Still smarting from last night's result, and that's even without seeing the lowhlights of the game (saw Emre's sublime winner for Newcastle against Reading, though. John will be pleased).
Shipping nine goals - and amassing zero points - from three Championship League away games doesn't bode well for Celtic progressing beyond the last sixteen of the competition. However, disregarding the disquieting fact that the Celtic defence when it plays in Europe has all the durability of a jelly nailed to the underside of a crossbar, I think there is an argument to be made that finishing runners-up to Man Utd in their group was the best result that Celtic could get last night.
If they had actually won their group last night, Celtic could have been facing teams of the calibre of Barcelona or Real Madrid (currently first and second in Primera Liga); Inter Milan or Roma (currently first and second in Serie A); PSV Eindhoven (currently five points clear in the Dutch league); or Porto (like PSV, leading their domestic league by five points at the moment) as possible opponents in the last sixteen. Finishing second in their group means that Celtic have a strong chance of getting drawn against Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea when the draw is made on December 15th.
I'm not downplaying the fact that Wenger, Benitez and Mourinho all rate their chances for their teams possibly winning this year's Champions League. For Mourinho, it's the next stage in Chelski's doimnation of European football, and at this point in time, it's the reason for living for Wenger and Benitez, which raises the stakes even higher. However, Celtic have shown in recent years that they have a bit of form when facing English clubs in Europe, whatever the supposed disparity in quality before the games (ask Blackburn, Liverpool and Man Utd fans for confirmation of this), coupled with their tremendous away support that takes on the cliched role of the twelfth man, and the fact that Celtic doesn't seem as overawed when playing away in England,and you have the makings of Celtic making the last eight of the top European competition for the first time since 1979/80.* Who knows, they might get Chelski as their opponents in the next round, Strachan might by this point have seen my special pleading for Riordan on this blog, and Riordan will actually get to do this for real this time.
That's a lot of ifs. What will actually happen is that we will get drawn against Lyon, duly spanked handsomely over two legs and Houllier will get his revenge for this night three years ago.
1 comment:
We were truly awful in every area of the pitch. The defence was embarrassing, midfield couldn't keep hold of the ball. And, as for Miller, he won't be in the first team for too many more games this season if Strachan has any sense.
And, yes, it is a bit of a blessing that we didn't finish top, but we're out no matter who we play unless we get Liverpool or Arsenal.
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