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.
541 Comments- Pages:
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RobinBhoy on 5th August 2015 8:14 pm
Site is very slow to load also in the UK. Otherwise I like it. Sure there must be a fix.
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No slowness for me, I’d imagine it the device your are using
I’ll say this for RD’s teams …. they are fit …. those were difficult conditions …. and, after a short lull in the second half, we looked the fitter of the two teams…. given that they live and train in those conditions, that says something that they looked more tired as the game entered its final stages.
Im using my ipad iphone and pc on global proxies…same shite
something wrong something not quite right
yes it works but the delay is like a minute!!!
Big Cup Winners. Odd comment my man.
We are through. Great chance now.
M McGill…I was trylng my to think up some suitably witty reposte to your tcp / ip joke but damn and confound me, I can’t top it. Nicely put :)
ROY CROPPIE on 5TH AUGUST 2015 8:05 PM
Well done Bhoys, job done. HH
No point in even analysing that as it is over and we are through. One
recommendation though:
shoot Forrest shoot…
Shootin’ him’s a bit harsh, don’t ye think?
HH
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/qarabag-0-0-celtic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+co%2FIRuC+%28Celtic+Quick+News%29#sthash.ww6aTIjD.dpuf
JC2, I fancy a trip to Albania…………..
Margaret McGill, language! I’ve a few changes coming which should speed things up.
NZB, cheers.
Art of War, the ref likes a strong challenge and let the game flow. Most were in Qarabag’s favour but I don’t mind the flowing approach.
Bsr.
Everything you said.
Hear hear.
Job done….roll on Friday’s draw
Great performance by the Bhoys tonight. Virgil, Nir and Mikael were brilliant but a special mention for Izzy. I thought he was potentially our weak link tonight and I would have dropped him. He was immense.
So all credit to Ronny. He is starting to show the management skills and tactical awareness that could possibly take us to the next level.
HH
Does the league route CL and Champions route CL all get drawn on friday?
i.e Celtic could get these guys
Manchester United FC (ENG) 103.078
Valencia CF (ESP) 99.999
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER) 87.883
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) 56.276
SS Lazio (ITA) 49.102
AS Monaco FC (FRA) 31.483
etc???
Thunder Road,
Thanks for your time and work re Dublin2016.
I showed your work to a few people today and the feedback is brilliant..
Thanks again.
Hows the Europa league looking?
Why is everyone so bloody happy. Oh how miss the close season cqn when there was no football to distract us and we could all fight about anything we liked
Cap’n
Don’t take it to heart. Was just having a wee joke after you (also jokingly I assume) labelled AOW paranoid.
And yes we have a great chance to qualify now, having read the options, kindly outlined by Fleagle.
Really pleased with the result and the performance, it will stand us in good stead for even tougher challenges.
We will come on a tonne for this type of game.
Another bonus is that the trolls have disappeared for a while
I could not relax watching this game but we never looked like losing it. A truly professional performance. European football guaranteed but CL qualification would be tremendous.
Absolutely delighted that we now have at least 8 more European matches to watch. I remained nervous watching it throughout – not because of the way we were playing but just that feeling that ‘we’ve seen this before’ before conceding a 92nd minute calamity goal. But we didn’t. Which is nice
I take it there is still time to add one(?) player to the European squad. So do we twist or stick?
Jobo
P67 … I agree re: the ref today. He laid down his marker early that he was going to let a bit go, and, for the most part, he did. I prefer that to stoppages every 30 seconds for whistles. We have to pick up on that a bit earlier than we did, and be a bit cuter (like they) were to draw some fouls.
glendalystonsils on 5th August 2015 8:22 pm
NAW!
HH
What is the Stars
That’s nothing – I long for the referendum arguments…
Sorry Paul
I will not use the word “proxies” again!!
Maggie, we can’t draw Man Utd, etc.
THE_HUDDLE on 5TH AUGUST 2015 8:19 PM
RobinBhoy on 5th August 2015 8:14 pm
Site is very slow to load also in the UK. Otherwise I like it. Sure there must be a fix.
—————–
No slowness for me, I’d imagine it the device your are using
______________
Using an iPhone 6 with 30MB wifi in the house. Other web pages open mucho more quickly.
Nir Biton.
Celtic’s midfield general.
New and improved contact please PL.
Outstanding Celtic.
HH.
Can I ask how we have at least 8 European games ?
Only 8 if we get to Champions league group stage
Is it not 7 if it is only Europa league ?
Still Europe until mid December works for me :-)
Hail Hail
Davidopolous
It would seem that some happy football fans have invaded our grumpy political Forum
Next thing you know people will be polite to each other.
There goes the neighbourhood
MARGARET McGILL
.
We can only be drawn against a team from our section of Champions From Diddy Leagues.
.
The teams you mention are in the Diddy Also-rans From Decent Leagues. And just as well!
.
Professional display tonight which has put more years on me,guaranteed European football till Christmas,and with a decent draw some serious bucks into the bargain.
.
It’s good to be a Tim!!!!!
Clogher
Thunder Rd has an amazing talent. I am the very proud owner of one of his works of art, which he gifted me in June for my 50th birthday. My family and friends are all astounded by his talent. Genius!
Cowie bhoy
If we lose next round we drop into europa league
Feel a bit sorry for Quarabag. No wonder they haven’t scored at home in Europe with that pitch. Imagine setting yourself up for a big euro moment only to have to play on that.
Onward for us and despite what Ronnie says a harder game coming. Liked the discipline and composure tonight.
HH
ughaye
Maybe wouldn’t go as far to say it was the best defensive performance i have seen but i do agree with what you say.
The thing that i love most about moments like this, is that these bhoys are learning and getting what they set out to do(albeit they were trying to get an away goal)and there is something tangible for all the hard work and discipline that they put into that game tonight.
That has got to help strengthen their resolve and belief in themselves for the next time they have to play like that.
WITS
That’ll be the last straw… Changing blog formats I can take, changing blog purpose is unacceptable!
Fans very happy in Baku
Well, that was fairly comfortable.
If I was a smoker I would have been looking for a cigar around the 60th minute. A wee bit disappointed that we didn’t attack more but i suppose it bodes well that RD and the team have a “Dukla Prague” in their locker if we need it in the last eight. I’m not sure Lenny would have been able to organise a display like that.
Looking forward to the draw with some optimism now.
Well done Celtic.
It’s great to get a right guid claw but a wee clad can be just as satisfyin’.
Art of War
BBC stats show Qarabag having 68% possession
They had 12 shots with 2 on target; we had 5 with 1 on target
They had 7 corners to our 1 and we committed 16 fouls to their 9
Izzy and Stefan were the only two players booked
Reposting from the previous blog:
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Europa League, as a minimum, is guaranteed… but let’s get the CL group stages !
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We will play one of the following teams in the final qualifier :
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Q = already qualified for Friday’s 4th round draw
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Q Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus)
Q Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Q FK Astana (Kazakhstan)
Q Bate Borisov (Belarus)
? Skenderbeu (Albania) or Milsami Orhei (Moldova) – currently 3-0 to Skenderbau
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One minor amendment from earlier… “if” Malmo (Sweden) defeat FC Salzburg (Austria) on aggregate, then Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus) will be elevated to a seeded team, and cannot then be drawn against Celtic… Malmo would replace Apoel N them as one of the unseeded teams !
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fleagle1888
:)