EVERY now and again in football history a team comes along that writes a legacy extending far beyond their own era. That was the 1966-67 Celtic team.

They were the first team from the British Isles to even make the European Cup final. More importantly, they were the first to win it. 

They blazed a trail others merely followed; prior to the green-and-white vanguard, no teams from outside Spain, Portugal and Italy had ever won the big cup. Only after Celtic had broken that stranglehold did the English, Dutch, Germans and the rest start to follow in waves.  

It is not a stretch to say that the history of the European Cup can be divided into 'Before Celtic' and after.

Unsurpassable. Unbeatable. When the Lions roared in Lisbon, the whole world heard.

Here is how that triumphant campaign unfolded...

First round: FC Zurich (agg: 5-0)

First leg: Celtic 2-0 FC Zurich (Tommy Gemmell, Joe McBride). Second leg: FC Zurich 0-3 Celtic (Gemmell x2, Stevie Chalmers)

Tommy Gemmell’s three goals across the two legs stole the show – one was a penalty while the others were from fully 30 and 40 yards respectively. The match reports of the time all mention Zurich’s physical approach – particularly in the first leg – but equally of note was Celtic’s contrasting style. Evening Times sports writer Gair Henderson, writing from Zurich for the second leg, called their passing perfect and proclaimed the performance “all that is good in the arts of football”. The Zurich fans applauded them off.

Second round: FC Nantes (agg: 6-2)

First leg: FC Nantes 1-3 Celtic (McBride, Bobby Lennox, Chalmers). Second leg: Celtic 3-1 FC Nantes (Jimmy Johnstone, Chalmers, Lennox)

It was Johnstone’s turn to take the plaudits as the French crowd clapped his dribbling skills in the 3-1 first-leg win before the Glasgow patrons witnessed a goal-and-two-assists performance from him as the same scoreline was replicated in the second leg. The away match was just as notable for Bertie Auld’s commanding display, however, and across both games Celtic made good on Jock Stein’s pre-tie promise: ‘We will attack’.

Celtic Way:

Quarter-finals: FK Vojvodina (agg: 2-1)

First leg: FK Vojvodina 1-0 Celtic. Second leg: Celtic 2-0 FK Vojvodina (Chalmers, Billy McNeill)

In times of peril, leaders make telling contributions. Thus was the case with Billy McNeill against Vojvodina at Celtic Park. The Hoops had lost the first leg and, although 1-0 up thanks to Stevie Chalmers’ goal, were staring at the prospect of a one-off decider in the Netherlands. McNeill had other ideas and rose highest to head home a late winner – later even than his famous 1965 Scottish Cup final clincher – and send Celtic into the semis.

Semi-finals: Dukla Prague (agg: 3-1)

First leg: Celtic 3-1 Dukla Prague (Johnstone, Willie Wallace x2). Second leg: Dukla Prague 0-0 Celtic

A tie won in the first leg by a man making his first appearance in the European Cup: Willie Wallace. The forward had transferred from Hearts some months previous but had to wait for his continental bow – the honour of being the man whose goals sent Celtic to Lisbon is some way to make your mark.

The away leg was a rare 0-0 affair – there were only three other such results for the Hoops that season – as Stein uncharacteristically set up to defend. Wallace came to the fore again – with a man-marking job on Czechoslovakian great Josef Masopust – while Ronnie Simpson pulled off several saves to make sure exactly one month later Celtic would be going to Portugal.

Celtic Way:

Final: Inter Milan

Inter 1-2 Celtic (Gemmell, Chalmers)

The Celtic side that took to the field on May 25 1967 and defeated Helenio Herrera’s great Inter side contained nobody from beyond 30 miles of Parkhead.

Their equaliser was smashed home by an attacking, two-footed full-back in Gemmell. The winning goal by Stevie Chalmers - a man who, as a child, was all but condemned to death after a Tuberculosis diagnosis. 

They played a style of football the antithesis of their opponents, who had lifted the trophy in two of the previous three years. Led by a former miner and parading the cup on the back of a coal lorry on their return, they were a wonderfully working-class side that played supremely high-class football.

The scale of the achievement is still to this day difficult to completely comprehend in words. Suffice to say that, such was the ripples the win sent through the football world, their influence and renown preceded each and every one of them from then on.

Or, as McNeill put it in his autobiography: "Nothing could ever quite be the same again after that."