Shams vs FK Partizan
If we are going to win this competition, which I believe we will, then we need to be beating the likes of Sion.
I’ve actually seen them before on more than one occasion. I saw the Sion and it opened up my eyes. I saw the Sion. Europa League is demanding without understanding. I saw the Sion and it opened up my eyes. I saw the Sion. No one’s gonna drag Celtic up to get into the latter stages where we belong.
We muust do this ourselves.
:unsure: christ that is worse that one of sids contrived puns
:lol:
Sorry guys. It appears that I misjudged the mood of the internet.
Quick bit of research on Sion:
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[]They are from Sion.
[]They won the Swiss Cup last year
[]They finished fourth in the league. They were a fair bit adrift of Basel (winners) and Zurich but just behind Young Boys and Thun (who elimintated Palermo).
[]Giovanni Sio was their top scorer with 10 goals.
[]Dragan Mrdja is their main striking threat however. He’s tall.
[]They have since added Gabri (ex Barcelona and Ajax) to their squad. He had been playing in Qatar. He was quite good anytime I saw him for Ajax - no idea what he’s like now.
[]They also signed Feindouno who was a bright prospect when he was playing for St Etienne. He had a trial with Celtic last season and signed for Monaco in the end until they got relegated.
[]Goncalves (ex-Hearts) is there also. He’s yet another summer signing.
[*]We have a dodgy record against Swiss opposition.
[/list]
It will be a tricky tie. Important we get a good result away in Switzerland. Both our European trips away under Lennon last season were a shambles.
Do Spurs and Rangers have links with each other? Wasn’t there something dodgy with the Alan Hutton transfer and Spurs overpaying for him to get Rangers out of debt trouble or something like that?
Edit - before anyone jumps in, I realise the 2 aren’t playing each other.
ENIC have or had stakes in each club (possibly). Is that Daniel Levy’s company or something? I’m open to slight correction on that.
I believe Enic have/had ties with Rangers. Not sure on the whole story though.
ENIC sold all their shares a few years back but I think the Huns still managed to owe ENIC money which was why the Hutton deal was suspiciously structured.
The memories of Neuchatel Xamax and Hossan Hassan come flooding back.
Joe Lewis is the guys name, owns the whole show. Levy is just his lapdog.
And FC Basel and Murat Yakin.
My beloved FC Differdange 03 saw their Europa dream shattered tonight, going down 4-0 to Paris St. Germain. A fine crowd of 6153 descended upon the Stade Josy Barthel, with another 50 or so watching from the adjacent tennis club roof, in hope of seeing the South Western club produce an upset against the newly minted Parisians, but despite a brave performance, the Ligue 1 outfit had too much class and ran out easy winners.
The Red Boys lined out with 5 across the middle in the hopes of stifling the creativity of Jeremy Menez and Javier Pastore, thereby keeping themselves in with a shout of any kind of result. While lone striker Gauthier Caron battled gamely with anything that came his way, and team captain Giles Bettmer showed himself to be a player of no little skill (but of dubious conditioning), the defence were coping reasonably enough with whatever a lacklustre PSG were throwing at them.
The first ten minutes were fairly pedestrian but then the visitors stepped it up a little and Differdange keeper Julien Weber, who was his team’s outstanding player, had to make several good saves before Kevin Gameiro, following up on another good save from Weber, found the net and dispersed any nerves the French and their travelling support might have had.
The PSG fans urged their idols on but, Pastore aside, they lacked any further cutting edge in the first half. Indeed the closest anyone came to another goal before the interval was when Bettmer brought out a fine fingertip save from Salvatore Sirugu in the PSG goal.
Half time came, some of the local sausage was chowed down, the PSG fans took a break from chanting and Differdange went in looking tired, but still hopeful.
The second half almost started with a bang as, after a good move between Bettmer and Caron, the ball came to Mathias Janisch to the left of PSG’s goal. His rising half volley brought out the best in Sirugu, the resulting corner was wasted, and that was about as good as the second half got for the home side in an attacking sense.
PSG plodded along, their back four not troubled, with Mathieu Bodmer patrolling the centre of the field, Pastore and Menez showing their class, Matuidi and Bahebeck showing flashes of skill, until the 65 minute mark, when their superior fitness really started to tell, and space became more readily available as Differdange retreated more and more.
Weber pulled off some more terrific saves - one from a header set up by an outrageous Pastore flick - as the pressure grew, and the keeper was beaten again in the 71st minute when a low, hard cross was fired into the box, pinged off a leg or two, and the quick thinking Bahebeck flashed it home with his heel.
The game was up at this stage for Differdange, and PSG added two more in the dying minutes. The third came in the 90th when some very fatigued defending let in the captain Ceará for an easy finish. There was time for a pitch invader to come on, have a run around, leave the pitch, and then the stadium via the aforementioned tennis club wall, before Menez grabbed a fourth with a smashing solo effort.
A little unjust on the Burghers, who had heroes in Weber, their back 4 who threw themselves in front of everything, Bettmer and the tireless Caron up front.
PSG didn’t look all that impressive when you consider who they were playing, however, Pastore and Menez stood out as two with real class on the ball and in their movement off it.
Barring a miraculous performance in the Parc de Princes, Differdanges European exploits this season have a very short shelf life.
Ah great stuff Piles. How many fans from PSG roughly?
Pastore looks a quality player but PSG haven’t really assembled all that powerful a team yet. Not sure about Gameiro. Berbatov would make a difference and if you Pastore, Menez, Berbatov and Gameiro to choose from then they should have enough attacking strength.
Tottenham annihalated Hearts 5-0 away from home tonight. I think Tottenham, if they land two or three of the targets they are reportedly after (Adebayor, Parker, Lassana Diarra etc) , will have a serious season.
In other news, the huns lost 2-1 to minnows Maribor. :lol:
In the away fans enclosure there were about a hundred and then another small few pockets of them dotted around the place.
They generated a good atmosphere, two of them sitting on the fence constantly leading the chanting. One of them can’t have seen any of the game at all, he was facing into the crowd all of the time. One of their chants was to the tune of Flower of Scotland which was funny.
Yeah Pastore was a cut above alright. A top quality striker is needed for them as from what I saw, a serious defence wouldn’t be too terrified of what led the line tonight, then again, like I said, Pastore and Menez aside, the rest of them were just going through the motions.
I assume Rovers are in Pot 4?