Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Glasgow, which has regularly taken part in European competitions since its first appearance in the 1962–63 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Since then, the club has competed in every UEFA-organized competition, with the exception of the UEFA Super Cup and the defunct Intertoto Cup.
The club became the first British and Scottish team to win the European Cup by defeating Inter Milan in the 1967 final.
Celtic reached a second final and lost 2–1 to Feyenoord.
In more recent years, Celtic reached the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville on 21 May 2003, which they lost 3–2 after extra time to Porto.
Scott Brown, a long-serving captain for Celtic, holds the club record for the most European appearances, playing in 127 matches. Henrik Larsson, who scored twice in the 2003 UEFA Cup Final, is the record goal scorer of the club, with 35 goals.
Background The first officially sanctioned European club tournament, the European Champion Clubs' Cup, was launched in 1955. Conceived by Gabriel Hanot, the editor of L'Équipe, as a competition for winners of the European national football leagues, it is considered the most prestigious European football competition. Hibernian were amongst the 16 sides invited to take part in the tournament's first season, and they became the first British club to participate in European club competition. Rangers took part in the tournament the following season as champions of Scotland. The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was also established at the same time, and in 1960 Hibernian became the first Scottish club to participate, eliminating Barcelona on route to the semi-final, where they lost to Roma. The 1960–61 season was also the inaugural year of the European Cup Winners' Cup, with Rangers reaching the final. They were comfortably beaten over two legs by Fiorentina, but were still the first British club to reach a UEFA sanctioned European club final.
History
1960s and 1970s
First entries into European competition Celtic's third-place finish in the league the previous season saw them qualify for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1962. Drawn against Spanish side Valencia in the first round, Celtic were defeated 4–2 in the first leg in Spain on 24 October 1962, having trailed 3–0 at half time. Bobby Carroll scored Celtic's two goals in the second half, becoming the club's first-ever European goal scorer. A modicum of pride after the first leg defeat was restored, however, in the return leg in Glasgow, which finished in a 2–2 draw, albeit seeing Celtic lose the tie on aggregate and be eliminated from the competition.
The following season, 1963–64, saw Celtic return to European competition, this time in the European Cup Winners Cup. Celtic belied their mediocre domestic form in Scotland by reaching the semi-final of the tournament, eliminating Basel, Dinamo Zagreb and Slovan Bratislava en route. In Celtic's 5–1 win away against Basel in the first leg of their preliminary round tie on 17 September 1963, John Hughes became the first Scottish player to score a hat-trick in the away leg of a European tie. The first leg of the semi-final against MTK Budapest took place at Celtic Park, and goals from Jimmy Johnstone and Stevie Chalmers gave Celtic an impressive 3–0 win. A combination of tactical naïveté and questionable refereeing saw Celtic slump to a 4–0 defeat in the return leg in Hungary and go out on aggregate.
Season 1964–65 saw Celtic back in the Inter-Cities Fairs cup. First-round opponents were Portuguese side Leixões S.C. The first leg away in Portugal was ill-tempered and marred by eccentric referring decisions in a 1–1 draw. Stevie Chalmers and Ian Young were both controversially sent off; Chalmers for a minor collision with the Leixões goalkeeper as they both jumped for the ball, Young for a minor scuffle with an opponent (who was also sent off). Celtic won the return match in Glasgow 3–0 to progress, although the game was again bad-tempered. In the next round Celtic faced Barcelona. The Spaniards won 3–1 at the Nou Camp and held Celtic to a goalless draw at Parkhead in a series of ties where they clearly outclassed their opponents.
Glory years Now with Jock Stein as manager, Celtic enjoyed another successful run in Europe in 1965–66, reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup by knocking out Go Ahead Deventer, AGF Aarhus and Dynamo Kyiv. They lost 1–2 on aggregate to Liverpool in the semi-final, although a last minute Bobby Lennox goal was controversially disallowed in the second leg at Anfield which would have seen Celtic win the tie via the recently implemented away goals rule.
Celtic's European Cup campaign in 1966–67 was their first-ever participation in Europe's premier club tournament. Zürich and Nantes were comfortably disposed of in the first two rounds (5–0 and 6–2 on aggregate respectively). The quarter-final in March 1967 pitched Celtic against Yugoslav champions Vojvodina. The Yugoslav side won the first leg in Novi Sad 1–0, while the return match in Glasgow proved to be a fraught affair. The Yugoslavs defended resolutely and threatened on the counter-attack, but Celtic levelled the tie on aggregate in the second half with a goal by Stevie Chalmers. Celtic pressed for a winner, but Vojvodina defended well and the tie looked like a play-off in neutral Rotterdam would be required. In the final minute, however, Billy McNeill headed in a Charlie Gallacher cross to see Celtic progress to the semi-final. Celtic now faced Czechoslovak side, Dukla Prague. This time the first leg of the tie took place in Glasgow, with Celtic winning 3–1 courtesy of goals from Jimmy Johnstone and a Willie Wallace brace. In respect of his opponents' quality, Stein set up Celtic to be ultra-defensive for the second leg and forsake – temporarily – their philosophy of attacking football. The tactics worked as Celtic secured a 0–0 draw to put them in the final. Stein, however, was almost apologetic about the manner of Celtic's success in that game and he felt uncomfortable in later years discussing the matter.
