Champions League 2012-13

Champions League groups:

Group A: Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Paris St Germain, Dinamo Zagreb

Group B: Arsenal, Schalke, Olympiakos, Montpellier

Group C: AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga

Group D: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund

Group E: Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, FC Nordsjaelland

Group F: Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, BATE Borisov

Group G: Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic

Group H: Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, CFR Cluj

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Man U as ever land on their feet. Their neighbours will find it tough. Mcgeady goes back to Celtic who also have a tough group. As ever at this stage nothing to get terribly excited about unless you support one of the clubs.

Man City and Celtic's groups are the most interesting for me. I'm glad they are playing on different nights as I have little interest in the other groups.

Real Madrid v Man City on Tuesday is very appealing. Will McGeady enjoy the open spaces at the Nou Camp? A must win for Celtic you feel if they're to have any chance of qualification but I suspect they'd be more than happy with a Europa League spot.

He's not the most passionate of blokes is he...

http://ballsdot.wpengine.netdna-cdn....12/09/jose.gif

Enjoyed the game. I stuck with it even though the goals were going in at Montpellier. The ITV commentator had the George Hamilton curse when he thought the game was won when City went 1-2 up with a few minutes to go. He had been praising Joe Harte all night and of course.....

I wish these "cheer leaders" in the crowd with megaphones could be banned. Many teams on the continent seem to have them. Irritating. Give me a supporter with a bodhran any day!

Atmosphere at the Bernabeau sounded fabulous on the TV - had a real 'bounce' to it, a South Amercian feel. I hear this sort of nonsense on some of the Celtic Forums - The Green Brigade have organised themselves over the last 5-6 years at Celtic Park and brought colour, song, noise, displays and yet still some fans are whining about the tempo of the songs or the fact that they sing too many new songs and not enough of the traditional songs - Its laughable really the place would be a morgue without them. The atmosphere they create is infectious too, spreads around the ground in no time. Lansdowne Road already has fans with Bodhrans but the atmosphere is generally pi$$ poor (the SS apart and I think they use a megaphone!) these days, I think we just need to move with the times Owlsfan ;)

And just to bring it back on topic - the GB did a fab job on Tuesday night. Four years since the CL anthem had been heard at Celtic Park and the roar at the start of the game was electric. I was happy enough with a point against a Benfica side oozing with experience in the CL. Celtic only had Scott Brown out of 11 starting players with any CL experience. We are not the side that contained Larsson, Sutton, Hartson, Boruc, Nakamura etc. and many Celtic and Non Celtic fans appear to forget that.

We looked solid and largely in control but unfortunately had very little in terms of creativity and never really troubled their keeper. A draw was a fair result. We have players to come back from injury too (Ledley, Kayal, Hooper only played 30 minutes, dare I say it...Stokes). We will do well to finish 3rd in all honesty but I would be happy to get a couple of away points perhaps in Lisbon and/or Moscow which would continue the trend from qualifying and show a maturity or development that we have never had away in europe as long as I can remember.

I came home from work to see the score at 2-2 but no sign of McGeady for Spartak. Injured, suspended, on the bench, dropped, transferred or subbed? Nice winner by Samaras. That guy does my head in sometimes watching him but good header. Apparently Celtic's last away win in the CL was against the Hoops.

McGeady started in a more central role but was taken off around the 70-minute mark.

I feel the same about Samaras but he impressed me last night.

Celtic's last European (CL?) away win was against the Hoops, as in Shamrock Rovers? When was that?

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Celtic's last European (CL?) away win was against the Hoops, as in Shamrock Rovers? When was that?

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1986 0-1. Rovers also lost the away leg 2-0.

They've had three pretty impressive away wins in the Champions League this season, including the two qualifying rounds. That should give them a lot of confidence. They'll need every bit of it going into their next game at the Nou Camp.

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

I feel the same about Samaras but he impressed me last night.

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I thought he was horrendous yesterday, with the exception of the goal and a bit of real quality for the Hooper goal that was disallowed.

