Celtic FC - AC Milan

Hope that with new transfers in january will beat them

this game is a good 2.5 months away ... isn't it a bit too early for a game thread, which will most probably end up in a discussion of whish players Milan should get in January?

that is a lucky draw....I think we got the easiest team

Originally Posted by zlatanov

this game is a good 2.5 months away ... isn't it a bit too early for a game thread, which will most probably end up in a discussion of whish players Milan should get in January?

hehe,yes indeed. Maybe it would be good if some Caltic fans,or people that know Celtic better than the most of us tell us something about Celtic team, in details.

Easy for Milan, if they can't win in the first match, they will destroy Celtic in the second game at the san siro.

Originally Posted by mrki

hehe,yes indeed. Maybe it would be good if some Caltic fans,or people that know Celtic better than the most of us tell us something about Celtic team, in details.

We know that Milan aren't in great form at the moment but we (Celtic) aren't playing at our best either. The team is as follows:

GK: Boruc - Our best keeper in 20 years and saved a Saha penalty to get us here.

DL: Naylor - Every Celtic fan was worried when we signed him but he recently got SPL player of the month and has been one of our best players this season. Excellent crosser and solid defensively.
DR: Wilson - Strachan (coach) said he's the best defender in Scotland. Hasn't had a bad game so far. Great potential.
DC: Balde - Needs someone to guide him. Poor since Mjallby left 2 seasons ago.
DC: Caldwell/McManus - Average players at this level.

ML: McGeady/Maloney - Maloney was voted SPL player of the year and young player of the year last season. 16 goals and 23 assists last season!!! He hasn't been his best this season and McGeady has taken his place. McGeady played against Milan 2 seasons ago and got motm. If you remember Nesta was clapping him during the game and Maldini also praised him. He is much, much better than he was then but lacks confidence in Europe. Very skillful player.

MR: Nakamura - Our best player! Probably the most intelligient player to have played for Celtic, he could play blind folded. He has been our best player this season, along with McGeady. Superb passer, superb technique, nice skills. A class above everyone in Scotland.

MC: Lennon - Holding midfielder who breaks up play and plays the short passes.

MC: Gravesen - imo he's better than Petrov but most Celtic fans aren't impressed yet. Suprisingly he's a very creative player and, unlike Petrov, he'll be really up for it in the big games like this.

FC: Vennegoor - Tall striker. Excellent at holding up the ball and a great header.
FC: Miller - A workhorse. A nightmare for any defender on his day. Hasn't been scoring many goals but he runs non stop for 90 minutes and is good with the ball at his feet.

Jarosik, Sno, Zurawski, Maloney/McGeady and Riordan are the main back up players. I'm sure there'll be 1 or 2 players brought in in January, definitely a central defender and maybe a striker.

None of us expect to win. We'll probably expect to win the first leg by a goal, or maybe draw, but it'll be different in the San Siro.

btw - The weekend after the 2nd leg is the following fixtures:
Celtic v Rangers
Inter v Milan

Anyways, among those teams that we could have got...we got Celtic - and i think that is good (it is not that I understimate Celtic), but we did not get Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barca or Liverpool. And that is really good

Originally Posted by Egoistka

Anyways, among those teams that we could have got...we got Celtic - and i think that is good (it is not that I understimate Celtic), but we did not get Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barca or Liverpool. And that is really good

We know everyone wanted to draw us or Lille. We are one of the 2 weakest teams left so your definitely not underestimating us.

Originally Posted by wheels

We know everyone wanted to draw us or Lille. We are one of the 2 weakest teams left so your definitely not underestimating us.

lol ...yeah, I know that Real madrid, Barca and Liverpool definately had their fingers crossed at the moment of draw...The all wanted to get us as the next opponent. But..unlucky they are... Do you think they all had tears in their eyes when they found out that Celtic got us?

I doubt anyone of Barca, Chelski or real wanted to get us since these games are 2.5 months away and this makes current form more or less irrelevent.

I agree with Zlat,I`m quit sure that, Roma,Liverpool,Valencia were more wanted than we were.. We might not be the best team in the world right now,but we are the most experienced team in the CL.This team till now played two finals,one semi-final,and quarter final. And that means a lot in the CL.

And,as Zlat said there are two months left... changes can be made and our form can go up.

Celtic is not to be underestimated, especialy in Scotland, just ask Man Utd. We played some years ago against them in the group fase of CL and we won, but back then we had a younger team and a different number 7.

I hope the team will be ready and don't get on the field in Glasgow thinking they've already won, else they're not going to know what hits them, just like Istanbul second half.

In a way, I would have prefered Real Merda or Barça in that respect, because then we would have been the underdog, now everyone expects us to go through, and the Scots have nothing to lose, everything to win... remember Deportivo also.

The good thing is that if we screw up there we still have the second leg at home, everybody seems happy we got Celtic, I hope and expect we will prevail in the end, and that is only if we play at our best,but it won't be a walk in the park, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by Egoistka

that is a lucky draw....I think we got the easiest team

I think Arsenal got the easiest team. Celtic showed us a couple of years ago that they can cope well with us. While they have improved since, we have gone backwards.

And the match is on a different day to Liverpool's game, so it will be shown live here in Ireland. My local bar is a huge Celtic following, so I'll enjoy wearing my Milan jersey proudly. Infact I will buy the new jersey just for the occaasion. With Gattuso on the back (he's my fav player, and it will wind the Celts up as he used to play for Rangers)

Zlat is right. Nobody wanted to get Milan, no matter of our current form. Milan is Milan after all and the player we have could walk in almost every team in the world and start. We are in a poor form, but as mentioned the game isn't untill more then 2 months from now and the form can change in a couple of weeks. Besides, Milan will always be Milan and even if we are having the worst season of them all, when we come up against a big team like Barca, Real, Man U, Inter...etc. we will always play our best. Games like those are derbys and derbys are always the most unpredictable no matter what the team's form is. That is the reason why I think nobody wanted Milan despite the poor form.

Everybody says we are lucky. Not trying to under estimate Celtic, but I believe we are. Let's just hope that we're not running out of luck pretty soon