Udinese were pushed all the way tonight but hold on for a point that was enough to get them through to the knock out round of the Europa League at Celtic’s expense. Gary Hooper gave Celtic the lead but Antonio Di Natale equalised in time added on at the end of the first half.
The game was only six minutes old when Georgios Samaras extended his telescopic legs and moved beyond Benatia to the edge of the Udinese box but the defender dived in front of the Greek striker to con the referee into awarding a free kick.
Udinese should have taken the lead in 12 minutes when Scott Brown was careless with a cross-field pass which was intercepted. The Celtic defence were caught moving forward and had left Di Natale in acres of space but his lob missed the target.
Gary Hooper was the next sinner 10 minutes later. Udinese had no answer to the probing of Samaras and James Forrest. The former beat two players and slid an inch perfect pass inside the full back for Hooper to collect 16 yards from goal. Unfortunately he failed to find the target with what at that time looked like being the best chance of the game.
Celtic opened the scoring on 28 minutes when Samaras rampaged down the left and sent a dangerous cross between goalkeeper and defence. Handanovic punched the ball against his own defender and was left stranded when it rolled to an unmarked Hooper three yards from goal. The Englishman rolled the ball over the line to put Celtic ahead.
With 45 minutes already played Samaras again rampaged down the left but possession was lost as Celtic were reluctant to pour forward seconds before half time. Udinese moved the ball quickly up field and a fortunate break of the ball allowed them to catch the Celtic defence flat footed. Cha was wrong side of his player who crossed for Di Natale to finish. It was an unfortunate break for Celtic who had the better of the first half.
Udinese stepped up the pace after half time and enjoyed their best period of the game. Fraser Forster made three saves within as many minutes just after the hour mark. Ten minutes later a sharp passing move provided Asamoa with a gilt edged chance from 10 yards but he turned the ball against the post with Forster stranded but this signalled the end of the home team’s pressure.
Celtic came close to taking the lead again on 74 minutes when Cha DuRi stretched to volley from outside the box. His shot struck the post with Handanovic unable to reach it. The ball rebounded off the goalkeeper, who landed on the ground, and spun back towards goal, but Handanovic recovered in time to catch it on the line.
Greek referee, Koukoulakis, did not have a good game, mistook Cha for Scott Brown and incorrectly booked the Korean. 18 minutes later he booked Cha again but had clearly received a message from an assistant informing him of his earlier mistake, leaving Cha bemused and relieved to survive his second yellow card.
Celtic were pressing for the goal but with 10 minutes remaining a slip by Daniel Majstorovic set Di Natale clear. Fraser Forster then had the most impressive 6 seconds of his career. The keeper made himself a big target and saved Di Natale’s shot but he had change direction quickly as the ball broke free on the right. A cross was swiftly dropped onto the head of the unmarked Di Natale 8 yards from goal but Forster changed direction one more time to save again.
The match finished with Celtic camped inside the Udinese box. The ball broke to Ki inside the six yard box from a Charlie Mulgrew corner but his shot was blocked. Fraser Forster came forward for two further corners. From one, Daniel Majstorovic flashed a header goalward but an Udinese defender raised his arm to the ball, however, the referee failed to award a penalty.
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Right lads eyes closing here so stay cool see ya the morra.
Just the beginning lads.
Hail Hail.
interestin to think we have a couple of official full-backs coming in January
big Mick and wee Izzy
then Joe’ll be fit again
and mibbe Baba Diawara
just got to win each game step by step
let’s see what happens
none o this predictions nonsense
mooth shut, get the joab done !!
then gas !!
until then, it’s 1 at a time
enjoyed the Europa
cash in the bank
off to bed
night all
TC
Sandman…
P.S where the hell was Paddy McCourt? – thought he would have been perfect to introduce agianst them second half.
/////
According to a previous post, P McC did not travel
by the way
was up Lnxtwn yesterday
heard Mo Bangoura played really well other day v a strongish Hibs select in a closed-doors bounce game
scored a couple
he too is just gettin back from injury
Henrik’s no mug so he’s
gotta have somethin
Great performance tonight. Made our own luck for the goal when we should of already been 1 up. A couple of more breaks our way and we would of been through. I would happily sign Forster now but there is always that feeling that when someone signs a new contract after playing well then their form will dip so maybe wait till the end of the season.
