Celtic turned in a mature away European performance this evening as the subjugated Qarabag in the heat of Baku. Chances were at a premium for both teams. Qarabag were reduced to hopeful shots from outside the box, while Celtic took an hour to fire their first real effort, but had the best two chances of the game.
Celtic were nervous looking in the opening 15 minutes, as they struggled to retain possession, allowing Qarabag ample opportunity to build attacks. Midway through the first half Craig Gordon attempted to punch with his left hand but missed and, fortunately, the ball hit his right hand and fell to safety.
29 minutes in Qarabag’s best player, Almeida de Oliveira forced a save from Gordon from outside the box but although the Celtic keeper had to stretch to reach it, it was a save he would have expected to make. A minute from the break Nir Bitton attempted an audacious chip from the halfway line which the keeper backtracked to stop.
10 minutes after the break El Jadeyaoui had the first attempt of the game which was made inside the box but Gordon saved easily. Then Gary Mackay-Steven drove across field before passing to Stuart Armstrong, who took a step inside the box before shooting over the bar.
On 66 minutes Qarabag found a man in space inside the box for the first time but by the time El Jadeyaoui took a touch Dedryck Boyata was on hand to block.
Seven minutes from the end Stefan Johansen made his trademark lung-busting run into the box to assist Armstrong but Stefan was a tad ahead of the pass and ended up shooting wide while stretching back.
James Forrest had the best chance of the game four minutes from time. He ran at the Qarabag defence from 40 yards out, rode one challenge, and found himself clean through with the keeper to beat but instead of shooting from 12 yards he tried to square to Griffiths (who was never going to get the ball) and the chance was missed.
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Night all, should have been the Keane’s.
Clogher
There is nae Davie HAY, on the Tube.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have no idea, My Son only joined them halfway through last season.
This is the One!
Stone Roses CSC
That was obviously mean’t to just say…….
;))
Take yer pick.
Petec,
He was one of the hardest, and fairest, players in his time. Afraid of no-one and almost always took the ball cleanly and then the man, if necessary – no foul committed!
Also an absolute gentleman off the field to this day.
My personal best performance was at Elland Road 1970 and the return!
Not my best performance – my opinion of Davie’s best performance !!!!
Radioactive*This is a link*Radioactive
Sargassosea on 6th August 2015 1:38 am
Petec,
He was one of the hardest, and fairest, players in his time. Afraid of no-one and almost always took the ball cleanly and then the man, if necessary – no foul committed!
Also an absolute gentleman off the field to this day.
My personal best performance was at Elland Road 1970 and the return!
——————————————————————————————————————
Thank You.
A Real Celt.
I remember watching my own Son struggle up front in a Celtic Community Team.
Usual excuses….
Wee Declan, was hard as nails, small as well, Irish Father, not saying a lot from the sidelines – Clydebank and Rouken Glen – a bad choice by Celtic to mix 2 centres..
And that is when he was 9 years old.
Sensational young player, and I know he will be playing somewhere Good soon.
BBC Report of Game
Celtic progressed to the Champions League play-off round as a goalless draw in Baku allowed them to complete a 1-0 aggregate win over Qarabag.
An excellent save by Craig Gordon denied Qarabag’s Richard Almeida midway through the first half.
Stuart Armstrong and Stefan Johansen fired shots wide for the visitors after the break as openings remained scarce.
Ronny Deila’s side are now two legs away from the group stage and will discover their opponents on Friday.
Teams Celtic could face in play-off
Read more
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Malmo (Sweden)
Skenderbeu Korce (Albania)
Astana (Kazakhstan)
Dedryck Boyata’s headed goal from the first leg sealed Celtic’s seeded place in the draw, while Qarabag dropped into the Europa League play-off round.
There had been concerns about the pitch at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium following reports the surface had been badly damaged by the heat.
However, Deila had dismissed suggestions that either the pitch or the heat in the Azerbaijan capital would hamper his side’s chances.
Celtic, fielding an unchanged starting line-up from last Wednesday, absorbed pressure from the hosts in the opening half-hour but had few direct efforts at goal to deal with.
Gary Nackay-Steven in action for Celtic against Qarabag
The second leg proved to be a tense affair with few chances
Gordon flapped at a cross and Rydell Poepon could not take advantage but the goalkeeper was much more convincing when he beat away Richard’s effort.
The Brazilian lined up his left-foot shot from 22 yards and curled the ball towards the inside of Gordon’s right-hand post only to be left frustrated by the Scotland international’s stretching save.
