HAVING beaten Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon to become the Kings of Europe, the Celtic players might have hoped for a well-earned rest for a few weeks before reporting back for pre-season training.

However, two weeks after their historic triumph in Lisbon, on June 7, 1967, Jock Stein’s side flew to Spain to take on the team who considered the European Cup to be their own private property.

Real Madrid won the tournament for the first five years of its existence, while their victory in the 1966 final over Partizan Belgrade had seen UEFA give the Spanish club the original trophy to keep permanently. A new trophy was created for the 1966/67, with Celtic being the first team to lift that iconic piece of silverware.

Madrid’s legendary forward, Alfredo Di Stefano, now 41 and having hung up his boots the previous year after a couple of seasons with Espanyol, was granted a testimonial, and Celtic were invited to be the opposition.

The feeling was that Real Madrid wanted to prove a point against the newly-crowned European Cup winners and show who were the true Kings of Europe. In the event, the Bernabeu Stadium discovered that Celtic held that title on merit.

The game itself saw the great Di Stefano play the first 14 minutes before he moved out to rapturous applause from the 120,000 supporters, who were subsequently mesmerised by the performance of Jimmy Johnstone throughout the match, so much so that they began shouting ‘Ole! Ole!’ every time Jinky got the ball.

Though a testimonial, the match itself was still fiercely competitive, with Bertie Auld and Amancio of Real Madrid both sent off for fighting.

The only goal of the game to win the Alfredo Di Stefano Trophy came from Bobby Lennox with 20 minutes remaining, and he later said of the match in Madrid: “That was as competitive a game that we played that year! Jinky was magnificent that night, as good as you could get.

"Even at the goal, he beat three or four of them and played a great pass. Di Stefano was off by that time though and I was glad to see the back of him, because he showed a lot of great touches before he went off.

“It was a competitive game, they wanted to beat us at the Bernabeu, but wee Jimmy was the jewel in the crown.”

Alfredo Di Stefano was one of those who appreciated the skill and artistry of the men in green and white, saying: “The Scotsman who gave me the most trouble was Bobby Lennox of Celtic. My testimonial at the Bernabeu was against Celtic as, of course, they were the champions of Europe in 1967. And although I remember the Bernabeu rising to Jimmy Johnstone, I admired Lennox greatly.”

The night when the Kings of Europe conquered the Bernabeu