Not a debate, not a discussion- John Hartson sets the record straight for Moore and Thomson over Lisbon Lions

John Hartson has put Kevin Thomson and Craig Moore right with their incredible Lisbon Lions claims. 

According to the former Ibrox duo if the Europa League trophy turns up at Ibrox tomorrow it will be the greatest achievement in the history of Scottish football! 

Clearly giddy with the shock run to the final in Seville it seems that some former players have lost all sense of perspective. 

While they are absolutely entitled to praise the run to the final as much as they like there is no comparison to lifting the European Cup in 1967, beating the champions of Switzerland, France, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Italy to become the first British side to win the trophy. 

Back in August Steven Gerrard’s side had the opportunity to emulate that achievement but lost home and away to the champions of Sweden. 

Falling into the Europa League Giovanni van Bronckhorst has taken his side to the final, tonight they will play the 10th best team in Germany for the trophy. 

 

Opinions lads?? i did say the other teams at both clubs done amazing and there achievements are brilliant.But this modern era, for a Scottish team to get to a European cup final takes some beating!! Hopefully the lads get over the line and then be up for even more debate! ??? https://t.co/P6lqhiAvIq

— KevinThomsonAcademy (@KThomsonAcademy) May 17, 2022

This is not a debate. It’s not even a topic of discussion. You cannot compare any team winning the Europa League to winning the Champions League. 

When Celtic won the European Cup in 1967 they became the first British team to do it. Not only did they bring the European Cup back home from Lisbon, they did it with eleven Scotsman in the starting line-up. That will never, ever be done again. 

I’ve gone on record and said it’s a wonderful achievement, Rangers even getting to the Europa League final. I wish them well, I really do. 

But are we talking Sevilla, they have won the Europa League six times, is that then bigger than winning the Champions League? It’s not. I like Kevin, but to suggest that this would be bigger than winning the European Cup is wrong. 

Jock Stein’s side reached one more final and two other European Cup semi-finals between 1967 and 1974. In 1983 Aberdeen lifted the European Cup Winners Cup beating Bayern Munich and Real Madrid along the way.