Telfer, McManus, O’Dea, Naylor. That’s the Celtic defence who took Milan to extra time without conceding a goal in regulation time in either leg in 2007.
We won a corner in the last minute of the 90 that night. After two intense games, we had earned the right to load their box and take our chance. That’s how close Gordon Strachan came to taking Celtic to the Champions League quarterfinals, at the expense of Milan, who won the tournament that year.
In 2012, Neil Lennon’s Celtic played perhaps the greatest con dude ever in 2012, losing only to an injury time goal in Barcelona and winning at Celtic Park.
In 2003 I remember World Soccer’s report on the Uefa Cup Final. Apparently the better team won as Celtic relied on being compact and robust to take the game to extra time.
These are some of our greatest times. They will never return until we drop our fantasies.
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Last evening was a very good PROFIT night on the Betting front….
Spurs beat Ferencvous by 2 – 1 …I had the Correct Score at odds of 15/2 along with Lyon to beat the Huns 4 – 1 on a ” Lucky 15″ Bet at Odds of 40/1.
Two Singles and a nice Double from the games above….and I also had Lyon in a separate Bet to win 4 – 1 at odds of 40/1.
Not too shabby.
LOL.
HH.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL @ 8:05 PM,
“I’m actually all for a more pragmatic approach… but the evidence provided by this article to justify this is very weak.
Three incredibly competitive events in almost 10 years … the last more than 10 years ago.
Including that involving a Celtic team who were financially unsustainable (a theme Paul refers to from time to time)”
Yes, very odd…
Not sure where the narrative that the Board have done a great job since MO’N’s time (we’ve never had it so good) and we have to look back seventeen seasons to a game where we, coulda, shoulda, mibees got something away from home against a top team.
Let’s put this season’s campaign in context
After BR&Co Mk1, Lenny’s team’s got poorer and poorer in Europe – a great game over ten seasons ago doesn’t change that fact
Ange took over, was put out the UCL, put out the Europa and bombed in the Euro Conference all in one season, yet at least we did look more competitive
The next season we did better under Ange but we were still got battered away from home in Madrid
BR&Co Mk2’s first season and we saw another incremental improvement in Europe another hiding in Madrid but more points on the Board and a win at home
It’s early days this season but every indication is another incremental improvement and a concrete plan to advance in the UCL’s new format, we look much more solid at home and know our key games.
Picking Lenny and WGS’s best games from back in the day and highlighting Brendan Rodgers’ worst results is far from the full story.
Saying Brendan Rodgers failed in Europe with Leicester City, without mentioning he took them to a European Semi-final is disingenuous
If Dortmund BVB is an outlier, and I believe it is, too many are writing off our chances too soon.
We have another two tough UCL fixtures next, where we are not expected to pick up points and most certainly will end up in the bottom eight after four games.
So expect the onslaught on our manager to continue…
Yet after that…
Celtic v Brugge
Zagreb v Celtic
Celtic v Young Boys
Is when we meet our European peers and two of those games will be at home
We must be realistic and say those are the games where we need to pick up the points that will get us to next year’s play-offs.
Judge the team after that, as I’m sure we will have the necessary points before we head to Villa Park.
Hail Hail
Good luck to our own Falkirkbhoy who begins his challenge to run the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route today.
If you wish to donate and for some background information please visit the Celtic Foundation Website.
Thanks.
Hot Smoked on 3rd October 2024 9:36 pm
Apparently Lyon have had one attempt kicked off the line and another off the bar. Damn
………………
I watched the whole game and Lyon took off their TWO Best Players, as they continued to try and walk the ball into the Huns Net in the 2nd half, it was THAT EASY for them.
It was 4 – 1 going on 8 – 1.
HH HOT SMOKED and all the best to you and the family.
Morning All…
BIG JIMMY @ 6:57 AM,
Well done sir… not too shabby at all…
Hail Hail
Chairbhoy
Last year we had a soft group and managed to lose 3 away ties and one home tie and were eliminated after 5 games .
We gained 1 point from 5 meaningful matches and yet you pitch this as great improvement. The only actual win was a home rubber v Feyenoord when neither side had much to play for beyond pride and their team selections suggested that.
Personally I think we can get genuine improvement this year but as several have said our manager needs to have the humility and capability to adopt a more pragmatic approach in certain situations.
The biggest challenge of all is trying to learn and improve in the environment we play in each week. That is tough for any team and manager.
As for your scoffing at fiscal responsibility. Go support the govan team if you want to see the kamikaze attitude to money in pursuit of your happiness. Maybe more suited to you . We had it in the early noughties. DD and CT stopped it. We have won since.
Many less fancied teams picking up points this week and not too many draws means projections for 9 points plus better goal difference are now likely needed.
With this in mind and possible 6 points from Brugge and YB it really does mean the away match at Villa might just matter for us.
