Games involving British and Irish sides are as follows:
Tuesday
Schalke v Arsenal
Manchester City v Ajax
Wednesday
Celtic v Barcelona
Braga v Manchester United
Chelsea v Shakhtar Donetsk
Barcelona defeated Celta Vigo 3-1 earlier. Adriano picked up an injury and has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game. Dani Alves has returned from injury though.
RTE are showing the Celtic-Barcelona game live. :o
Why are Celtic playing their league game tomorrow as opposed to today?
I don’t know but it actually angers me. I raised this with Rocko the other day but I haven’t raised it with the SPL. Football fitness gurus like Raymond Verheijen are absolutely adamant that teams require 3 complete days of rest and recuperation between each game. Yet here we have Celtic playing on Sunday when that game should have been played today at lunchtime. :mad:
I did not see any major complaint from Celtic either on any website today which was strange.
Lennon can only rest so many players.
I can not see an Arsenal or Ajax win Tuesday night.
Would fancy Man utd & Chelsea to win and a draw for Celtic Wednesday.
Benfica recorded a 3-0 home victory against Vitoria Guimaraes last night and Spartak Moscow had a thumping 5-0 away win against some cunts. A draw between these two in Lisbon on Wednesday night would best suit Celtic, I feel.
I would prefer to see Adam Matthews selected at left back than Charlie Mulgrew if Emilio Izaguirre is ruled out for Wednesday. Samaras, Forrest, Hooper, Izaguirre and Rogne are all doubtful - the first three didn’t play yesterday and the latter two were substituted due to injury. Assuming everyone’s available, I’d edge towards selecting the same personnel that featured in the game two weeks ago but I’d choose a 4-5-1 shape rather than a 4-4-1-1.
CELTIC
[soccer]
[gk]Forster[/gk]
[rb]Lustig[/rb]
[rcb]Ambrose[/rcb]
[lcb]Wilson[/lcb]
[lb]Izaguirre[/lb]
[rm]Brown[/rm]
[rcm]Wanyama[/rcm]
[cm]Ledley[/cm]
[lcm]Mulgrew[/lcm]
[lw]Samaras[/lw]
[st]Hooper[/st]
[/soccer]
Bandage is it ok if i post a preview of a few games after i have studied the team news and stuff and read the local Portugeese and Turkish newspapers ( online editions of course), i might put up a few tips as well as last time my posting rights in the CL thread were revoked over the Effie Ambrose incident and also where i put it to Rocko that it was possible the St. Mirren players had taken a bribe to throw the Celtic game.
Ill be backing Malaga to win in Milan anyway, they have the best record in the competition to date and i have backed them at 80-1 outright for the trophy , i presume most knowledgable football men followed me in
elsewhere i expect my fourth favourite time behind Beitar Jerusalem, Cobh Wanderers and Fenerbache, that is of course RCS Anderlect, the club of the establishment to beat Zenit in Belgium
mickee, your Champions League posting rights will again be removed if you persist in spelling Mr Amrose’s christian name incorrectly on purpose. There wasn’t a peep out of you when he scored yesterday by the way.
his recent cameos against killian sheridan and then dundee united have been more in line with my earlier postings.
the hyperbole surrounding his displays in the Nou camp last time out had me seething in a virtual sense, it was just as well there was a ban on me posting…
BTW , can we get a “banana throwing” smilie… just in case things get out of hand some night
It’s a fucking travesty if Anthony Watt is not picked ahead of Hooper.
Gerard Pique has returned to the Barca squad for tomorrow night’s game. Today’s the 125th anniversary of Celtic’s foundation - I believe there’s a large display planned for pre kick-off tomorrow. No news yet on Celtic’s injury concerns but I imagine Neil’s press conference later will provide some clarity.
Will the be handing out free soup and bread to the fans to mark the occasion?
Think that’s tonight at the function at Celtic Park following the ceremony this evening.
Neil Lennon has completed his pre-match press conference and confirmed the following:
Izaguirre - OUT (6 weeks, hamstring)
Forrest - OUT (1-2 weeks, hamstring)
Rogne - OUT (2 weeks, calf)
Hooper - DOUBTFUL (hamstring)
Samaras - DOUBTFUL (ankle)
Izaguirre’s absence in particular is a big blow. We don’t have another specialist left back and he had returned to near his best form in the last 6 weeks.
Forrest would have been a good option to inject some pace/energy off the bench but Rogne was unlikely to play anyway.
Like you Bandage, and it’s a little unsurprising given we discussed it yesterday, I’d prefer Matthews at left back than Mulgrew. I don’t think Charles has the pace to cope with their wide players and Matthews has plenty of speed. I was surprised Lustig got the nod in the away game but he was excellent, so wouldn’t be moving him even though he has a bit of experience playing left back if I’m not mistaken.
I expect Samaras and Hooper to be available though I wasn’t really expecting Hooper to be properly doubtful at all.
Ajax lead at Manchester City. Siem De Jong, who I’ve seen play in the flesh given my Dutch links, reacted quickest to a loose ball after a corner. A very neat finish from an acute angle - Joe Hart went to ground too early and he scooped it up over him into the roof of the net.
Rocko et al, am I mistaken in thinking Matthews played a few games for us at left back last season? Nearly sure that he did. I wouldn’t like to see Ledley taken out of midfield to slot in there and I also agree that Mulgrew would get exposed for pace if he was isolated 1 v 1 against Pedro or someone.
Siem De Jong again from a corner! 2-0. Near post header.
Dortmund 1 up. Great passing build up and a cracking finish from Reus.
They’ve looked comfortable so far.
What a brilliant header by Pepe to level it in Madrid. Towering and determined. 
Pepe equalises with a powerful back post header.
Good game now.
Ajax giving City a lesson here in passing. City should bulldoze their way through tho.