Celtic draw Juventus in last 16

CELTIC have drawn Italian giants Juventus in the last 16 of the Champions League.

After the Scottish champions came through a tough group to finish second, they have drawn the side currently top of Serie A.

Prior to the draw, Celtic could have been matched with Schalke 04, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Manchester United, Malaga and PSG.

Juventus is one of the draws I would have liked to see us avoid, but after beating Barcelona, I guess anything is possible.

Juventus currently sit top of Seria A and have only lost one of their games on the road since May 2011. They also emerged unbeaten from Group E.

Revenge will certainly been on the minds of Johan Mjallby and Neil Lennon.

Chris Sutton scored twice in the 4-3 victory

Celtic made their debut in the Champions League group stages against Juventus in September 2001.

We lost 3-2, the match decided by a controversial penalty awarded to the Italian hosts when Joos Valgaeren was judged to have pulled down Nicola Amoruso. (It was extremely soft!) This was the start of a long run of unlucky defeats in the Champions League. 

Despite only being nine, this is one of the games I remember fondly, as it was so cruel for us to lose. We won the return game at Celtic Park 4-3, which will go down as one of the best European games

ever at Parkhead.

There has been mixed opinions on Twitter following the draw, some people unhappy with the fact Turin is not the nicest place to visit. We will also only be allocated 2,000 tickets for the tie. Though I’m sure thousands more will travel.

This is not the best draw we could have got, but it’s certainly not the worst, and if we can keep a clean sheet at Celtic Park, I can’t see any reason why we can’t progress.

We were written off before the group stages and look how that turned out.

Celtic, under Neil Lennon have adapted brilliantly to playing in Europe, especially on the counter attack. Juventus play a 3-5-2 formation which will lend itself well to the way we play. This leaves me optimistic.

Neil Lennon and co watch the draw 

"In terms of glamour, it's a beauty of a draw," stated Lennon. "Juventus are one of the great European teams, the Italian champions and it's great. It's going to be very tough for us, but we'll take it as it comes and I'm sure our supporters are looking forward to it.

The first leg in Glasgow will be played on Tuesday 12 February, with the return game on 6 March.

Juventus play in a new stadium in Turin - the Juventus Stadium - that replaced the Stadio delle Alpi and opened last summer.

Celtic qualify for last 16

NEIL Lennon in his first season as a Champions League manager has led Celtic to the knock-out stages of the competition.

ITV tweeted this moments after the draw for the group stages was made. They swiftly deleted it after being bombarded by tweets from angry Celtic fans demanding an explanation.

Neil Lennon also took to twitter to ask for an apology.

I’m sure most Celtic fans can now look back and laugh, knowing now they have proved their doubters wrong.

In a dramatic end to the group stages, Celtic’s fate wasn’t in their own hands after losing to Benfica on match day five. They faced Spartak Moscow at Celtic Park and Benfica had the challenge of trying to get an unlikely result at Barcelona.

What made the night more intriguing was the fact that Barcelona and Spartak both had nothing to play for.

Barcelona dropped several key players, including Lionel Messi. This gave Benfica a much greater chance of getting a result.

Lennon had to do without the influential Victor Wanyama, who was suspended, but was otherwise untroubled by issues of selection.

The atmosphere wasn’t as electric as usual at Parkhead, understandable giving what was at stake. Georgios Samaras played merely a hopeful ball forward, which Juan should easily have cut out. Instead, the Argentine woefully miscued his clearance straight to the feet of Gary Hooper and the striker lashed a low shot beyond Sergei Pesyakov to the sheer relief of the Celtic fans.

At this point it was still goalless in the game in Spain, which would see Celtic progress, at the expense of Benfica.

Such clinical finishing has been an admirable trait during Celtic's European run. Heading into this game, they had a higher percentage of Champions League goals from shots on target than both Real Madrid and Barcelona. Hooper simply endorsed that statistic.

Emmanuel Emenike who caused Celtic’s backline trouble all night, in particular Efe Ambrose, shrugged off the attentions of Beram Kayal before playing in Ari, who offered a deft chip over the onrushing Fraser Forster. Kelvin Wilson's despairing goalline header could only help the ball into the net.

 This silenced the Celtic crowd who were noticeably quiet and nervous.

Celtic came out in the second half with much more urgency than they had done in the first.

Only the post denied Georgios Samaras a goal that would’ve seen Celtic go back in front.

Then with only eight minutes remaining, a ball into the box was expertly controlled by Samaras who showed a good bit of skill and earned a penalty kick after he was fouled by Marek Suchy.

Lennon couldn’t watch, admittedly I also watched through my fingers. The second the ball hit the crossbar, my heart skipped a beat. Then it was complete jubilation as the ball crossed the line and hit the roof of the net.

All Celtic had to do now was see out the remaining minutes.

Commons then got an extremely nasty kick, which saw Kallstrom sent off.

