Pick a Celtic all-time XI and you hit the same problem in about ten seconds. Eleven men won the European Cup in Lisbon in 1967, all born within a short drive of Celtic Park, and plenty of fans would just write the Lions down and go home. I came close, but then you remember Dalglish, McStay, McGrain and Larsson are all sitting there, and Larsson alone scored 242 goals for the club. In the end six of the Lions make my side.
Lisbon, 1967
25 May 1967. Inter went ahead early through a Mazzola penalty and then sat on it. Tommy Gemmell equalised in the second half with a shot from outside the box, and Stevie Chalmers turned in the winner late on. Jock Stein's side won every competition they entered that season, and it was the second of the nine league titles in a row.
The team that night was Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld and Lennox. Most of the arguments below are about which of them to drop.
The XI
4-2-3-1. Murdoch and McStay sit in front of the back four and pass it. Johnstone and Lennox go wide, Dalglish plays off Larsson, and Johnstone is allowed to wander wherever he likes.
Goalkeeper
Ronnie Simpson came from Hibs in his thirties and was 36 when he kept goal in Lisbon. He was only at Celtic from 1964 to 1970. Packie Bonner played far more games, nearly 500 in the league between 1978 and 1998, and I'd understand anyone who picks him, but I've gone with the keeper who has the European Cup medal.
Defence
Danny McGrain, right back. Seventeen years at the club, from 1970 to 1987. He came back from a fractured skull in 1972, was diagnosed with diabetes in 1974, and kept playing at the top level for another decade and more. Jim Craig was the Lisbon right back and a good one, but McGrain was the better player over a longer stretch.
Billy McNeill was the first British captain to lift the European Cup and played nearly 500 league games for Celtic between 1957 and 1975. He came back twice as manager, and the second spell brought the centenary double in 1988.
Clark was in Lisbon. I've still gone Roy Aitken, and this is the one people will shout at me about. Bobo Baldé and Johan Mjällby had a case too, the pair O'Neill built his back three around, and nobody enjoyed playing against them. But Aitken gave Celtic fifteen seasons between 1975 and 1990, over 480 league games, and he captained the 1987-88 side that won the league and cup in the club's hundredth year. He could play midfield as well, which helps if Murdoch needs a hand.
Tommy Gemmell, left back (1961 to 1971). Scored in Lisbon, then scored again in the 1970 European Cup final against Feyenoord, which Celtic lost. That's a full back with goals in two European Cup finals. Kieran Tierney is the best Celtic left back I've seen in a long time, and he came back from Arsenal in 2025, so ask me again in a few seasons.
Midfield
Bobby Murdoch (1959 to 1973). The Lions' right half and, for a lot of people who saw them, the best footballer in the side. Scottish football writers named him Footballer of the Year in 1969. Someone has to win the ball, and he could hit a forty-yard pass once he had it.
Paul McStay played 515 league games between 1981 and 1997, every one of them for Celtic. He was the best player in the centenary double side, and he was captain in 1995 when the 1-0 win over Airdrie in the Scottish Cup final ended six years without a trophy. He won 76 Scotland caps and never left.
Attack
Ask anyone old enough about the Red Star Belgrade game in 1968, the night Jimmy Johnstone tore them apart at Celtic Park. They'll tell you about the plane.
He was at the club from 1961 to 1975 and did things to full backs that people still describe in detail sixty years on. In 2002 Celtic fans voted him the club's greatest ever player, and that's my answer to the big question too. Larsson scored more and won more on his own, and I'll admit that's a fair argument against me. But if I could watch one Celtic player for ninety minutes, it's Johnstone, so he plays on the right and goes wherever he wants.
Kenny Dalglish, behind the striker (1969 to 1977). He was part of the end of the nine in a row, then won a league and cup double in 1976-77 before Liverpool took him. You could argue he's the best player Celtic ever produced. I'd rather play him in the hole, dropping in, than wide or up top, so that's where he goes.
Bobby Lennox was a Lion and is Celtic's second highest scorer ever with 273 goals, behind only Jimmy McGrory. He was at the club from 1961 to 1980, apart from a short spell in America near the end, and he was still quick for most of it.
Henrik Larsson, striker (1997 to 2004). 242 goals in 315 games. He broke his leg in Lyon in October 1999, came back, and scored 53 goals the next season, 35 of them in the league, which won him the European Golden Shoe. Then two in the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville, a 3-2 defeat to Porto after extra time. He's the only player from the O'Neill years in my side.
Manager
Jock Stein, for nine titles in a row and the European Cup. Martin O'Neill took Celtic to a European final and Brendan Rodgers had a domestic season in 2016-17 where they didn't lose a game, and both of those deserve more than a footnote, but nothing touches what Stein did.
The bench
- Jimmy McGrory (1922 to 1937). The club's record goalscorer, and he once scored eight in a game against Dunfermline. Putting him on the bench feels wrong. Larsson is just harder to argue with, and there's a lot more footage.
- Patsy Gallacher (1911 to 1926). If the pre-war years get a second name after McGrory, it's him.
- Stevie Chalmers (1959 to 1971). Scored the winner in Lisbon, and he still can't get in.
- Bertie Auld (1955 to 1961, 1965 to 1971). The Lions' playmaker. McStay pips him.
- Tommy Burns. A Celtic midfielder right through the late 70s and 80s, and later the manager. Leaving him off the main list will annoy a lot of people my age.
- Scott Brown (2007 to 2021). Fourteen years, ten league titles and the captain of Rodgers' invincibles. If you want a harder edge in midfield, swap him in for McStay.
- Ľubomír Moravčík (1998 to 2002). Two goals in the 5-1 win over Rangers in November 1998, and he only arrived in Glasgow in his thirties.
- Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor. Both from the academy and both with a real case. McGregor has been in the middle of most of the titles since 2015.
- Tom Rogic (2013 to 2022). The last-minute winner against Aberdeen in the 2017 Scottish Cup final, which finished the invincible season.
- Shunsuke Nakamura (2005 to 2009). That free kick against Manchester United at Celtic Park in 2006.
- Chris Sutton (2000 to 2006). Larsson's best strike partner, and the O'Neill years probably deserve a second man in this team. I couldn't find the space.
Quick answers
Who were the Lisbon Lions? Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld and Lennox, managed by Jock Stein. They beat Inter 2-1 in the 1967 European Cup final.
Who is Celtic's record goalscorer? Jimmy McGrory, who played for the club from 1922 to 1937.
Build your own
If you'd rather have the Lisbon eleven exactly as they lined up, or the Seville side, or the 2016-17 invincibles, build that instead. You can do it in our team builder, and we email a proof before anything is printed. If you'd rather start from a famous team, have a look at our Celtic prints.