Sporting CP plays in Lisbon and has a lion on its shield. Shouldn’t their players be the ‘Lisbon lions’ then? Well no. The honor belongs to Glasgow Celtic, who, in 1967, earned this nickname for their bravery in the European Cup final. It was the first and, so far, only trophy in the now Champions League by the Scottish team, which made an ode to its land in a very final against Inter Milan.
At that time, the Italians were in full swing of a fidelity to the defensive style of play that has marked ‘Calcio’ forever. Nowadays, it is common to see those interested in Serie A encourage other fans to follow the misadventures of the Lega teams, denying that it is a championship lacking in goals or offense, and they are right. Kvaratskhelia, Osimhen, Lautaro, Dybala, Lukaku and Vlahovic have been changing the face of a competition that, for a few years, does not have to be only about ‘buses’. He is also a battering ram.
But that is a contemporary dynamic. Last time he warned the Blanquiverdes to avoid the legs of the ‘Nerazzurri’ It was going to be like going around a forest of socks. The newspapers of the time thus contemporized the previous one, in which the fact that the Madonnina expedition won the trophy in 1965 and 1964 was sufficient incentive for terror, that is, in 2 consecutive campaigns it only completed a couple of courses .
Celtic responded to this vitola with a string of classic names from their nation’s football. Ronnie Simpson, Jim Craig, Bobby Murdoch, Bertie Auld, Stevie Chalmers, Willie Wallace… pure patriotic talent to answer some interistas who, right from the start, were going to give themselves over to the cons, knowing moreover that their great offensive asset, Luis Suárez, would not be part of the squad due to an injury.
Mazzola, one of the stars of the country of the boot, soon unbalanced the scoreboard, in the 7th minute, with a penalty goal, but the Scots went on the attack and made Europe fall in love with them. There are many fans whose opinions from the time can be recovered in blogs and publications from that time. The stories are interesting: there are those who supported, in principle, the Italians and found himself cheering on his rivals at the end of the game.
Glasgow’s offense knew its reward in the second half, when Tommy Gemmel, with a pass from Jim Craig, sealed the tie before Stevie Chalmers completed the comeback with an assist from Bobby Murdoch. Craig had committed the maximum penalty in the opening stages, so it was only fair that he redeemed himself turning the tables on their team in a match that has become living history of football, in the origin of a nickname and in the appropriation of that lion of Sporting CP who must accept that the ‘bhoys’ also call them ‘lions’. The ‘lisbon lions’ – the attractive English phonetics helps the nickname to have established itself.
2023-12-18 10:37:01
#Lisbon #lions #Sporting
