“This stadium is the Holy Grail for Celtic fans. You get shivers when you enter the stadium. It is like coming home,” Tommy told A Bola in comments translated from Portuguese. Around five thousand Celtic supporters have travelled to Portugal for the Benfica match, and for many of them the real destination is the Estádio do Jamor itself.
The Jamor's pull
The place means what it does because of 25 May 1967. Celtic beat Inter 2-1 at the Estádio Nacional that day and became the first British club to win the European Cup, a memory that still drives fans back to Lisbon almost 60 years later.
Supporters at the ground talked about walking with the ghosts of giants and said the old stories still land the same way in person. Ana Semblano, director of the Museu Nacional do Desporto, said she has never spent a day there without a Celtic fan around.
The museum exhibition From Glasgow to Glory was inaugurated on 26 June, and the tunnel at the Estádio Nacional is now green with Celtic memorabilia. Martin O'Neill is also due to be present at the Estádio do Jamor with several members of Celtic's coaching staff and board.
Benfica, but with muted expectations
The match itself has not produced the loudest talk among supporters. Darren told A Bola that it probably will not happen, adding that Benfica is a great team, while Tommy said a draw might be enough. That is a fair reflection of the mood around the tie.
Benfica's recent results only reinforce that caution. They have won four and lost once in their last five, while Celtic have three wins and two losses in theirs. The Lisbon trip still feels like the centre of the story, but the football points to a difficult night for Celtic.
The stadium outside the game is where the emotion sits. The fixture is scheduled for 20:00 on the second matchday of the Europa League, and the fan pilgrimage will be hard to miss when Benfica and Celtic finally meet.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
