Celtic Diary Thursday March 7

It says a lot for how far the team has come this season that many of us actually thought that we could go and score four times in Turin.

When Adam Matthews was pulled back, resulting in a booking for the Juve offender, thousands of Tims sighed and said that they wished that the Turkish  referee had been in charge for the first game, and after 24 minutes Fraser Forsters Rab Douglas moment, when he pushed the ball in front of Matri, meant that the four goals had to be scored in just seventy minutes.

Celtic had chances, but on this particular night they didn’t go in, Juve had a couple of chances, and theirs did. Its one thing playing a well organised and disciplined side in Scotland, but this Italian side , extremely well organised and disciplined, had the bonus of quite a few class players.

No-one knows how it would have turned out had a decent referee taken the first game, but its all by the by now. No matter what anyone tells us though, there certainly were not five goals of a difference between the two sides.

Every one of us should be proud of the players, the management, the backroom staff and everyone else involved in getting the team this far in what is effectively a first attempt at the biggest and most difficult tournament there is. Of course that will lead to speculation about players-and managers-leaving, but we ‘ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Today is about the campaign-which started all those months ago-that has just ended, and the memories and at times outright joy that came with it.

And there were some fantastic moments, even in the qualifiers, when the nerves were calmed by four straight wins, showing that the side was up for it.

The group stages, winning in Moscow, lifting the monkey off the back over away games, and giving commentators one less thing to smugly point out about the team.

The agony of Barcelona away, followed by the ecstasy of Barcelona at home, and of course Kris Commons rattling a penalty off the bar against Spartak, after  Georgios Samaras had made his bid to prevent Daniel Day Lewis winning three Oscars.

All the luck, and good decisions deserted us in the first leg against Juventus, but Celtic this season served notice that we are not a bad side at all, and if anything, we were not undone by a much better side, only a much cleverer one.

But that comes with experience, and those of the team who decide to hitch their cart to the Celtic Express will get that experience, and they will provide the one thing that was missing from the team in the end. That little bit of savvy at this level.

In his post match interview, the disappointment felt by Neil Lennon was evident;

“I’m very proud tonight to be a manager here in this fantastic arena. They’ve done the club very proud. On the night was it a fair result? Class tells in the end and I think thats what happened with the two games. I think quality counts at the end of the day. The last sixteen is cut -throat and Juventus were clinical over the two games.

I thought at times our finishing let us down. Our build up play was very good, it was just our execution.”

On the players, he added;

“I hope they’ve learned a lot. I hope that they move on with their careers. I hope these young guys blossom from this experience”

Of course, there were inevitable questions about keeping the squad together;

“Its going to be a big ask. Its hard to stop the progression. There will be players who want to progress their careers maybe elsewhere. We’ll see what the summer brings.”

Anyone else think that he put his Radiohead cd on when they all got back on the bus?

Interestingly, the manager thanked Sky for their excellent coverage and support-which could be seen as a politically motivated “come and get us” to the broadcasting giant…

The profile of the club has been lifted to where it should be in the European pecking order, and it has put players and manager alike on the radar of other , wealthier clubs.

Some players will inevitably move on-it might not be the ones you would expect though, and talk has already started along the lines of Lennon taking the club as far as he can.

Ray Wilkins, obviously hoping more than expecting, thinks that Lennon will leave, Graeme Spiers has decided that Lennon may not have the stamina for the job long term, and Ralph Malph thinks they are both talking through their bottoms.

Lennon has still a huge job on his hands, and as the fans in Turin sung of ten in a row, the manager will hopefully realise he’s just the man to make that a reality, and right the wrongs in Scottish football of the last twenty years.

Craig Burley, who has no right to be included in this discussion, was the man who fell over and knocked a couple of his teeth out, presumably before some irate Celtic fan got the chance to do it.

With Europe over for another year, lets cast our minds back to campaigns of the past. Who is Celtics top goalscorer in European games?