Football Focus

[maxxi]

Tuesday 12th February 2013

Celtic 1 V Juventus 2

Valencia 2 V Paris SG 0

Wednesday 13th February 2013

Real Madrid 3 V Man Utd 1

Shakhtar Donetsk 3 V Borussia Dortmund 2

[Mick Mac]

Juventus sporting director Pavel Nedved believes the Italians will be stepping into "a lion's den".

"I'm fully aware of the atmosphere that awaits us in Glasgow because I've been there and experienced it first hand," said Nedved.

"We'll be stepping into a lion's den and I don't think the team will need firing up. We'll have to tough it out."

[red devil]

I've just worked out the points for the weekend matches, looks like being a high scoring week, 4 players in double figures and still the Liverpool game to come tonight...

[Alan Medic]

That sounds ominous. I'm sure I've had a crap week.

[Alan Medic]

I like this.

Celtic winger Kris Commons says he is not bothered that Rangers have offered Juventus use of their Murray Park training ground ahead of Tuesday's Champions League game. "If they want to prepare at a Division Three training ground, let them get on with it," he said.

[Rhinestone Cowboy]

Tuesday 12th February 2013

Celtic 1 Juventus 1

Valencia 1 Paris sg 1

Wednesday 13th February 2013

Real Madrid 2 Man Utd 1

Shakhtar Donetsk 1 Borussia Dortmund 0

[Alan Medic]

Tuesday 12th February 2013

Celtic 1 Juventus 1

Valencia 2 Paris SG 1

Wednesday 13th February 2013

Real Madrid 1 Man Utd 1

Shakhtar Donetsk 1 Borussia Dortmund 1

[SCSB79]

Alan Medic Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I like this.

>

> Celtic winger Kris Commons says he is not bothered

> that Rangers have offered Juventus use of their

> Murray Park training ground ahead of Tuesday's

> Champions League game. "If they want to prepare at

> a Division Three training ground, let them get on

> with it," he said.

Just happens to be the best facilities in Scotland!

Tuesday 12th February 2013

Celtic 0 Juventus 2

Valencia 1 Paris sg 2

Wednesday 13th February 2013

Real Madrid 3 Man Utd 1

Shakhtar Donetsk 2 Borussia Dortmund 0

[Mick Mac]

A lot of people seem optimistic about Celtics chances. This is surely a very bad sign.

[malumbu]

Bet you didn't see that one coming PS3 chums

[Otta]

Okay I'll bite. What does PS3 mean? I know you're referring to Liverpool last night, but I don't get the PS3 thing. No doubt it's an insult. I thought a PS3 was a p[laystation.

[red devil]

It's malumbu's little dig at the score predictions, speaking of which, I feel another drum roll coming on (Paddy Power, put your money away)...

Week 22 results...

RD - 4 Correct Results + 3 Correct Scores = 13 pts

SC - 6 Correct Results + 2 Correct Scores = 12 pts

EP - 5 Correct Results + 2 Correct Scores = 11 pts

RC - 4 Correct Results + 2 Correct Scores = 10 pts

MM - 6 Correct Results + 1 Correct Score = 9 pts

OT - 4 Correct Results + 1 Correct Score = 7 pts

PD - 4 Correct Results + 1 Correct Score = 7 pts

?? - 3 Correct Results + 1 Correct Score = 6 pts

JL - 6 Correct Results + 0 Correct Scores = 6 pts

LG - 3 Correct Results + 1 Correct Score = 6 pts

DR - 5 Correct Results + 0 Correct Scores = 5 pts

AM - 1 Correct Result + 1 Correct Score = 4 pts

Mx - 4 Correct Results + 0 Correct Scores = 4 pts

[Otta]

"It's malumbu's little dig at the score predictions"

Oh, is he still on about that? There was me thinking it might have been something a bit witty.

[Mick Mac]

Despite the early goal very happy with Celtic. A good disciplined display, good passing and a decent advert for the teams capabilities. Ironically we are dominating midfield with Wanyama and Juve are choosing to bypass that with the long pass which of course they are very good at. Hoping for a draw now.

[SCSB79]

Mick Mac Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

Hoping for a draw now.

Hoping for a miracle in Italy now.

[Jah Lush]

3-nil now. No chance.

[maxxi]

Men against boys would probably be unfair so let's say seasoned campaigners - and cunning ones too - against novices.

[Mick Mac]

Well I thought Celtic were superb tonight. We dominated them completely in midfield from start to finish. And I was proud.

We had an Africans Cup winning defender, who I wanted to play, but in hindsight should not have played was responsible for 2 lost goals.

No chance now but I defy anyone who watched the "whole" game live on ITV to say they were not impressed by Celtic tonight. I say that partly because this team will not be together next year. Wanyama will be in England. He completely dominated Juve.

[SCSB79]

I watched it.

It looked like men against boys. A slick, well

organised, skilled, tactically astute team arrived at Celtc park and

produced a professional performance leaving with a 3-0 away win whilst

the home team ran around like headless chickens and were clearly well out of

their depth.

Juventus did all this without even having to break sweat or step up a gear.

[StraferJack]

I wouldn't go quite as dar as saying Celtic were superb but nor did I think it was men against boys.

2nd goal obviously deflated Celtic but the holding in the box for each corner was beyond a joke. When Arsenal had a player sent off for this recently I was hacked off not because I disagreed with the decision (I'd love to see this reduced in the game) but because I knew it was a rare instance of it, and that much worse examples would go unpunished

I think celtic fans have every right to be aggrieved

This isn't to say that I thought Juventus were poor - I do agree with the "organised, skilled, tactically astute" bit

[Mick Mac]

(Obviously I meant anyone apart from you SCSB/SD3)

Only defensive errors gave Juventus their opportunities. As a tactic Celtic made the mistake of fronting up and controlling possession. They would have been better served by sitting back and playing the underdog.

Gordon Strachan after 70 mins said it was the best Celtic performance in Europe that he can remember and I think that was right, before the late defensive errors.

[maxxi]

Calm down, I said it would be unfair to call it that but - and yes I did watch it all - they (Celtic,) despite all the dazzling hustle and bustle, were outguiled by a canny and experienced team who knew how to frustrate and hit on the break.

[Mick Mac]

I wasn't responding to you Maxxi I thought your comment was fair - I'm just shooting my thoughts out there. I do think it was a superb performance bearing in mind the step up in class and the 10x times cost between the teams - I thought Celtic were shown to be naive in the end, but I expected people to see Celtic in a way they maybe had not before, being a passing team with some very good players esp a strong midfield. Unfortunatley the two late goals makes it easy for people to say they were outclassed. I know I'm boring you all, so I'll drop it now.

[red devil]

In Europe you have to be a lot more controlled and savvy than Celtic showed last night. Easier said than done though when you have an inexperienced, youthful team, roared on by an amazing wall of sound, and going a goal down so early on. Considering the quality of teams they play weekly, they did well to get to this stage. Hopefully they will learn from it...

[Otta]

Didn't watch, but radio4 this morning said that Celtic played well, and were beaten by a couple defensive errors. Unfortunately though, those errors have given them an imposible task. Hope they go to Italy and throw everything at it. Don't expect them to turn it round, but would be nice to go down fighting hard.