Celtics Champions League survival hangs by a thread
Tuesday 30th September 2008
As Celtic battled bravely in the cauldron of the Villarreal stadium it looked for a long time as if they would walk away with at least a point. Indeed if they had put away the two gilt edged chances that they saw in the game it could have been so different. However, Celtic’s abysmal record in Champions League away games now reads, played 16, won 0, drawn 1, lost 15 – just not good enough for a club which regularly attracts 50,000 plus visitors to home games.
While Gordon Strachan has chopped and changed the team on a number occasions for these Champions Leagues games he has yet to come up with that ‘special formula’. He has tied one up front, two up front and at times tonight we actually had three up front as they were chasing the game. Is it fitness, is it tactics or is it the good old fashioned ‘monkey on their back’, the fact that they have not broken the mentality of losing overseas?
With a double header against group favourites Manchester United next on the cards it seems as though the Scottish presence in the Champions League will be cut short again!
