Fifa yesterday banned Benfica and Brazil central defender Luisão from all football activities until November for knocking a referee unconscious in a preseason game against Fortuna Dusseldorf in August.
Benfica didn’t expect Luisão to be available for tonight’s Champions League game against Celtic but the decision, coming a day before kick-off, will do nothing for morale. While they lost midfielders Javi Garcia and Axel Witsel to Manchester City and Zenit late in the transfer window, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Benfica spent well over £20m this summer. The new guys will no doubt eventually prove their worth, but right now they remain very much the new guys. Celtic have to make them feel a long way from home tonight.
During our last successful Champions League group stage in 2007 we concluded that it was more important not to make mistakes at this level than to try to score the perfect goal. If we get a solid performance from Scott Brown and Victor Wanyama in front of a defence which clears its lines and takes no chances, the stage will be set for James Forrest and Gary Hooper. I expect both to hurt Benfica.
It was interesting to hear our chief executive take questions on the subject of EBTs and the health of our club yesterday. More on this after the matter in hand has passed.
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HOPE YOUR BET COMES IN AND WE ALL HAVE A GREAT EVENING MARTI – then we’ll ALL be joining in your celebrations….and ringing in late for work the morroh!
Right im off cant wait any longer,
To every member of the celtic family out there ENJOY THE MOMENT we are in.
MAY ONLY GOOD THINGS COME YOUR WAY.
justice for the96 HAIL HAIL
Strange that pessimism regarding games against Spartak Moscow. Know them very well and believe six points from them is reality. Scenario likely to happen.
Just been offered free ticket to see Man Utd tonight.
Should I take it or stay at home and watch the Bhoys.
Gary Hooper in late injury scare.
couple of jokes
mcmoists new nickname….the snowman
you waken up in the morning and hope hes still there
Rangers are to be reinstated into the Ramsdens cup following news that Queen of the South players have dual contracts. Their keeper is a brickie, their captain is a butcher and star striker is a lollipop man.
news just in
Alistair McCoist has hired Kate Middletons lawyers to stop BBC alba and sky showing his tits in public.
hail hail the night……come on you bhoys in green!
Googybhoy
Our wee friend shall cast you adrift if you head to Salford!!
You know it makes sense :-)
A comedy classic! At a time when posters on this forum are discussing tonight’s champions league match, the Ragers hordes are tearing themselves apart with bon mots like
“We are all hurting, get the f*ck over it.”
“You f*ck off. ”
“Tell you what amigo,why don’t you f*ck off.”
“As I said,f*ck off.”
And the response of the week
“That’s enough o’ that taig sh*te we don’t hold wi’ that sort o’ stuff here.”
If Armando Iannucci’s reading this, the next series of The Thick Of It just writes itself.
http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=238676
hamiltontim
17:58 on 19 September, 2012
Googybhoy
Our wee friend shall cast you adrift if you head to Salford!!
You know it makes sense :-)
Decision made. Where is the Sky remote.
Cheers Rothboy and same to you! Of course we’ll take any kinda of a win but tis always nice to get a few quid of your own club in a bet as well.
Let’s hope we all enjoy the occasion tonight, no matter where we are watching.
We deserve it!
Deary me …..i just want to jump up and run about!!!! Come on kick off time!
Have fun, everyone who’s off to Parkhead, wish I could be there. I know you’ll raise the roof tonight. Come on You Bhoys in Green!
OK Fholks. Heading home from work now to stick on Setanta Sports 1 for the game. Best of luck to the Celts tonight. Hail Hail!
I know that most of us are realists who are just delighted to see Celtic where they deserve to be.
HOWEVER, we also seem to have attracted a Glory Hunting Faction.
Could I possibly ask them to desist from any recriminations if our fine young side fall short tonight ?
If we get a result,…GREAT.
If we have a bad night at the office could we maybe just SUPPORT them & thank them for getting us to where we are.
PLEASE.
One good thing we don’t have to worry about to-night is those pesky away goals which always has me a bundle of nerves. Great to know all we have to do is score more goals and we have three points regardless. Come on ye Bhoys in green.
kilbowie kelt
18:03 on
19 September, 2012
Well said. Getting your optimism in early.