The final saw Celtic play Inter Milan, with the match taking place at the Estádio Nacional on the outskirts of Lisbon on 25 May 1967. Celtic fell a goal behind after only seven minutes, Jim Craig adjudged to have fouled Renato Cappellini in the penalty box and Sandro Mazzola converting the resultant penalty. Celtic swept into constant attack after that, but found Inter goalkeeper Giuliano Sarti in outstanding form. With 63 minutes played, after incessant pressure Celtic finally equalized when Tommy Gemmell scored with a powerful 25-yard shot. The balance of play remained constant, 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. It proved to be the winning goal and thus Celtic became the first British team, and the first from outside Spain, Portugal or Italy, to win the competition. The cup-winning side have since become known as the Lisbon Lions. Celtic remain the only Scottish club to have reached the final.
As champions of Europe, Celtic competed in the Intercontinental Cup against South American champions Racing Club of Argentina. Both sides won their respective home games and the series went to a deciding game played in Montevideo, Uruguay. The first two matches, however, were marred by the Argentinians' incessant foul play and spitting, and Celtic goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson was struck on the head by an object thrown by Racing Club fans in the second match in Buenos Aires. The third match degenerated into a shambles as the Celtic players lost their composure and discipline. Six players were sent off – four from Celtic and two from Racing Club – with Racing scoring the only goal to win the cup in a match described by Reuters as a "bar room brawl".
The following two seasons in the European Cup were a disappointment for Celtic; going out to Dynamo Kyiv in the first round in their defence of the trophy in the autumn of 1967, then reaching the quarter-finals the following season only to lose their home leg against AC Milan, having achieved a credible no-scoring draw in the first game in Italy. Earlier in the season, Celtic set off a controversy in the wake of the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. At chairman Robert Kelly's behest, the club sent UEFA a telegram condemning the military action and expressing concern that any team from Western Europe having to play a tie in an Eastern Bloc country. Celtic's stance received support from several clubs throughout Western Europe, although others such as Leeds United publicly criticized Celtic's intervention. In response, UEFA redid the draw for the first round of the European Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup to avoid pairing Eastern European sides with clubs from the West. This elicited a furious response from clubs and football authorities in the East, the majority of whom withdrew in protest.
Celtic reached the European Cup final again in 1970. Celtic knocked out Basel in the first round, then defeated Portuguese side Benfica 3–0 at Parkhead in the first leg of the second round. Celtic's performance was impressive, and they were unfortunate not to score more. Benfica rallied in the return match and put Celtic under intense pressure from the start. John Fallon was outstanding in goal for Celtic and with the game nearing its end had limited the score to 2–0 for the Portuguese side. Diamantino, however, scored directly from a free-kick in the final minute to level the tie on aggregate and force extra time. No further goals were scored in the additional 30 minutes, and the tie was decided by the toss of a coin. Captain Billy McNeill successfully called, and Celtic progressed to the quarter-finals. Celtic were unhappy that the tie had been decided in this manner, and suggested to UEFA an alternative of using a score line based on the number of corners forced in extra-time. UEFA rejected this proposal, but soon afterwards introduced penalty kick shoot-outs in the European Cup to decide drawn ties after extra-time. Celtic went on to face Italian champions Fiorentina in the quarter-finals, winning 3–1 on aggregate.
The semi-finals saw Celtic drawn against English champions Leeds United. This was the first occasion that the reigning champions of England and Scotland had played each other in a fully competitive European tie. The first leg took place at Elland Road, with a goal in the opening minute from George Connelly giving Celtic a 1–0 lead to take back to Glasgow for the second leg. The return match was played at Hampden Park on 15 April 1970 in front of 136,505 spectators, a record attendance for a competitive European club tie that stands to this day. In 14 minutes, Billy Bremner scored from long range to level the tie on aggregate. Celtic kept their composure though and equalized two minutes into the second half though a John Hughes header. Jimmy Johnstone had a particularly outstanding match and his mazy run set up Bobby Murdoch to score with a powerful shot, sealing a 2–1 win for Celtic on the night and their progression to the final.