The Lisbon Lions are one of the most celebrated football teams of their era.
Ask any football fan throughout the world who remotely fancies their knowledge of the game, and they’ll probably know the story of how eleven local lads made Celtic the Champions of Europe.
Jock Stein’s immortal men were the first Scottish, British and Non-Latin team to win the European Cup – and they did it against a legendary Inter Milan team which was seen as unstoppable.
Despite a huge portion of today’s Celtic supporters never seeing them play live, their legacy remains at the forefront of the club’s identity. For many Hoops fans, the starting eleven rolls off the tongue.
It’s sometimes said that their achievement transcends the Glasgow divide, but this is often disputed. One Rangers legend has had his say – at the risk of his reputation at Ibrox.
Ally McCoist gives mention to two Celtic icons
Ally McCoist was four when Billy McNeill lifted the cup in Lisbon. Many members of the team, including Stein himself, continued into the 1970s, so McCoist will remember watching them.
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Speaking on TalkSPORT, McCoist and his co-host Andy Townsend were faced with the question of what was the greatest wing partnership in the history of football.
The former striker got thinking out loud, saying: “Well, I’m throwing two in immediately. I’m standing by, back in the day, Gordon Hill and Stevie Coppell.
“Modern day, if you can give me two better than Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, I’ll eat my hat.
“I’m going to throw one at you right now, running the risk of not getting back into Ibrox.
“Jimmy Johnstone and Bobby Lennox.”
“Yeah, they’re absolutely legendary,” replied co-host Townsend.
McCoist may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that is a fantastic shout, you’ve got to say…
Celtic’s greatest ever wing partnerships
Celtic have been blessed with many extremely talented footballers through the years… but the aforementioned partnership is difficult to argue with as the club’s greatest ever in terms of wing partnerships.
Names such as Davie Provan, Joe Miller and Johnny Doyle were prominent in the decade-and-a-half after Johnstone and Lennox, but there was never a partnership as established as they were.
Alan Thompson and Didier Agathe were their own kind of partnership in a different system under Martin O’Neill. Shunsuke Nakamura and Aiden McGeady certainly stands out as a pair from the 2000s, also.
More recently, Scott Sinclair and James Forrest, Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda… plenty of great players. But nothing quite worthy of conquering Europe, or getting McCoist barred from Ibrox.
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