When Celtic lined up beside Inter Milan in the tunnel before the 1967 European Cup final, Bertie Auld took one look at the Italians and immediately understood why some of his teammates were nervous. Inter had won the competition twice in the previous three seasons and arrived in Lisbon looking every inch like one of the great sides in Europe. Jim Craig remembered them standing there: “Tanned and oiled, their cashmere strip a thing of beauty, their boots gleaming.” “They just looked the part.” Celtic looked rather different. Auld later joked that some of them were standing there without their false teeth, while three days in the Portuguese sun had done little more than leave a few of the players with red faces. “It was a European Cup final, our biggest match of the season, and, like me, I suspect everyone was a bit on the apprehensive side.” The players had been kept waiting in the underground tunnel at the Estádio Nacional while television companies prepared for the teams to emerge. Jimmy Johnstone leaned towards Auld. “Look Bertie, they are like film stars.” Auld looked across at them. “I know.” “But can they play?” Inter captain Giacinto Facchetti stood around six foot three and looked, in Auld’s words, as though he had stepped straight out of a sportswear catalogue. Auld decided that if Celtic were going to stand there feeling intimidated, he might as well change the mood. So he started singing. “Hail, Hail, the Celts are here.” At first it was just Bertie. Then another voice joined him. Then another. Before long the whole Celtic team were singing in the tunnel while the sound bounced off the walls. “You should have seen the expressions on the faces of the Italians.” Auld could hear them talking among themselves. “Loco, loco.” The more confused Inter looked, the more Celtic enjoyed themselves. “They really didn’t know what they were up against.” By the time the referee finally allowed the teams out, the nervousness had gone. Billy McNeill led Celtic up the steps and into the Lisbon sunshine. What followed became one of the greatest days in the club’s history. Inter went ahead through Sandro Mazzola’s early penalty, but Celtic kept attacking. Tommy Gemmell equalised in the second half before Stevie Chalmers turned Bobby Murdoch’s shot beyond Giuliano Sarti late on. Celtic won 2-1 and became the first British club to lift the European Cup. Every one of the eleven men who started that final had been born within roughly 30 miles of Celtic Park. The team that conquered Europe had effectively been built from Celtic’s own doorstep. For Auld, though, part of the victory had happened before a ball had even been kicked. “We beat them in the tunnel.” “And then we beat them on the park.” #football #celtic