We have to win the league this year or I think the core of this team will be sold and the board will start over with a new project that will not include Neil. Lets go on unbeaten until the end of the season bhoys!
Hail Hail
Lighten up a bit? my Smiths selection was somewhat selfish.. but maybe the blog-culture is not in the right virtual, collective etc.. and the aliens have yet to be shot at..
Mick….
I would take Ian black
Always needing a painter decorator this time of year
TopCorner says:
16 December, 2011 at 01:00
by the way
no doubt bangoura will score a few before january starts
then we will drop interest in the maritimo boy
and all is good.
maritimo boy ends up in premiership knocking a few goals in
bang bangs spurt starts in january
and ends 1st feb
his contract will run down and thats the last we will hear of him
pauloantony says:
16 December, 2011 at 01:07
Paul….
Ian Black would do for me….Only problem is he would be sent off EVERY game…..
antrimkev,out of interest how many points did you think we would get in the group
green oak tree,i would not even let ian black clean the boots at parkhead
gordybhoy64 says:
16 December, 2011 at 01:14
HaHaHa….
gordybhoy64 says:
16 December, 2011 at 01:13
i went for 6
gordybhoy64 what did you go for?
Hi Fholks was working tonight so only got to see
bits agus bobs of the game…. Never seen the banner
what did it say or has anyone got a photo
antrimkev,thought we were up against it in the group and 5 was best i could see us get,
you seem rather critical about a performance that i thought was excellent,and in reference to an earlier point
apart from the euros 2014 its been quite some time since ireland qualified for anything
I went for 9 and go through
dreamers eh
We’re magic, we’re magic
Graffiti on the wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WyChNh_p-E
couple of tunes before bed,one of my favs
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire says:
16 December, 2011 at 01:28
Is that the banner if so what’s all the fuss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhiBMtDoNiw
in the barras tonight,best night out of the year,bring it on
nollaig a chara,it said **** uefa,perfectly fine sentiments if you ask me
Just in from a very good night watching the match alongside the the mayor of belfast
Where’s Mad Mitch et al ?
Can’t they find any negatives?
BTW F”’ uefa
canamalar –
Bliddy vandal!
Today – Friday 16 December – it is 50 years to the day since my first Celtic game.
Half-a-century as a Bhoy and Mhan.
Half-a-century of memories, good and bad.
I’m going to have a quiet celebration tonight, full of reflection and reminiscing.
Hail Hail.
The adventure, learning experience, roller coaster, call it what you will is over and we can look back in satisfaction especially considering the trepidation we first felt exactly 3 months ago when facing Atletico in Madrid.
The most meaningful takeaway for me is the players who did not feature tonight as we prepare for our belated Christmas present on the 28th.
Mathews, Izzaguirre, Loovens, Wilson, Commons, Ledley, were all ruled out due to injury.
And I’m sure we can consider them all first team candidates.
Fraser Forster must have convinced most if not all of his doubters that he is a worthy owner of the number 1 shirt.
Samaras is in a rich vein of form, and must be featuring prominently in McGregor’s nightmares.
If we can get some of the above back and match fit early in the New Year, maintain our form on Sunday in Perth and focus on each and every SPL game, then we will be able to last the grueling grind of playing the provincial teams in January and February.
‘GG feeling much more confident about the dark months ahead.
pauloantony says:
16 December, 2011 at 00:23
Hail hail!
James Forrest will outshine aiden…
Two different players but
This boy is special … Very special
===============================
Shouldn’t be too difficult for James F.
Paddy McCourt also outshines McGeady……in spades.
It’s all about the final product, which wee Aidan rarely had, and apparently still doesn’t.
Read sandmans view of the hoops tonite
Especially agreed with his comments over cha
It does not matter how bad our injury situation is
A pub player like cha will always cost us goals
All he had work undone by a player who gift goals in the SFL
ST
Not disappointed by last night. The team played very well & will learn from it.
Looking back…with a bit of luck we could have taken 3 points from each game in this League.
Not once did i feel we were out of our depth, If we had our 1st 11 available for each game we would have went through.
