The hotly-anticipated rematch between old rivals Celtic and Inter in Glasgow tops the bill in the UEFA Europa League last 32, with the first legs to be played on Thursday evening.

The clubs famously met in the 1967 European Cup final in Lisbon, when Celtic triumphed 2-1 to become the first British club to be crowned champions of Europe. Inter then gained a measure of revenge by winning on penalties when the sides clashed in the semi-finals of the same competition in 1972, and they have not met since.

Neither club is the force they once were, but there will still be a sell-out 60,000 crowd at Celtic Park as the Scottish champions look to record another memorable win against a Nerazzurri side now coached by Roberto Mancini. 

See ? We are still a big club. Thats from FIFA.com, and they know their stuff . Unless they’re talking shite, which has been known to happen.

“We will be judged after the two games. But we know we are playing well and with confidence,” saidCeltic assistant manager John Collins ahead of the game, with the return leg in Milan on 26 February.

Celtic have won their last eight matches but their limitations have been exposed in Europe this season and they must be wary of an Inter side who are fresh from recording handsome wins in their last two games.

Collins added: “We are not playing against another Scottish team but one full of internationals and a hugely-experienced manager who has won things at the top level. It will be a challenge for us. To win the tie we will have to play very well in both games but we are more than capable of that.”

Inter will be able to call upon Xherdan Shaqiri, the Swiss international signed last month from Bayern Munich. However, Lukas Podolski, brought in from Arsenal, is not eligible in Europe. Celtic, meanwhile, are waiting to see if Kris Commons will recover from a hamstring problem in time. 

After a couple of days of piss poor articles in the Scottish press, its nice to see something which promotes the game as what it is. A match between two sides whose only previous meetings have been in a semi final and a final of Europes premier club competition, which pays homage to the pedigree of the two clubs.

The article quotes John Collins, who received a text from Ronny deila yesterday, which we intercepted,

Pressen vil ha oss til å snakke med dem . Du går , jeg har ikke tid til disse jævla vondt . De er fulle av shite .

and thus the assistant manager did the media duties, and its a good job the press hacks don’t speak Norwegian. Come to think of it, their grasp of English isn’t much better.

Then again, the guy who does the headlines on the official site might need to read his stuff back to himself sometimes…

Collins: Bhoys must be disciplined

Collins spoke of the task ahead;

“We know they will be very well-organised defensively, technically, they are very good and they are very dangerous at set-pieces – that is where one in three of their goals come from, so we will have to on our toes from free-kicks and corners.

“Generally, they are well organised and disciplined. The most important thing is we play with discipline.  

“If we make mistakes and aren’t compact then they will punish us and sometimes that doesn’t always happen in Scotland. Against teams like Inter Milan, if you switch off for a minute, there is every chance they will create a chance or score goal, so we know we have to be ready to step up. 

“This is where we will be tested. If we make mistakes and aren’t compact, we will be punished. We will have to be ready to step up.” 

We were disappointed with the early results but this is a chance for the players to go on the big stage and show we have made progress,” he said.

“Obviously, we wanted it to happen as quickly as possible but you have to be realistic at the same time. The most important thing is we have seen gradual progress.

“From day one, they have all bought into it on the training pitch. Their attitude has been excellent and they have worked so hard. 

“It takes time for them for the ideas to bed in and to get the relationships we are looking for in the wider areas and through the middle with the ball and without the ball. We realised it wouldn’t happen overnight.

“We are pleased with what we are seeing and the majority of the supporters are now seeing development individually and collectively.” 

“I am excited about it and I’m just a coach so I’m sure all the players will be very excited ,  a sold-out Celtic Park on a European night under the floodlights – nothing beats it anywhere in the world, so we are all looking forward to it.” 

Collins has been quiet of late, and hasn’t spoke too much publicly. Whilst he has put a lot of thought into that, and its quite sensible and fairly informative, its not really  something you’d queue up to listen to.

 Still, if we’d wanted comedy, we’d have hired McCoist.

Collins speaks well, but might need a bit of work on his image.

Wait now,he’s in character,  because whilst Craig Gordon has been a great signing, and he is a key player in the squad, Collins showed he can perhaps go over the top a bit, when he compared the keeper to Henrik Larsson and Lubomir Moravcik;

 “Craig will be up there – he has got to be spoken about in the same bracket as those two.

“We knew Craig was good but when he has been out two years you think he’ll never be the same again.

“But he’s better now than when I remember him from before the injuries.

“That’s incredible. Goalkeepers get better with age and mature. He is just pure class.” 

Although that opinion is one that may be reviewed on Friday morning. Gordon could be the difference between going to Milan with a shot at the last sixteen, or , well, just going to Milan. No disrespect at all to Gordon, but Larsson and Moravcik ? I can see what he’s getting at, but not yet.