Their defeat of Munich and decent form might just make this last match pretty meaningless for them mid January. Another good result for us was Monaco nipping a late point at Zagreb which stops their bounce.
Lots of ifs and buts and bad results but a few good results there for Celtic amongst our rivals too.
Hopefully the Villa manager will be elsewhere by the time we play them.
On another note, the only downside from last night’s result at Mordor is that we will now have to endure “a sobering week for Scotland’s big two” headlines/narrative and once again be portrayed as one side of the same coin.
Chairbhoy – cheers.
I’m glad Brendan Rodgers is our manager
I’d categorise his European record as not impressive rather than disastrous.
Good call on his Leicester journey. They actually weren’t great but they WON all the way to the semis.
Tuesday was terrible but I believe it will see us tweak what we do away from home against big teams.
This belief based on no supporting evidence BTW, other than recalling the camera cutting to BR just before half time at 5-1 … and him looking shell-shocked.
Time will tell if those tweaks and some (hoped for) gradual improvements will make a difference.
CORRECTION…
LYON took off their THREE ( Not Two ) best players in the 2nd half against the Mankie Huns.
I forgot about a Lyon Guy called ” CHERKI”, who slalomed his way thru the Hun midfield and defence on several occasions.
As for the narrative around thrashings in Europe under Brendan …. again, IMHO, context needed.
Five heavy defeats spring to mind.
0-5 against PSG was simply a better team besting us. They were superb.
6-0 Atletico. Red card was the key factor that turned a likely defeat into a skelping.
The other three are the big concerns
7-0 Barcelona
7-1 PSG
7-1 Dortmund
It wasn’t just the heaviness of the defeat.
It was the fact they all looked like they could score EVERY time they attacked !
Each could easily have been ten.
All followed a similar pattern.
They figured us out tactically after 15 minutes maximum and pressed the throttle …
… and we absolutely crumbled.
Other teams lose to big clubs. Noted.
But they enter the field with
(1) tactical capacity
(2) skillsets
(3) physical capacity and
(4) inherent cynical professional bloody mindedness (different from Brendan’s “aggression”)
… that, while potentially all inferior to their better resourced rivals, are still to be reckoned with and need dealing with.
As a result they rarely “fold”.
We bring #1 and #2 to a satisfactory level.
We’re poor on #3
We’re nonexistent on #4.
IMHO, that is why we sometimes fold rather than just lose.
Big Jimmy on 4th October 2024 7:04 am
Thanks for that, Jimmy. Really is a shame Lyon didn`t get eight :-)))
Off to the Friday Golf.
Cheerio for now.
BURNLEY78 @ 7:52 AM,
Well that’s my point, there is no scoffing at fiscal responsibility, quite the opposite.
There is realism
Our improvements and you can scoff all you wish, but they are improvements, must come incrementally to ensure financial stability
That means going to one of Europe’s top teams in Germany and getting beaten is a given.
Of course the manner in which we got beat was a tough one to take, yet let’s put that in perspective, it was one very poor half of football against an excellent team, in a season where we have an outstanding record.
It is your argument that is illogical
We can’t throw money at the team to make them competitive with Europe’s elite – right!!
Then slag the manager for not being competitive with Europe’s elite.
Also we have a recruitment model that the Board says must be adhered too, that recruitment model puts emphasis on potential over experience
That means as well as Schmeichel giving us the experience we must rely on several players that are on a learning curve, it takes them time to develop into the level of player we require at UCL group stage.
When we do that, as in the case of Matt O’Riley, then we sell that player – we are told it’s the only way to secure our financial stability
Again, if that’s the case you must allow time for new blood to be integrated into the side.
Trusty, Valle, McCowan, Engels had no preseason with us and just four weeks before we faced top European opposition, Adam not much more time, the season had started when he arrived and he was the only fit striker.
We are told for business and financial reasons this is the way it must be.
Well fine, if that’s the way the business works so be it, yet you must be willing to face the consequences when the team goes to a venue like Dortmund Stadium half baked…
We ended the game with a back four of…
Johnston – Trusty – Scales – Valle
Virtual strangers in a competitive game against a top, top forward line.
We know our peer group and the Manager and team should be judged on our performances there.
As for supporting a team from Govan, I don’t even know any team from Govan
I’m guessing you mean the Ibrox team you obsess about!?
As I’ve told you, not on my radar, they are dead to me – you keep worrying about them, to be frank I’ve got better things to do…
Hail Hail
Atletico pumped 4-0 last night.Putting that in context,that’s on a par with our result.By all accounts they were terrible,and Benfica excellent.Shit happens.
Even with a manager as wily as Atletico.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL @ 8:19 AM,
Totally agree, Brendan Rodgers said they will learn from Dortmund and learn they must.
I believe we will go with Idah, Trusty and Valle in Europe, they give us more physicality and furter options.
With so many new players bedding in, I think we will see significant, if gradual improvements.
Hail Hail
Give the job to Paul67 and all our dreams will come true.