Matthews & Izzy would have made a huge difference last night. Cha is not good enough & would rather Mulgrew at CB.
Looking forward to having a full squad for the 28th, We will destroy that lot. HH
Just finished watching the game. What a tremendous performance from the Bhoys. The Italians were dead on their feet at the end with Celtic pushing for the winner. No question our best European performance home or away for quite some time. Our defense were huge tonight. Fraser Forster immense, Big Dan unbelievable, Victor steady as a rock and both full backs worked their tails off. If anything we lacked a bit of creativity in midfield but that would be nitpicking. Young Forrest was not allowed to play but never gave up, Hooper was solid throughout and Sammi had a blinder in the first half. This team are improving. I am starting to feel like we are going somewhere again.
Good morning from a (Green and) White Port Glasgow.
Treacherous driving conditionings out there, had to abandon trip to Glenrothes, turned back at the airport.
Stay safe on the roads this morning folks.
Went to bed last night last night in a good mood despite Celtic dropping out of Europe, am I becoming a Green Hun?
Enjoyed the game, I thought the offensive line up weakened the midfield a bit and Brown,Kayal and Ki could not get going. Big Sammi Brilliant in the first half, Brown clumsy at times and young Forrest done well, Big Dan great apart from the last lunge at the end. Best for me was big Lurch, could have a great keeper on ours hands here, worst for me was Cha, heading and defending was terrible.
Haste ye back, Commons,Ledley and Izzy, we will win this league.
Hail Hail
Hope the U19s game is still on tomorrow.
Got up this morning and watch the BHOYS play really well. We were slightly lucky in the second half but so were they. I wonder if Callum Murray would have given us that penalty. Very proud of the team and now with the confidence up I think we can go on and win the league. That ref today was hopeless, he wouldn’t have looked out of place in the SPL. Was the Brown/ Cha booking cleared up cause I thought Cha was going off but didn’t?
We can now concentrate on the treble.
antrimkev says:
16 December, 2011 at 00:31
…”I’m not a Celtic fan.”
————-
antrimkev says:
15 December, 2011 at 21:02
…”hope yous all took my advice and had a few snoops on Di Natale
Merry Christmas if you did”
—————-
I don’t know if you are a Celtic fan or not. If you are you are most definitely not my type of Celtic fan. I’d rather burn my toe nails with a red hot pocker than be so gleeful at winning a few quid on someone scoring against us.
MWD
Jobo
Glesga is under a blanket o the white stuff.
Wits it like in ole EK?
MWD
Good morning friends and a Big Happy Friday from the winer wonderland of East Kilbride.
A couple of inches of snow lying here and a light shower of the white stuff is still falling. Don’t think it’ll be here long.
Jobo
Where is everyone? Lost in snowland? Nothing up here in Eberdeen, cauld but dry. Was -6degC on the way into work.
Never saw the game as I was out darting last night, saw the goals on C5. Good to hear the Bhoys put on a bit of a show, but disappointed that we are out of Europe (philvis – nae Cameron jokes, OK?). At least we can now concentrate on a domestic treble as the “unprecedented quadruple” is oot ra windae.
Mon the Hoops!
Lucyr
Very good effort from Celtic last night, and considering we were in an artificially strengthened group (thank you Sion), we did really well.
Atletico and Udinese are CL quality, and if it hadn’t been for that terrible penalty at Celtic Park the Italians were awarded, we would have been through.
What I liked last night was our control. We seldom panicked in possession, and our passes found our own men more often than not. Ki in particular rarely wasted a ball, and it was really encouraging to see how players like Kayal, Forrest, and Wanyama did not look out of place against a top Serie A side.
Sammi was magnificent, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a continental bid comes in for him.
There is no doubt we are miles better than the Huns. Only Mibbery will stop us winning this league!
ItaliaBhoy –
Only Mibbery . . . . . . . . and the hammer-throwers who abound in the SPL.
Urcyl
Did we just draw, away from home ,with the full strength team who top Seria A and we are disappointed with the result : ) . Well somethings are on the up. Keep it tight against the saints and then hun humping at Celtic park on our way back to the top. Some good commentary on the hoops players with even Sammie and Dan getting plaudits. c’mon the hoops. Intae them.