Nail-biting time. Hate to see the unbeaten run come to an end at the hands of Villareal. Still, all good things... Time for the Henrik Larsson show to begin.
As if on cue: From uefa.com Matchtracker- 64' ( 1 - 1 ) Larsson (Celtic) scores! The Swede heads in an Agathe cross for his 34th goal of the season to level the scores. He manages to climb above his marker and put just enough power on the ball for it to go in.
Larsson had the ball in the bet earlier but it was disallowed for handball. The ball richoched off his elbows, it was a wee bit contraversial. He also missed an absolute sitter, open goal from about 8 yards. Oh oh, Thompson has just been suspended for the 2nd leg. The 2nd half has been all Celtic though.
Not even sure how many saves Reina made there in the last 20 minutes... Five? Damn, gotta get a goal in Spain. Well, as it happens, I'll be back in Chicago for the second leg again as it coincides with the Fire's CONCACAF second leg game against Saprissa. Gingers it is. I'll be the guy with a fidgety 6 year-old daughter.
Gave back to the bookie quite a bit of my winnings from the Barca matches tonight, and no Thompson for the next leg is a blow, hopefully the Bhoys can do the business in Spain.
We were garbage in the first half, robbed in the second, mind you we could have had 5 in the second half, the one chopped off was a disgrace, larsson protected his face and it bounced off his forearm, there was no intention in it, its not like he stuck his arm out to direct it into the net. Their keeper was amazing though, man of the match by a country mile.
Come on PF, Larsson may not have meant to put the ball into the net but his elbow did direct the ball into the goal. If Villareal had scored a goal like that, the shell suited masses would have gone off their ginger nuts. As for the keeper being man of the match, hmm, not sure, Roman played well. I think Celtic will sneak it in the second leg though it will be difficult without Alan Thompson. He has a knack of being involved in very important goals.
To Parkhead Faithful, Cman, and any other Celtic Supporters: I caught the highlights of this match on a Spanish language station and WOW! You know when you have that tingly feeling of excitement about a club where you sit up a little more in your seat and pay close attention when they are on the tele, well last night seeing the Bhoys in action and the unbelievable insanity of Celtic Park had me hook, line, and sinker! Plus don't know why and call me crazy, but I really love the Green hoop kits! Initially I thought they looked odd, but they really are original and green is my favorite color. So if I'm a gloryhunter for this...well so what...."I can't fight this feeling anymore" REO Speedwagon.........lol. On to the match, I was a little troubled that it appeared that Larsson did inadvertly redirect the ball off his elbow. I know I have only been watching The Beautiful Game for 3yrs and I love Celtic, BUT isn't that handball and NOT a goal??? I'm just asking.
The ball played the man, Larsson brought his arms up to protect his face and the ball hit them, it hit him over his chest too, thus 9 times out of 10 that goal would be legal as there was nothing larsson could do about the direction and flight of the ball and he didnt deliberately play it with his hands. Much like the german defender against the US in the world cup, the ball played him and the US didnt get the penalty. It depends on the ref, and that ref didnt give larsson anything all night.
Villereal vs. Celtic Let's show those Spanish lads how they do it in Glasgow! I'm predicting a 2-1 Bhoys win. Petrov and Larsson will net goals for the good guys. Let's be aggressive and put them back on their heels to take the crowd out of it. How many Celtic supporters are traveling to Spain? Come on Celtic!
Coservative estimates suggest there will be around 8 million Celtic fans in Spain. Franciscan Monks have been working huge amounts of overtime to prepare the countries buckfast store for the ferocious onslaught that the army of marauding gingers represent to the favoured tipple of tramps throughout Europe. Rumours that the video, "The Bhoys from Villareal: Beachball Party 4", has been pre-recorded in a cynical move by mysterious beaks inside the Tattie Bowl are, however, pure dead speculation. Remember folks, there are only 10 more tribute dinners for the Lisbon Lions before the big game, book tickets now.
i'm surprised you have so much time to reflect on Celtic and their fans, with the way East Fife are tearing up Division 2
Well that's what most of the talk on here is about, isn't it? I don't think there would be much of an interest on an American football board about East Fife. Anyway, I'm a fan of Scottish football, I have views and opinions on more than my own team.
As well you should, otherwise the darkness would have overcome you by now and you would have taken a header off the conveniently located forth road bridge
Was easy for villareal. Celtic missin too many key players. Plus, agathe is not the player he used to be, don't know why. Not that big a home crowd. I didn't realise they were such a small club! Really well done to them.