In attack, the visitors were restricted to breakaways and rarely got into dangerous areas.
Nir Bitton attempted to catch Ibrahim Sehic out with an audacious shot from near the centre circle, the keeper clutching after a momentary panic.
Alharbi El Jadeyaoui tried a chip of his own early in the second half but Gordon comfortably caught the 20-yard shot.
Though Qarabag’s attacking continued to stutter, Celtic became less and less able to mount meaningful advances and their passing often let them down.
However, Armstrong sought to break the malaise with a shot from the left that had power but lacked accuracy.
As the game entered its closing stages, Johansen had only Sehic to beat as he latched on to an Armstrong pass but could not hit the target.
James Forrest injected fresh pace as a replacement for Armstrong and his forceful, driving run took him clear of the Qarabag defence, but he elected to pass instead of shoot and the hosts scrambled clear.
After five minutes of stoppage time, the Celtic players were celebrating and will now contemplate the challenge of overcoming their final hurdle to the Champions League group stage.
Sargassosea on 6th August 2015 1:38 am,
A very special breed.
Markers down with fair challenges.
Evolve or Die?
;))
OPRAH?
Maurice Strong….
Wow that Earth SUMMIT, that was Something else……..
Worshipping the Creation.
That First Commandment is POWERFUL.
I think God wasn’t messing about, eh BOBBY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D2qcbu26gs
LOL
Good night all from a green and white Cape Cod..
Breathalyser kit says I’m over the LIMIT.
So Don’t even try to be funny, because you ain’t.
I suggest you humble yerself in front of others and be a Proper Christian.
I told you exactly the point of misunderstanding…. the Clutha, shouldn’t have had that happen to it.
How Dare I go to the Clutha for a drink with FFM with a T-shirt my Big Sister gave me, that had a Rainbow on it, who has no way of even being here after all the operations she went through as a Baby.
And if you are going to read that wrong, well you could not be more wrong. Questions remain though.
You, think I can’t make out 1 and 1 to be 2.
My spidey senses says you are an intelligence gatherer.
Nite all. Job done. Petec some of your religious posts are a wee tad disconcerting. Each to their own tho.
a light insanity on a light insanity on 6th August 2015 2:36 am
Nite all. Job done. Petec some of your religious posts are a wee tad disconcerting. Each to their own tho.
###############
OK
I’ll try and tone it down a bit.
I like people being brutally honest.
Stone
If I was bought a meal, I’d take it without a plate. Maybe I’m not cultured enough.
We have no Idea how lucky we ARE.
Stone was — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMnm8MsPDeM
The lurkers are most important to me.
Those Lurkers, their memories will be sensational.
And they will Say I’m a Drunken Bum……
Kojo.csc
Anywhere but Madagascar
Too many lemurs
Margaret McGill – I’m Begging You…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Ke19kxGp8
What are we concerned about?
Margaret McGill,
Your dyslexia with rascar and macjay1, it wasn’t cool.
It was MMcG howevaah… You do know you are known for this.
;))
G’night and God Bless All CQNers.
Ill concealed hunnish attempt to denigrate Chris Sutton and his commentary style.
Simply a critique of one commentator in particular, rather than the game.
Derek Rae,on the other hand,is referred to as “the estimable.”
Thank god for C.Q.N.
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/analysis-feels-like-lennon-never-left-celtic-1-3850697#comments-area
I wonder if we will make a move to strengthen the squad after tonight.
Will we look to persuade VVD to hang on till Christmas and strut his stuff on a European stage?
Personally, I believe Scepovic is not going to improve and we need a backup for LG and NC.
Is there anyone in the youth squad capable of providing backup in case of injury and suspensions, and to maybe give the main guys a wee rest after Champions League efforts. (see what I did?)
‘
Should VVD move on, we should be able to comfortably invest in a striker and a centre back with the transfer fee we will receive.
What kind of striker though?
Are there any good ones out there in our budget?
.
As a founder member of the Happy Clapper clique, I can make a case for us having a good base with the current players who can take us forward.
The spine is strong, well at the back at least.
Gordon is even better than the previous stalwart keepers we were lucky to have.
Boyata, Lustig, Mulgrew, O’Connel, Efe are all potential centre backs in VVD’s absence.
Fisher, Izzy, Janko and young Tierney can easily hold down their places as wing backs.
.
We have an abundance of talent in midfield.
Brown and Bitton provide solid anchors and protect the centre backs.
Johansen is perpetual motion and will soon regain his form of last year.
Kris has guile and a wicked shot.
Armstrong is fast with an eye for goal.
