Skip to main content

Celtic eye more glory on return to Lisbon

It was in the Portuguese capital, on May 25 1967 that Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup when they beat Inter Milan 2-1 at the National Stadium.

That team, of which every player was born within 30 miles of Glasgow are now immortalised as the "Lisbon Lions" and if today's side, comprising of diverse nationalities, can conjure a victory there and beat Benfica in their penultimate Group G match they will secure their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

"We need to win against Celtic and, then, we will have a word to say in Barcelona's Camp Nou, said Benfica coach Jorge Jesus.

"It is hard to qualify, but it is not clear that Celtic will win the last match against Spartak Moscow," he added.

"We depend only on ourselves and the maths are done in the end."

Jesus has been hard at work to patch up the Lisbon club's midfield in the aftermath of the high-profile departures of Axel Witsel to Zenit and Javi Garcia to Manchester City.

"We are in a very good phase. I believe in all the players of the squad," said Jesus after a 2-0 cup win over Moreirense on Friday.