I hope we win and the Glory Hunters are happy.
Hail Hail
Kilbowie kelt
Patience is not a virtue of the young,we have all been there,even the Lisbon Lions got it in the neck,on the odd occasion HH
Given that the site went down last night during the Sevco penalty shoot-out I don’t hold out much hope for tonight – I hope Paul67 has wound up the elastic band.
can’t wait for the game – nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs
just had to post this, went on the RM web site for a laugh, the word paranoia comes to mind, may they never rest in peace.
2 – The Officiating
I’ve certainly noticed a drop in standard since we came down the divisions and I can realise that, like players, the referees just aren’t that good. However, last night I genuinely believe I witnessed a display of completely biased officiating and I would fully support the club in filing an official complaint.
An offside goal is bad enough, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Anyone alongside me in the Main Stand would have noticed that after a 50/50 on the near touchline, the linesman correctly gave Rangers a throw in after the ball blatantly hit the QOS player. However, that linesman – who was three yards away from the incident – was overruled by a referee no less than 30 yards away, whose view would have been blocked by at least two players.
Now I can forgive bad refereeing, but last night was (in my eyes) purely biased against Rangers. It’s no surprise to find out that the referee was Steve O’Reilly, but the linesman who gave the offside goal was considerably worse. He even tried to stop Ian Black taking a quick freekick at one point, surely against the rules. We’re going to be up against more than eleven opposition players for the next three years, that’s for sure.
2-1 to the tic tonight.
All the hard work that has gone into getting Celtic into the group stages of the Champions League battling back to win the title after been fifteen down and here we are on those wonder nights at Celtic Park we are going to enjoy.
agree about broon and vic – let’s hope they get in the way of all that movement and passing. let’s also hope that whatever those things are that come together in CP come together tonight (I’m sure P67 has written on this before)
hail all celts and 90th minute equalisers.
Zbyzsek
Almost fully agree with u re Spartak. I saw them in few occassions. Maybe 6 points is little bit ambitious but 4 points defo playable.
Stuck in an office in Oslo till 3am. Many trips to roof terrace for nervy roll-ups already. f5 key ready for a pure kicking.
Sure our young team will make us proud tonight. Also, on my last trip to the roof the seagulls told me we will see Miku on tonight and that he will score.
Envy all going to Paradise tonight.
Bring it oannnnnnn!
Man Utd to wear black armbands tonight as mark of respect to the two WPCs shot yesterday in the Manchester area.
RIP
Bet duly placed. Celtic to win: 11/5. Worth a go.
In no way am I glory hunting….just sayin’. I never recriminate. Not my job. Comiserations and move on.
I am not knowledgabele enough to understand the intricacies of management.
I do, however, know crap when I see it.
: > )
Fholks, anyone know a radio station in Scotland that is broadcasting the game tonight?
The theory that Benfica do not travel well does not deem to be borne out by last year’s CL form
They won 3 and drew 3 in qualifying unbeaten. They drew at home with both Manu And Basel and only managed a 1:0 home win against lowly Rumanians. In the away leg they beat both Basel and the Rumanians and drew 2:2 with Man U. They even scored 2 goals in losing to Zenit away in the last 16 tie and were very unlucky against Chelsea in the Q-F losing to a late injury time winner.
This, however, is a newish Benfica team against a newish Celtic squad. Past records give us precious little guarantee of how things unfold.
Hooper on the bench.
Me and the kids just heading to the game. Nervous but nothing to lose. We are the 12th man tonight. The joints gonna be ROCKIN.Come on CELTIC HH.
Well wrapped up for tonight, has a pending brass monkey feel
preview of the game on SS2 now
hooper out .on the bench
Matthews back in
From twitter…
matt mcglone @MattMcGlone9
Hooper on the bench tonight Miku leads the attack
Team: Forster; Matthews, Lustig, Wilson, Izaguirre; Forrest, Brown, Wanyama, Mulgrew; Commons, Miku
subs: Zaluska, Rogne, Watt, Lassad, Ambrose, Slane, Hooper.
So flippin close – swap Miku for Hooper and that’s my team.
Always the bridesmaid….
3-5-2 formation or Charlie left Mid?