Samaras generally plays well when I see him, and has the odd game where he is just unplayable. I only saw the last 20 minutes last night but he looked on form, though he was a bit brainless at times in the final minutes, which is to be expected.

I'm a big fan of Samaras for Greece and Celtic, he did well last night in his first start since getting injured for Greece. He has settled into the same role now for both club and country, out wide on the left. I wonder who worked that out first.
I'd have him in the same role for us in a flash, but I don't see why Doyle can't do that role, should we play with the lone striker.

I don't know which game to watch tonight, maybe it will come down to a toss up between Ajax v RM or Man City v Borussia D

I really want to see Borussia play at full tilt after their disappointing campaign last season. I just find it so hard to be excited about a Manchester City game though. They have this way of playing expansive football without being remotely pleasing on the eye.

Dortmund looked a very good team tonight, a transformation from their insipid CL performances last year.

Brilliant goal from Ronaldo for RM's third.

Sickened after that result last night. I thoroughly enjoyed Dortmund carving up City at will. Joe Hart is some keeper all the same.
How Lewandowski missed that sitter...?

I tipped Dortmund last year for at least a final berth. Boy was I wrong.
However... dare I dream this year.

Dortmund were not just good, they were class and came close to playing the EPL Champions off the Park. With the amount of money Mancini has had to spend his team should be winning these games. Instead it looked like 1st division against 3rd. Got me even more worried about next Friday. I hope Hummel's injury is nothing trivial. Great to watch though the quick movement while Man City's team of billionaires lumped it like us but they still got a draw. Can we do the same?

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Originally Posted by geysir

I'm a big fan of Samaras for Greece and Celtic, he did well last night in his first start since getting injured for Greece. He has settled into the same role now for both club and country, out wide on the left. I wonder who worked that out first.
I'd have him in the same role for us in a flash, but I don't see why Doyle can't do that role, should we play with the lone striker.

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I have had to eat my words with Gorgeous George to a fair degree. After a good few years of whatching a very frustrating and often clueless looking Samaras causing smoke to filter out through my ears at Celtic he has actually start to look the part for us, particularly in Europe.

Fantastic goal against Spartak (and a good cross for the first) but actually a fairly average performance those instances apart. He has strength and quite remarkable pace for someone who looks so languid. When he picks the ball up wide he is very direct an drives forward on the diagonal in to the box. I take the point about Doyle playing that role for Ireland but does he have the pace? I dont think so to be honest.

Samaras played out Left to start with against Hearts at the weekend. He hadnt been too successful and was moved in to the centre where he grabbed his goal from.

Wow, you really have to sympathise with Celtic, even though the last goal was completely of their own making. I'm surprised to see they only had 28% of the possession in the game - it seemed like a lot more, though they were battered in the final period.

Immense defensive display from Celtic. For all but the likes of Real Madrid that's the best a visiting team can hope for at the Camp Nou. Always felt Barca would nick it in the end, but delighted with the effort of the players and manager especially. Does Neil Lennon have any sort of a profile in Ireland? Turning into a good looking manager.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Wow, you really have to sympathise with Celtic, even though the last goal was completely of their own making. I'm surprised to see they only had 28% of the possession in the game - it seemed like a lot more, though they were battered in the final period.

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According to the Telegraph it was 82/18%. As for the final goal, not sure which defender it was but he was so busy keeping his arms down by his side he couldn't jump properly and the ball went over his head. It was real backs to the wall stuff by then and players weren't being closed down. Exhaustion perhaps mind you they kept Messi reasonably quiet by his standards. It is amazing how the top teams do manage to score in the last few minutes. Shame.

Fabulously disciplined performance from Celtic and we even looked dangerous on the counter attack. Just exhaustion I think in the end. 2nd half Barca were relentless but they were not carving us open at will. The keeper had a stomer as did the defence and midfield. BBC had stats as 28%/72%. - Id be inclined to believe it was closer to 80/20 though based on the on screen graphics during the game. Wanyama had a stormer as did Ambrose. I tihnk it was just down to physical and mental exhaustion in the end. Heartbreaking stuff. 94th minute though.....ffs