Samaras and Mulgrew then kept the ball in the corner flag expertly until the 94^th minute when a counter attack from Spartak threatened to ruin the party. Celtic survived and saw out the game without conceding. As did Barcelona which meant Celtic had qualified.

Now the Celtic fans could celebrate and enjoy the night.

After wins against Spartak home and away, a stunning victory at home to Barcelona, and a point against Benfica on the opening night, Celtic qualified with 10 points, a record for a Scottish team.

My final word goes to the person behind the infamous ITV “bye bye” tweet. We will be sure to send Manchester City and Chelsea a postcard!

We’re having a party in the Champions League!

Why the poor atmosphere for Celtic domestically?

Why the poor atmosphere for Celtic domestically?

I, along with every other Celtic fan will remember the day we played Motherwell on the last day of the season and won 3-0. Despite losing the league, we celebrated like we had won it.

That game will live long in my memory. A packed Celtic Park sang for 90 minutes, took part in a full-stadium huddle, and this was after Rangers were 3-up after 15 minutes at Rugby Park, and won the league.

The roar after Neil Lennon declared “This isn't the end, this is just the beginning” made the hair on the back of my neck stand-up and there was a massive lump in my throat. What has happened to this kind of atmosphere and passion at Celtic Park, away from European nights?

Neil Lennon said he wanted to bring the thunder back to Celtic Park when he first arrived. He did this and then some.

In a season where sectarian bigots threatened the life of our manager and his family, the club united and stood right behind Lennon and the team.

After Mowbary’s tenure, the club needed a lift.

Even when it came to European nights (albeit Europa League) Celtic struggled to get 40,000.

Every single week when Lennon was first in charge, the atmosphere was electric. Didn’t matter if we were playing Rangers or anyone else in the league, Celtic Park would be full.

I do think the treatment of Lennon away from football played a part in this.This video sums up perfectly what I’m trying to say.

The SFA would be making "honest mistakes" against us every week and fans were being allowed to gain access to the dugout to attack Lennon.

Lennon reminded every single one of us what it was like to be a Celtic fan again. We lost that under Mowbary.

Lennon was a legend as a player and he was exactly what we needed.

Despite beating Barcelona and competing magnificently overall in the Champions League, when it comes to domestic form, the fans are just as a flat as the players. The Green Brigade try their best, but they alone can’t get the whole stadium going. Doesn't help when they aren't there, mind you.

It’s brilliant that our manager can now manage the club without fearing for his, and his family’s life. I do, however, feel this played a part in bringing the thunder back.

Money and no Rangers also play a part, but I won’t bore you by going into that.

If we do qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League, which I full believe we will do, I hope the players can gain some confidence and properly kick-off their league campaign. This would certainly go some way to bringing the punters back to Parkhead.

If you took the time to read this, thank you! I would appreciate your opinions on why you think the atmosphere is decreasing domestically and also what I could do to improve my blogging! Hail Hail. 

Does Scottish football need Rangers?

Does Scottish football need Rangers?

With Rangers plummeting to Scotland's lowest tier, is Scottish football coping?

Millions were spent on Flops

Well, for the purpose of this article (and a vague attempt to be balanced) I will refer to the recently deceased club as “Rangers”, as opposed to Newco, Sevco Franchise, the list could go on. See what I mean when I say vague?

 With the recent official liquidation of Rangers on Halloween, (fitting, I know) – how has Scottish football managed without the Glasgow giants, and how will it continue to?

 "We are Rangers, super Rangers, no one likes us, we don’t care”

A well-known line from a song often sang by the followers of Rangers. It seems they may have paid the price for this being  the case and not considered the possible ramifications.

When a Newco was turned down by a vast majority in the SPL, Rangers were demoted to the third division (or the new club was rejected entry to the top three flights.) Whatever way you choose to look at it, the “unthinkable” happened, the SPL would be facing a Rangers-less league for at least three seasons.

Cue the Armageddon.

Attendances would drop, Celtic wouldn’t be able to compete in Europe, there would be no competiveness in the league and Scottish football would effectively die.

Has this been the case?

First of all, attendances. There were cries that without Rangers in the league, there would be no competiveness and this would lead to poor attendances and lack of interest. I will start with Rangers’ main rivals Celtic.

Indeed, Celtic’s average attendance had dropped slightly from last year.

Celtic Park sees another small crowd

There are numerous factors to take into consideration when discussing Celtic’s attendances this year, compared to last.

I will start with money. If anyone hasn’t noticed, we are in the middle of a double-dip recession, with the possibility of a triple-dip, luring in the near future. Fans don’t have as much money as they previously did. Supporting your club is important, but surely putting food on your family’s table is more so.

When Celtic are playing the likes of Raith Rovers and Inverness on a Wednesday night, I cannot blame anyone for not paying the ludicrously high prices. No disrespect to Raith and Inverness, obviously.

