Celtic have received some clarity concerning their first Champions League qualifying round opponents after this week’s first leg results in qualifying round two. The five matches that could provide an opponent for Celtic all produced hot favourites to progress.
Sheriff Tiraspol, who won away in Armenia, are 22 games into their league campaign and top the Moldovan table. HJK Helsinki, who won 7-0 on Tuesday night’s Champions League qualifier, are joint top in Finland after 17 games.
All other expected opponents won 3-0 at home in the first leg. Neftchi Baku are top of the Azerbaijan league after 16 games. Molde are two points off the pace in Norway after 15 games. AEL Limassol are Celtic’s only potential opponents who have yet to start their campaign.
If Celtic are to progress to the group stage they will have to overcome stiffer opposition than any of these teams in the final qualifying round, so we should look forward to a stiff test.
Loved the We are Celtic Supporters video from Celtic TV (below). Great quotes from Jimmy McGrory, Tommy Burns, Billy McNeill, Paul McStay, Jock Stein and the original “<insert name> is more than a football club” from Sir Robert Kelly, a few decades before it was picked up in Catelonia.
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I take it McMoist will be in no hurry this time, to demand the new appellate members names.
dirtymac » fast forward to the G.O.D:
I’m not going to tell you what to do with your disposable money, that is your choice. Giving it top Celtic is an option.
Sorry to hear about your wife’s health, I sincerely hope things improve.
Foxy
Reading through the comments for the last hour, you are reminding me of the Jeremy Paxman interview with Michael Howard,
Huey! Huey ! The Celts are here!
would love a quality centreback and forward, but i would not like players no better than what we have. our first choice centrebacks right now are rogne, 21 and charlie, 26 both are good players, if we cant get better then we should not bother. quality over quantity every day of the week. celtic have been reducing the size of the squad to some effect but we still have several players collecting good wages for doing very little. i would like to see thompson, mcourt, murphy, radmussion and bangura sold, but cant see all being wanted by other clubs. 7 or 8 million for ki would be a must. there is plenty of work to do before NFL has a more balanced and productive first team squad.
celtic have good young players capable of taking the step up but they often find the door to the first team closed because of over paid squad players with little chance of improvement. i think NFL has already made inroads with regards to openning that door and can see more opportunities arise for our young players over the coming years. for me that is a good thing, celtic have tried to buy success in europe and failed so surely now is the time to take another avenue. i think we are taking that new road but it may take time to see it bare fruit.
we have a good group of core players so lets hope we get into the CL group stages this season.
HH
Gotta love the ole Champions League theme!!
here we go
bring on the Brechin away
:)
I hope Neil Lennon gets the dominant centre back, he’s been looking for since he got the job.
Regardless CSC
kitalba on 20 July, 2012 at 10:46
enough already. beati pacifici.
I do like the video. Yet I can’t say I agree with, otherwise genius, Sir Jock Stein. Football isn’t nothing *without* the fans. It is everything *with* the fans…
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2013/draws/index.html
Draw on here
Mon the Giorgio…
EUFA bod talks of their “zero tolerance policy towards cheating”. They don’t do irony.
Gianni Infantino denouncing the cheats, not mentioning any names
It will depend on qualification for the Champions League stages on who we bring in. If we qualify for the stages, I reckon we will push the boat out and try and bring in a couple of high profile players, probably on loan.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Kelvin Wilson played 18 times in the spl last season, 16 wins one defeat and one draw, conceding seven goals. I’m far from his biggest fan but thats not bad for a backup player.
We have to look at the bigger picture and not get too worked up about one or two signings, especially when the transfer window is open for another 6 weeks or so.
Instead, we have to consider what WE can do to help us grow and become a force in Europe again. We are believed to have 9-12m fans worldwide yet due to our location and the league we operate in we theoretically can be outbid for footballers by lower level English Premiership clubs and even some Championship clubs.
Outwith the top 4 or 5 in England the other clubs are big in their own cities but after that can they compete with us in terms of support? If a club like Wigan, who are not even well supported in their own city, can survive in the Premiership by attracting some very good players all on the back of a TV deal we have to look for ways to bridge the gap.
They have the TV cash we will probably never have(at least not in Scotland), but one huge advantage we have over most of these clubs is our support- both at home and abroad.
We have all been consumed by the saga involving the huns but we will move on and our next aim must be to mobilise our worldwide support to get more involved, and it has to be via an organised scheme such as the membership scheme suggested- a membership scheme which should be very clear in its aims to ensure its success and future growth. And that aim must be to get Celtic to a level where we can compete on a level playing field financially.
How much more criticism of our game can we accept from fans of lower level English clubs who never actually win anything but bask in the reflected glory of the Manu Utds and Chelseas?
Other clubs in Scotland have set the ball rolling(SelloutSaturday) which is great.
We, potentially, can make Celtic a huge force again. Alternatively, we can become a smaller but more successful club as Paul67 suggested.
Which would we prefer?
HH
I’m sure NL signed Dan as his dominant centre half and Wilson as the ball playing centre half, neither of whom worked out particularly well.
Celtic40me
Take another look at the Killie goal in the League Cup Final for an example.
Dead and Loving it on 20 July, 2012 at 10:59
I thought that was very funny until it dawned … you’re not referring to me as Paxman are you :-)
Argyle St – Celtic Store
Aspirations CSC
Monaghan1900 on 20 July, 2012 at 09:35 said:
After a long night on the opium pipe:
“McCOIST WINS TROPHIES FIGHT
———————————————————————–
Is it me, or is it getting more and more difficult to get a bus ticket between Leggo & Jabba?
Finland or Iceland c’mon the Celts
Fairly happy with that draw.
home first v Helsinki or KR of iceland
helsinki it is then
Good draw for the Celts
Could have been worse.
HJK Helsinki (FIN)/KR Reykjavík (ISL),
Opponebts, we are at home first
so its HJK of Finalnd as the current score is 7-0 to them !!!!
Opponents even, what was the score in their first game?
Celtic v Helsinki I can dig it, off to price flights!!
Prefer to be away first but never mind
Given Helsinki have a 7 goal lead fro the first leg, looks like we start with the Finnish.
Fine by me.
We needed extra time in Helsinki to beat them under MON. Caution required.
right !
homework !
EVERYTHING we need to know about this HJK Helsinki mob
lets analyze them to bits, so we know everythin about them – pass all that info to the coachin team
7-0 wow!
Finland it is then, wonder if I can wangle a wee trip to Finland…………..
RobinBhoy
Come on the Hoops.