been subbed against Motherwell in the previous game with an instep injury. Also resuming light training was Joe McBride after his cartilage operation.
- This was Celtic’s third European semi final in four years, having made the Eauropean Cup Winners Cup semi twice in 63-64 and 65-66.
- Dukla had defeated the much vaunted Ajax side in the previous round.
- Wallace, now eligible to play, scores twice and repays his £30,000 transfer fee in one go.
- Parkhead explodes at the final whistle. Celtic are now one step from Lisbon and the European Cup Final.
- After the game Willie Wallace was called into the Scotland squad to replace the injured Jimmy Johnstone for the England v Scotland game at Wembley on the following Saturday. He joined Simpson, Gemmell and Lennox as the Scots beat world champions England 3-2 with Lennox scoring.
- Ex Rangers player Sam English sadly died on this day in the Vale of Leven hospital aged 57 and the final chapter of the John Thomson story was now at an end.
Review
”Steve Chalmers was incredible that night. He played up front on his own and Jock told us just to stick balls up to the corner flag…He said to Stevie ‘Just you chase them’. He was marvellous.”
Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell on the match v Dukla Prague
Jock Stein withheld naming his team until late on when Hughes was chosen over Lennox because of the conditions.
Celtic almost blew it in the early stages and Dukla missed two great chances in the first 15 minutes through Strunc and Nederost the first of which Simpson had to make a great diving save.
Celtic scored with their first attack when Johnstone was sent clear by Chalmers and flicked the ball over keeper Viktor.
Parkhead was rocking but the fans were silenced on the stroke of half time when the dangerous Strunc scored with a low shot.
In the second half Willie Wallace became the Celtic hero. In 59 minutes he gave Celtic the lead after a high Gemmell lob had caught out the Czech defence allowing Wallace to finish coolly.
In 65 minutes Celtic scored again with their fourth successive free kick in as many minutes. Auld craftily slipped the ball to Wallace who sent a 20 yard shot crashing into the back of the net.
In 77 minutes Wallace almost had his hat trick when he diverted a low cross from Chalmers against the face of the Dukla bar.
The fans roared their approval at the end and Stein was happy with a two goal lead but made it clear it would be a hard match in the return game in Prague.
Teams
Celtic:
Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld , Hughes
Celtic scorers: Johnstone (27), Wallace (59, 65)
Dukla Prague:
Viktor, Cmarada, Caek, Táborský, Zlocha, Geleta, Štrunc, Dvorák, Masopust, Nedorost, Vacenovský
Dukla Prague scorer: Štrunc (44)
Referee: Joaquim Fernandes Campos (Portugal)
Att: 74,406
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times
(from Geoffrey Green, The Times)
If Dukla were to have survived at Parkhead last night they should have done so in the first quarter of an hour. It was then, with studied, subtle, chessboard moves inspired by the master Masopust that they should have secured their future.
As it is, Celtic with a massive second-half bombardment which became faster and more furious the longer the game lasted, have now worked themselves into a position of power. . .
Celtic, having been repreived at the beginning, took the lead just before the half hour when a move begun by Auld and carried on by Wallace was finally forced home by the lively little Johnstone as the right winger cut in. This was squandered moments before half-time when mistackles by McNeill and Murdoch on Nedorost allowed Strunc in with a clear shot after the ball had broken latterly into his stride.
The best of Celtic was yet to come, and it came midway through the second half. It was then that Wallace – an historic Scottish name – pressed home their growing advantage. With 25 minutes left he crashed in a long pass from Gemmell which caught the Czech defence moving forwards on their toes and left them on their heels.
Within two minutes Wallace had done it again. This time Auld slipped a free kick sideways on the edge of the Dukla penalty area, and from 20 yards Wallace hit the target with a great dipping shot as clear as the whistle.
In the first half a header home by Chalmers from Johnstone’s cross had been disallowed for an infringement – foot up – by the little winger. With 10 minutes left Celtic suffered again when, in a quick break with Chalmers, Wallace’s shot rebounded from the Czech crossbar. . .
It was a fascinating match – a contrast in styles where Czech technique was overpowered by the work and ceaseless effort of a well-drilled Celtic team.
The Lisbon Lions: A Celebration of the European Cup Campaign
Throughout 2017wewill publishexclusive extracts from the book ‘The Lisbon Lions: A Celebration of the European Cup Campaign 1967’ by Andy Dougan, published by Virgin. The extracts areadapted exclusively by the author for The Supplement. In this edition Celtic is only one round away from the dream of Lisbon.
