Celtic's starting XI pose for a quick photo before we get under way.

Back: Jim Craig, Tommy Gemmell, Ronnie Simpson, Billy McNeill, Bobby Murdoch, John Clark.

Front: Stevie Chalmers, Willie Wallace, Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Lennox, Bertie Auld.

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Celtic captain Billy McNeill looks relaxed and confident as he leads the team on to the pitch.

The powerful centre-half is nicknamed Cesar.

Nothing to do with Julius Caesar or any other Roman.

It's after Ocean's 11 actor Cesar Romero. He drove the getaway car in the film and McNeill is one of the few players who owns a car...

The teams emerge from the tunnel which runs under the running track surrounding the pitch, led by referee Kurst Tschenscher and his fellow West German officials.

My goodness, we're hearing reports that Bertie Auld, Celtic's central midfielder, is leading the players in song as they await the call to climb the steps! The Scots are singing the Celtic Song! "Hail! Hail!" is being sung in the Lisbon tunnel.

Is this to keep the nerves at bay? Or to intimidate the likes of Giuliano Sarti in the Inter goal. As for Celtic's 36-year-old goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson, our reporter on the ground tells us the "faither" of the team is gathering his team-mates' false teeth in his cap.

Incredibly, all the Celtic players in their starting line-up were born within a 30-mile radius of Glasgow. Jimmy Johnstone hails from Uddingston in Lanarkshire, while Bobby Lennox is the biggest "outsider" - he was born in Saltcoats in Ayrshire.

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We can only imagine how the players must be feeling as they wait for the signal to climb the stairs from the underground tunnel and step on to the pitch. They'll be like gladiators emerging into the bright sunlight of the Colosseum.

More from Archie Macpherson:

"If Herrera can do nothing to stop tricky wingers Johnstone and Lennox, then I can't do anything other than think that Celtic are going to prove that a British team can at last shake off the Latin hold on this European Cup."

The BBC match co-commentator is a young whippersnapper by the name of Archie Macpherson.

"The Celtic team were looking extremely confident on their way into the dressing room. We hear that the Inter Milan players are being offered something in the region of £3,500 per man to win. A tremendous bonus but this is absolutely nothing to the Celtic players. When I spoke to them at their hotel they looked like they would play this game for nothing. They play for themselves, their manager and these supporters who have travelled all these thousands of miles to see them."

Here's how the Estadio Nacional on the western side of Lisbon looks this late afternoon...

"Can Celtic win it?" asks BBC match commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme. "I think they can, providing they make sure their defence is absolutely cast iron and if their forwards can hit the same kind of purple patch that they hit in the first leg against Dukla Prague."

An estimated 12,000 Celtic fans are in the Portuguese capital. Here's a flavour of how they got there.

Celtic have been staying in the lovely Hotel Palacio in the nearby resort of Estoril since they arrived in Portugal two days ago. Jock Stein has allowed his players only the briefest of time to sun-bathe, and only after five o'clock when the sun is weaker. He has ordered them to rest in the shade of the hotel lobby at other times.

However, last night we hear the players had to climb over a wall and a fence to get back to the hotel after getting lost on their way back from a team walk. Thankfully, none of the players twisted an ankle making the leap.

(And Stein knows nothing about Tommy Gemmell and two of his few team-mates stealing away in a taxi to have three pints in nearby Cascais...)

The biggest moment in Celtic's near-80-year history is only 30 minutes away. The stadium is awash with colour - green and white, mostly!

Right-footed left-back Tommy Gemmell has been at Celtic for six seasons now. An immensely popular figure with the Celtic support, he loves to attack, has pace and power and can strike a ball cleanly. Stein will be hoping Gemmell spends most of the match in the opposition half if Inter, as expected, sit deep.

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Uddingston-born Jimmy Johnstone, all 5ft 4in of him, is up against the giant Inter left-back Giacinto Facchetti this evening. The flame-haired tricky winger can expect to see a lot of the ball as Celtic look to him to supply the crosses down the right wing. He's as brave as they come and is no doubt preparing to come in for some heavy tackles in the Estadio Nacional. Johnstone scored in the first half of the semi-final win over Dukla Prague. If he can produce a few of his mazy runs he'll have the Celtic fans roaring in Lisbon this evening.

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Under Jock Stein, Bobby Murdoch has moved from playing inside-right to right-half and we can expect to see his fine range of passing this evening with both left and right foot. He is central to Celtic's passing style and is a threat to the opposition goal thanks to his powerful shot. Murdoch, 22, made his Celtic debut in 1961.

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Let's have a look at four players who could be key to Celtic's plans this afternoon. First, the club captain.

Billy McNeill, or "Cesar" as he is known, is Jock Stein's leader on the pitch. The strapping centre-half has been at the club for a decade now and has a knack for scoring important goals, such as when he headed in the winner with 20 seconds to go against Vojvodina in the quarter-final of this year's competition. He was the Scottish Football Writers' player of the year two seasons ago and this season has held aloft the League championship trophy, the Scottish Cup, the League Cup and Glasgow Cup. His will to win extends to the games of cards he and the players enjoy on their way to games. Will he get his hands on the European Cup just after 19:00?

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Celtic are attempting to become the first non-Latin winners of the European Cup. Since the tournament began in season 1955-56, Real Madrid have won it six times, Portugal's Benfica twice, Italy's AC Milan once and their city rivals Inter twice.

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