Collins dismissed suggestions that Celts will be looking for a goalless draw to make the journey to Italy interesting, which could be a clever tactic to confuse Inter, who will be expecting to be attacked from the off. Especially given our penchant for early goals in the last couple of games.

“I want goals. When you don’t concede you’ve got a chance to qualify but the objective is a good performance and to try and score.

“From the start of the game we have to be positive. We are at home and are at our best when we are on the front foot and pressing our opponent, trying to control the game with possession.

“But we have to be realistic – we are up against a quality opponent.

“This is not the SPFL so they will have possession and it is important that when they do, we have to drop off a little bit and be more compact.

“But our attitude is that we are at home so we have to start the game well and take it to our opponents.” 

During the Seville run, back in 2002-3, that was pretty much how Martin O’ Neill looked at the home legs, the idea being to keep the opposition from getting the away goal that could make a difference in the event of a draw.

I’d take 1-0 now, because although Celtic don’t seem to score a lot of goals, we do have players capable of scoring out of nothing. In fact, its the easier chances we make an arse of.

So, you excited yet ?

Its a strange feeling ahead of this game. The two exits from the Champions League meant that expectations weren’t high in Europe, and most of us would have been over the moon with just making the numbers up after Christmas.

But now we are here, and now the side seems to have settled, theres no reason why, in a knockout competition, we can’t have a crack at winning it.

Maybe the draw hasn’t been kind, but then again after the group stages, it was always going to be difficult. Inter boss Roberto Mancini has described the Europa League as his sides only chance of reaching the Champions League next season, as the winners get automatic entry, but that can also be taken as a clue as to how good he thinks they actually are.

Chelsea financial manager Jose Mourinho, an old favourite of Celtic fans, has no doubts about where his loyalties lie;

“Is Mancini is the right man to revive the Inter team? Coaches and players change. For me it is represented by the Inter fans  which occupy an important place in my heart. I hope that the Nerazzurri can get back in the Champions League and win the Europa League.”

We’ll need to be on the ball tomorrow, because if we are, then they aren’t.

Physically and mentally.

Away from the game, theres a bizarre rumour circulating Turkish football that Slaven Bilic, currently at Besiktas, is about to jump hip and take over at …Celtic!

It’s got so bad that the Croat  has had to deny it;

“I’m focused on the team here and on winning the championship,” Bilic told Turkish newspaper HaberTürk.

“There’s no question of me leading Celtic or any team in the UK. Zero probability.”

Thought  I’d mention it before Radio Clydes “Voice Of Alzheimers ” Hugh Keevins tells us he’s seen the contract.

Well, he’s looking at something…..and he always has his own interpretation on things.

Oh, no .he’s working on another in depth report.

 Then the biggest surprise of all, someone in the Record talking a it of sense. He’s Andrew Southwick, and presumably he’s on loan from another paper for the rest of the season;

Earlier this season, Aberdeen raised eyebrows when they cut Celtic’s ticket allocation for Pittodrie, going from 3800 to 2000.

It was a perfectly justifiable move. 

For years, with the team saving the worst of their mediocrity for games against Celtic, you couldn’t give the tickets away and therefore it made perfect sense to give the visiting support a vast chunk of tickets.

However, when demand increases from your own fans, of course you are going to try and sell as many as you can to them first, which Aberdeen did this season.

It takes an astonishing level of arrogance to suggest no longer being handed 20% of the available tickets is somehow a slight to your club and your support, and that Celtic should be entitled to tickets for an Aberdeen home game ahead of the club’s own fans. 

 He’s got a point, we’d go nuts if we were kept out in favour of visiting fans.

If aberdeen want some extra tickets, sell them to them. Theres room for them in the top bit which hasn’t been used for ages. Fans should be encouraged to go to games, not put off.

 And I’ve just bought a load of inflatable sheep  I need to shift.

 Meanwhile, fans of another Scottish club will be able to attend the Emergency Meeting of their board after it was discovered that yet another London hotel was reluctant to host the Ibrox club, because of the peepil who follow it.

 Well, they considered it, and told them not to bother coming.

And all over the English capital signs were being placed in windows…

 The city of Manchester actually crashed all its phones and computers deliberately to avoid any contact whatsoever with them, which isn’t surprising, as they have had the pleasure of hosting the peepil on a previous occasion.

 Instead, its going to be held at Ibrox, and even staff their are considering whether or not to let the supporters in.

Meanwhile, Derek Llambias and Mike Ashley point out which part of the ground will be knocked down first if the Three Bears manage somehow to fool the other shareholders into thinking they know what they’re doing.

Luis Suarez was the man who didn’t make the Lisbon final, and of course, had he played , some may tell you,  we’d have lost.

But if Joe McBride had played, Stevie Chalmers wouldn’t have , so it would have been a draw.

Fast forward to the other clash between the sides, and have a think about this…

 In 1972, when Celtic lost on penalties to Inter, Dixie Deans didn’t start the game. Who did he replace on the hour mark ?