After the nail-biting win against Vojvodina in the quarter finals, Celtic were only two games away from an historic appearance in the European Cup final. They had been drawn against Dukla Prague, champions of what was then Czechoslovakia, while Inter Milan faced CSKA Sofia in the other semi. Celtic had the advantage of being drawn at home first and Jock Stein was keen for a two-goal cushion to take to the away leg. But Stein was aware of the potential pitfalls:
”The danger now is that some of the boys may go a little stale with too much football. We will be stepping down the training a little and doing just enough to keep them at their peak mentally and physically.”
For Stein and his players that meant regular trips to Seamill Hydro on the Ayrshire coast. The squad golfed, larked about, and generally relaxed and it brought to mind echoes of the pre-season trip to the United States which had done so much to build the team. Bobby Lennox says Seamill was Celtic’s secret weapon:
”Seamill was great. There was a bit of grass out front and we had five-a-side games on that. There was never anybody about, so we had the place to ourselves. The boys would be doing a bit of golfing to relax and Jinky and I – because I didn’t play in those days – would run around the course throwing the golf balls into bunkers. Great fun.”
With more than a month between the Vojvodina and Dukla ties Celtic needed to stay sharp; they played five league games and three cup games in that period they scored 21 goals and conceded only six. Also, something of an injury crisis in that period forced an element of rotation on Stein who was able to field the same side only twice in those eight games.
As the semi drew nearer Celtic started to focus on the Czechs. Jim Craig, who says they were incredibly naïve in those days, insists they were in no doubt of the danger posed by Josef Masopust, one of the legendary Mighty Magyars. At 36 he was in the twilight of his career but that meant little to Craig and the others_
”When we played Vojvodina they were a good side but they had no stars but we knew that Prague had Masopust.”
The big issue of team selection before the game was whether Stein would play Lennox or John Hughes on the wing. Hughes favoured softer ground and since the weather had been dry for a few days before the match the assumption was that Lennox would play. Stein gave nothing away but in a piece of classic kidology he chose Hughes. He had made his mind up days earlier but by keeping his cards close to his chest he forced the Czechs to come up with two different plans to cope with the differing styles of Hughes and Lennox.
Stein hoped that the guile of Johnstone and the power of Hughes would give the Czechs something to think about. As it was, Hughes had a poor game and Celtic had to rely on the nimble Wallace who scored two goals in a 3-1 win with Johnstone getting the other. Although Stein had his two-goal cushion the game was tighter than the result suggests, and Celtic suspected they would have a game on their hands in the return leg.
International commitments, specifically the famous 3-2 Scotland England game at Wembley in which four Celts played, meant that Celtic had only one domestic game between the two European ties. The goalless midweek tie against Aberdeen would be forgotten except for one thing; the Celtic team sheet that night. It read: Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch. McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld, Lennox.
This is the most famous line-up in the club’s history, but it was only the second time they had taken the field together; the first was a game against St Johnstone in January. To be fair it was a side that almost picked itself; the only real issue was on the left wing where Stein seemed genuinely torn between Hughes and Lennox. There was no doubt that Lennox would play against Dukla, even though Stein insisted he would choose ‘five forwards from six’. Hughes’ poor performance in the first leg meant Lennox would play. And in doing so it meant that the team that would become the Lisbon Lions had their first foray in Europe in the European Cup semi-final.
The game, which was played in bitterly cold conditions, was goalless which was the ideal result for Celtic but for a team renowned for its attacking, it was a heroic defensive performance. Billy McNeill had one of his best games in a Celtic shirt and stood like a colossus in defence repelling attack after attack. Tommy Gemmell was in awe of his performance and also that of Steve Chalmers in a very unfamiliar role.
”Steve Chalmers was incredible that night. He played up front on his own and Jock told us just to stick balls up to the corner flag on the right and left. He said to Stevie ‘Just you chase them’. He was marvellous.”
When the final whistle went amid scenes of jubilation on the pitch Chalmers remembers just how much the result and the performance meant to the manager.
”He ran the length of the pitch to find me. When he got to me, he threw his arms round me and thanked me. I was never one of his favourites, but he went out of his way to thank me.”
So, Celtic were in the final of the European Cup at the first time of asking and the last word should go to Billy McNeill who explained their winning ways:
”People talk about good losers, but good losers don’t win anything. You’ve got to be bad losers. If you’re a professional that’s the essence of the sport, and we had people who would sell their souls to win.”
The Lisbon Lions: A Celebration of the European Cup Campaign 1967, by Andy Dougan, can be bought on Amazon and through other outlets. If you’re interested in Andy’s other work on Celtic, football and film, you can visit his Amazon page