Celtic will play Malmo in the Champions League play-off round, the third time since 2012 they will face champions from Sweden. The main concern for Ronny Deila is the manner in which Malmo disposed of Salzburg 3-0 on Wednesday night, but there is context to put that into. In the previous round the Swedes only managed a 0-0 at home to Lithuanians Zalgiris Vilnius, before winning 0-1 away.
Those three goals against Salzburg, which arrived inside 45 minutes, will be the subject of a lot of research over the next few days.
In 2013 Celtic struggled to blow away the cobwebs against Elfsborg, recording a 1-0 home win and a 0-0 draw away. A year earlier they beat Helsingborgs 2-0 home and away.
The most encouraging aspect for Ronny will be Malmo’s domestic form. They are current 6th in the Allsvenskan after 18 games and will struggle to qualify for Europe next season. A home game against league leaders Gothenburg on Sunday will be Celtic’s most important reconnaissance exercise.
Oh, and put out the flags, Malmo play on grass!!
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Hello
If we just learn to retain the ball a bit better we would all be much more confident. Was like a hot potato for the first 30 mins in Azerbaijan – what is that about? If Van Dijk hadnt gone on 2 or 3 bursts forward, carrying the whole team up the pitch, it could have been a different outcome.
Our best spell of the game was from the ~60th min onwards, we looked much more composed and threatening. Against a better team we could have been 2 or 3 down by then, given how we started.
Need to improve on a number of things.
HH
Come On
Gary67 on 7th August 2015 11:28 am
Midday I believe I’m hoping Tuesday for the home leg due to work.
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Bring them on
It’s quite simple. If you can’t beat the 6th place team in Sweden you don’t deserve to be in CL.
Official site: ‘Now only Malmo stand between them and a place in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.’
May want to reword that… only Malmo :)
HH
TIMMY7_NOTED
Cheers. Hope for Tuesday games as well
The hardest thing about this tie is they are well into their season.
We’re still rusty and not in top gear yet.
Malmo? I’ll still be approaching every game the way I always do.
Expecting to win.
MONTHEHOOOOOOOOPS!!!!!!
No Easy games at this level
It will be close but I think we can do it
Bring on the Malmo:))
Tough draw
Just praying Berget doesn’t pull out a stunner
Ronny knows about Malmo – let’s hope we can get the job done
Is it first leg at home first? Bad for me I’m out of the country but booked a flight back little early just in case second leg was home leg ah well
HH
Never mind Malmo
Has Scott Allan Signed for ….you know who ?
Today’s draw was brought to you by the letter ö
Wonder what Henrik doing.
Nae chance furra podium far icmeler surely !!!
Just seen the draw. Are we at home first?
wife says I can’t go to Sweden on my TOTTIE.
Salzburg are 9th in a 10 team league.
Played 2 lost 2.
Mibbe they are not too hot this season, so let’s calm down about how good Malmo might in fact be.
As champions of their country they deserve respect, but league positions might give us a more realistic pointer to their current form.
This time last year we were p*sh.
We are better prepared this year without a doubt.
That’s fine, we should have enough to go through. No lengthy trips either.
Whoever we draw it was never going to be easy.
Reading some of the posts you would think we might as well phone UEFA and tell them were not going to turn up as we’ve no chance. ffs
Celtic have a great chance of going thru.Not bothered about playing at home first. Win at home and keep a clean sheet and Malmo will have to worry about conceding in the second leg.
Bring it on.
Keep Stokesy out of tbe proceedings and we will do them.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 6TH AUGUST 2015 8:00 PM
50 SHADES OF GREEN
If your lucky number is five,then No 5 in the 555 at Haydock tomorrow might suit.
……….
Cheers for that Bobby, might just stick a 5 spot on that, although knowing my luck it will be 5th :-)
By the time we play Malmo, we will have had 8 competitive matches under our belts. Hardly ring rusty.
Arsenal in recent years have got through the qualifying round easily enough (including us :-( ), when it’s been their first games of the season.
Better than a long journey somewhere hot with few fans coming along.
Celtic have some advantages in this tie.
They’ve never lost a tie to Swedish opposition
No Swedish team have ever scored against Celtic in Scotland or in Sweden in European football.
Ronny Deila knows Scandinavian football
A packed Celtic park is a daunting prospect for any side to come up against.
Johansen should be at home against these players as should Lustig. They’ll have something to prove.
We have players who have been over the course with this before.
Their domestic form is not great
Disadvantages
First leg at home
Second leg in their stadium – mental fans
They won’t be caught with crossed balls or set pieces
They won’t wilt from physical challenges
Their European form is good at home
If they get back to Sweden with a narrow defeat or an away goal they will fancy it big time
Celtic need to win at least 2-0 to put them in a bad position
This is a very tough draw.
Malmo are not Barcelona but at this stage they are a significant threat to Celtic playing CL football.
Take them seriously.
Jobo
Yes
This is when our failed striker policy may affect us. A Hooper or Samaras made the difference against these reasonably guff Scandi sides in the past.
Still, we should scrape through.
Jobo Baldie
yes 18/19
HH
TRADITIONALIST88 on 7TH AUGUST 2015 11:33 AM
Official site: ‘Now only Malmo stand between them and a place in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.’
May want to reword that… only Malmo :)
*******
There is ” only Malmo” standing between us and the Group stage.: > )
HH
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There wasn’t an easy pick in that draw.
I’d have picked Malmo before the rest.
Not dismissing them at all.
A tough draw but if anyone on here thinks we are beat already, well, GIRUY!
Malmö FF will be without striker Markus Rosenberg and midfielder Enock Adu in Glasgow through suspensions.
We should be fearing no-one. Malmo won’t be easy but I think it will be easier to play against them than maybe some of the other teams. Grass pitch, Northern European style of play and a climate similar to our own. Trying to decide if I’ll make the journey …… decisions, decisions.
The draw could have been much kinder, both in terms of opponents & the order of the ties. Looks like we will need at least a 2 goal lead to take with us to Malmo, problem is who’s going to score the goals? We could do with adding some firepower before deadline.
Bring back Sammy & sign a goalscorer!
HH!
Bigchips (previous blog)
By the best my thinking was the best that the luck of the draw might pair you with.
If we were lucky we might have drawn a less experienced club thus reducing the risk of not qualifying.
In terms of risk the need to play 3 qualifying games is the biggest deterrent to spending what might be needed to remove any risk as far as is possible in a footballing sense.
That pisses me off as it is the vicious circle Celtic find themselves in as a result of losing automatic qualification and more or less consigns us to the second tier EL most seasons.
I think Malmo qualified last year but were regularly horsed and although the CL has that magic attraction for Celtic and we do enhance the tournament as a spectacle, I think I’d prefer to see us compete and play in Europe after Xmas than be cannon fodder for the big spenders.
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Paul67: Is there a quick way to move from one article to the next one? It was very easy in the previous version.
Why do you say we “will need at least a 2 goal lead”?
Will one not be enough?
What if we score 5 over there?
What if…………………..ach it disney matter!
C’MON THE CELTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If anything happens to LG, could someone please buy me sedatives and Riga vodka? Lord help us when we have to rely on the Thumb to avoid trouble.
The bizarre Cifci signing could be significant. Play him when he can’t develop his confidence domestically?
Their crowd is an irrelevance. We have better supporters.