CELTIC V BASLE - TEAM NEWS Celtic winger Didier Agathe is battling to be fit for Wednesday's Champions League final qualifying first leg tie with FC Basle... Sky Sports
So far Gimenez stuns the crowd with a goal in the 2nd minute. Larsson gets a penalty in the 3rd minute. 11' Celtic 1-1 Basle
We played badly, basel played well, if we can play well in the away leg it should be a lot more comfortable. Momo's goal was spectacular.
Well I guess that's a bit comforting that we played poorly but still won 3-1. From all of the pre-match quotes it seemed no one was taking Basle lightly so I don't know why we came out so flat. I wonder if Sky will show CL highlights. Hopefully I can see the goals.
Celtic battle to beat Basel Celtic gave themselves an excellent chance of progressing to the group stages of the Champions League with a hard-fought victory over Basel... BBC
Portugal in their pre-us interviews said they werent taking them lightly and we know what happened there, maybe the fact they have had 7 league games to our 2 led to them looking a lot sharper too.
Saw the game. Celtic was extremely lucky with the result. There is no way the 3-1 scoreline accurately resembles what happened on the pitch. Basle could have been up 3-1 by the time Celtic scored the second goal. After that goal and the second penalty call (a very questionable one in my opinion), it got tough for Basle and they let in the third one in the closing minutes. I think a tie would have been a fair result, since Basle outplayed Celtic severely in the first half and showed better technique and passing abilities. But in the end (as often with Swiss teams), the effort is not reflected in the reward. Celtic needs to focus however, they are not through yet. The St. Jakob Park (30,000) sold out in one day, and FC Basle will have a tremendous home advantage.
Agreed the return leg should be an absoloute belter, Dunno if my nerves will be able to take it though!
Im not sure exactly but I think Basel have been fairly stringent in thier allocation to us, giving us the bare mimimum which is around 2500. Although I may be wrong and that was just paper talk.
*Adding more fuel to the fire* The last time Celtic set foot on Swiss ground ('99), they lost 3-1 to FC Zürich in the Uefa Cup. Speaking of the Uefa Cup, Livingston got a meager 1-1 tie with FC Vaduz yesterday (ok..ok, so they are not a Swiss team - but they do play in our 2nd division.) Also, props to all the Basle fans that made the trip today (about a 1000). I could hear them very well on tv.
Livi have been suitably lamblasted in the papers today for it dont worry Someone was on here congratulating them for it actually, but ill go easy on them as it is their first foray into european football and it is another level entirely.
penalty kick save Could somebody that saw the match explain what happened on Larsson's penalty kick that was saved. Was it a poor shot? great goalkeeping? luck? Just curious.