CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: CELTIC GLASGOW (This article is available in English and Español)

Now it is time to speak about the last rival in the Champions League of the Spanish League´s teams. So, it is Celtic Glasgow´s time, since it will play against FC Barcelona next Wednesday in Celtic Park. We think that, a priori, it is an unbalanced eliminatory,cause we understand that FC Barcelona will pass to next round without many troubles, since the Scottish team play different if it plays at home or away. Celtic shows a poor image when it play without the incredible Celtic Park´s atmosphere. In fact, Celtic has lost all the Champions League´s games when it has played far from Celtic Park, and for example when it played in San Siro against AC Milan(Celtic had options to finish in the first position of the group), Celtic played horrible, without ambition, scared, and of course it lost that game against a poor AC Milan. We hope that the team of Gordon Strachan, when it will play in Camp Nou´s stadium, play with another mentality, cause if it plays as AC Milan´s game, FC Barcelona will win easily and without resistance, and it would not be good for the spectacle.

Celtic presents a good block, with experienced players in all its lines, except its defensive line, since we think it is the weakest line of the team, since the Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc, although he usually has solvent actions, he occasionally commits incomprehensible mistakes for a high level´s goalkeeper –he sounds as a possible ACMilan´s goalkeeper for next season-. Moreover, he also is not helped by his defensive line – !!! the defensive line was lamentable against AC Milan!!! -.Gordon Strachan plays with 4 defenders, who are hard players without many technical quality. Two players will be sure against FC Barcelona: the left back Lee Naylor and the central defender Stephen McManus (10 games with the Scottish National Team).Strachan is thinking about the other 2 players, since the right back Andreas Híkel, who signed with Celtic during the last transfer´s period, can not play this competition, since he played with Fc Sevilla some Champions League´s game during this season. We think that Gary Caldwell (25 games with Scottish National Team), who can play as a central defender or right back, will play as a right back and the central defender will be or Dianbobo Balde or Steven Pressley, both veteran players and with a lot experience-we think that Gordon Strachan will choose Dianbobo Balde, cause he played the Africa´s Cup with Guinean National team, instead Pressley has not played any official game since December,so it can be dangerous to play with him,cause he is without competition´s rhythm.

On the other hand, we should say that we like the midfielder´s players, specially the Celtic´s key player,Shunsuke Nakamura. The Japanese star, who is now a mature player- he was 3 season in the Italian league, playing with la Reggina -.He is free to do anything in the pitch and to play in anyplace, although he usually plays as right midfielder.He is a player with a lot of technique-specially with his left leg-,with a great vision of the game and a great shot-it will be very dangerous Nakamura´s free-kick for FC Barcelona-.Moreover, Nakamura is helped with 2 good players, who play behind him: The experienced Italian Massimo Donati, who should contain rival´s play, and Scott Brown, who has the function of organize Celtic´s play. The fourth midfielder is a skill and quick player,Aiden Mc Geady, who is an interesting winger, since he can play as right or left winger and he has a lot of quality to dribble and to make a good pass or to score many goals( he has scored this season 7 goals in the Scottish League and 1 goal in the Champions League-the decisive goal in the last minute of the game against Benfica-).So, FC Barcelona´s defenders must be careful with this young player-he is only 21 year´s old-, who has played 15 games with Irish national team and who will be important in this eliminatory, since he should do good passes to the two good Celtic´s strikers, Jan Vennegoor of Heeslink and Scott McDonald.

As we said, Celtic has a good attack, with two players, who are complement each other. Venegoor is the reference in the area, he is a strong and powerful striker, with a lot of experience-he scored many goals with PSV and with the National team of Netherlands-. He is player with a lot of “smell” and he can score anytime (14 goals in the Scottish league), so the rival´s defenders must be careful when Jan is playing. This Vennegoor´s attention is used by the other forward, the Australian Scott Mcdonald. He, who is a young striker, arrived last summer to Celtic after 3 excellent seasons with Motherwell (41 goals in 3 seasons). He is playing very well this season, using his constant mobility, intelligence, smell, being always in the right place and of course, scoring (18 goals in 22 league´s game).So, FC Barcelona´s defender must be careful with them, who have a good substitute in the bench, the young Greek Giorgios Samaras.

Therefore, we can conclude that although Celtic has a correct team, we think that it will not be enough to defeat FC Barcelona, specially if we can see in the squad “the 4 magnificent”(Etoo'o, Ronaldinho, Messi and Thierry Henry).
Moreover, Celtic has another problem, cause the players,who are in the bench,as the Japanese Kozi Mizuno,or the former Dundee United´s star Barry Robson, are good players, but without many experience in this kind of games, since there are long games, with many alternatives and of course it is necessary good options in the bench.
Cheers,
J&F