Then there is the factor of Celtic’s European excursions. With four qualifying games, home and away, then six in the group stages – they are not cheap. They certainly are more expensive than playing Peterhead at home.

I will leave that at that.

Now to the clubs who are competing for that elusive second spot in Scotland’s top flight. Well, despite the economic crisis we are all embedded in, Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibernian and Dundee United have all see a rise in attendances, compared to this time last year. Aberdeen and Hearts both had sell-outs at their games against Celtic and St Mirren.

Competitiveness would also disappear if there was only one side of the Old Firm in the SPL. Has this, so far, been the case?

Here are the top five teams in the SPL and how many points they are on.

Celtic – 25

Hibs – 24

Aberdeen - 21

Motherwell – 20

St Johnstone - 20

Five points separate the top five teams after 14 games. It is early days, sure, but the league looks as competitive as it ever has, with anyone looking like they can grab second spot. Who knows, someone might even put a challenge in for the title.

With Celtic qualifying for the Champions League, beating Barcelona, winning their first ever away match in the competition and on the brink of qualification to the knock-out stages – I don’t think many fans would claim this to be an armageddon.  

There are of course down sides to a Rangers-less league.

Celtic playing Rangers was the biggest game of the footballing calendar around the world, it would be absurd to suggest this game isn’t missed.

The financial effect of no Rangers is still yet to be seen. I suggest some clubs will financially miss Rangers, even if they don’t just yet.

Sporting integrity has to be key. Despite Rangers’ massive plummet, which could only be matched by Felix Baumgartner – the league seems to be coping. Touch wood it continues to do so. 

Celtic get ideal birthday present

Celtic celebrate birthday with historic win.

The day after Celtic celebrated their 125^th anniversary, the class of 2012 gave Neil Lennon, the fans and the whole club a magnificent birthday present.

The hours leading up to Celtic’s toughest task this season didn’t go exactly to plan. When you are playing Barcelona, you undeniably want to have your strongest team out on the pitch. Celtic did not.

Leading scoring Gary Hooper, club captain Scott Brown, speedy full-back Emilio Izaguirre and James Forrest were all deemed not fit to play, or even make the bench. 

Despite this, the side Neil Lennon put out were ruthless and displayed wonderful tenacity.

Celtic, against all odds, took the lead in the 21^st minute when Victor Wanyama sent a towering header past Victor Valdes in the Barcelona goal.

The Celtic fans, who were all part of the pre-match full stadium display, raised the noise which would have intimidated even the most experienced players.  

From that point on, it was attack after attack from the Catalan giants. But as Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville put it, “It was controlled defending.”

Towards the end of the match, Barcelona turned to their bench and made three changes. Cue 60,000 gulps. Cesc Fabregas, David Villa and Gerard Pique all came on. But it was Celtic’s substitute, 18-year-old Tony Watt, who would make the headlines.

A long ball from Fraser Forster was mistimed by Xavi, and Watt ran through and finished like he had been doing it at this level for years.

Despite a late goal from Lionel Messi, Celtic held on to the result that will live long in the memory. This was a brilliant night for Celtic and the whole of Scottish football.

Well, maybe not if you’re from the blue half of Glasgow.

Preview of the match between Spartak Moscow and Glasgow Celtic. I was restricted to 300 words, so, that's why it's a tad short.

Celtic hope to win their first ever away match in the Champions League group stages tonight as they face Spartak Moscow in Russia.

Neil Lennon’s side drew their opening game with Benfica at Celtic Park, without getting a single shot on target, while Spartak ran giants Barcelona close as they lost 3-2 in their opening match. As Celtic have such an impressive home record, they would certainly have been disappointed to not come away with three points – meaning qualification from the group will be tough.

Celtic had no such problems in the qualifying stages. They won both their away ties 2-0 against HJK Helsinki and Helsingborgs IF respectively. This gives Neil Lennon some confidence going into tonight’s match.

“We played well in Helsinki and Helsingborgs and it’s given us a lot to be encouraged about,” said Lennon. “It’s our first foray away in the Champions League group stages and we want to give a good account of ourselves and make the game as competitive as we can.”

There will be a familiar face in the Spartak Moscow side, with ex-Celt Aiden McGeady wearing the red of the Russian club. The 26-year-old left his boyhood heroes in 2010 after making over 250 appearances and scoring 37 goals.

There is good news for Neil Lennon with regards to his own team and Spartak Moscow’s. The strength of his side was boosted after Georgios Samaras came on in their win against Motherwell on Saturday.

More good news for Lennon was that Spartak Moscow’s first-choice goalkeeper, Andriy Dykan is ruled out of the game. Spartak already have several key players out with injuries, including captain Sergei Parshivlyuk, Brazil international midfielder Romulo and leading striker Welliton.

Celtic have only won one of their last 10 Champions League matches, while Spartak Moscow have one win from 14 home ties in the competition.