GMS is fast and tricky. He will be a handful for any defender.
James needs to regain confidence, which will be needed for the grind of the SPFL in the long winter months particularly after tough CL midweek matches. (See I did it again?)
.
And so we come back to the front men.
Hi GG. Haven’t read back. Who else is in the draw for Friday??
How good is it that we can look forward to Friday’s draw with a sense of anticipation?
I imagine there are 5 teams who don’t want to be drawn against us.
I suspect CQNers who share a workplace with Sevco fans will go to work tomorrow with a quiet smile of satisfaction which will last over the weekend.
Me?
.
I have to walk through doors sideways.
Off to bed to sleep contentedly.
Good morning to the early shift, weather forecasters, train travelers and Antipodeans.
.
MacJay..
Funny how We read things Different..I thought the Opposite of His Critique of Sutton and Rae..Hey Ho..
Yea it wasn’t a Match report it was TV Critique..
Me l watched it with a mate that came over at 2:30am..Baltic but at least l had the Fire roaring..
The Game was as Expected..Delia has them as a Tight Unit Playing a Team that Doesn’t score Goals even at Home in Europe..1 in 6 Games..
Basically l seen them as very like Starjam in set up and how they Play..But a little bit Better..Ditto there Pitch..
Ps..What the Hell was all the Drama about the Pitch..Have any of these Commentators/Journos ever been to Fir Park in the Last 20 Years..Both teams have to PLAY on it..
Summa
Pps..Our Mutual Friend from the Harbour Cruise that Night was up to Mischief again at the Teams Hotel..;-)
Ppps..Drop me a email l have a Photo l want to show You..
Hi Lassie
I hope the family is growing and healthy.
I lifted this list from BBC, so it should be accurate
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Malmo (Sweden)
Skenderbeu Korce (Albania)
Astana (Kazakhstan)
It has been a long tense day.
gardeners turned up at 7am with their blowers and mowers.
At least we cooled down to the high 80s.
The game intervened with my mid day nap so I’m shattered.
Good night and God bless.
.
Why does Our Draw or Possible opponents seem easier than Man Utds..?
Manchester United on brink of return to Champions League elite, but who are the teams that could deny them in play-offs?
Manchester United face a two-legged play-off tie in Champions League
Victory over two legs would fire Red Devils back into the group stages
CSKA Moscow, Lazio, Club Bruges, Monaco and Rapid Vienna could feature in Friday’s draw to face Man Utd in the play-off round
Scottish champions Celtic will also be in the 11am BST draw from Nyon
Having to stand on the outside looking in as the cream of Europe battled it out in last season’s Champions League would have hurt Manchester United, who after a disastrous 2013-14 Premier League campaign missed out on European football.
But the Red Devils are back in the big time, or at least they nearly are, as they first must negotiate a two-legged play-off tie to reach the group stage of the Champions League.
As top seeds in the league route section of the play-off round, they are sure to avoid Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Shakhtar Donetsk and Sporting Lisbon ahead of Friday’s draw.
Manchester United players pose before a pre-season friendly against Paris Saint-Germain in July, and the Red Devils could face the French side again during the season if they advance to the Champions League
Louis van Gaal: Satisfied with fourth but qualifiers are…
Instead, CSKA Moscow, Lazio, Club Bruges, Monaco and Rapid Vienna lie in wait for United, while another British side in Celtic also feature in the draw which will be at 11am BST from UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.
The Scottish side feature in the champions’ section of the play-off draw as a seeded team, and could face Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Partizan Belgrade, Malmo, Astana, Skenderbeu.
Here, Sporstmail gives you a rundown on the five possible teams Louis van Gaal’s side could be drawn against on Friday.
Summa
.
Spending Money doesn’t always Guarantee Champions League Football..
Fenerbahce, who have invested heavily to sign the likes of Robin van Persie, Nani and Simon Kjaer this summer, will have to settle for a spot in the Europa League play-offs..
KTF
Summa
So pleased that we progessed. Our defence including the much criticised Izzy were magnificent. If we are to continue to the group stage we need to pass better.
I don’t think I have ever seen as much change in possession as I did last night. Was it the pitch?
We still need a more creative central midfielder – someone with No Hanson’s drive and energy but with Chris’s skill and flair. We also need a striker. Our current strikers have their merits, however they don’t score enough.
At the time I was raging with James Forrest for not shooting instead of trying to cut it back. I think he has totally lost confidence.
.
MacJay..
You have Mail..
Summa
a small step for scottish fitba, a giant leap for ronny delia