![\"Play](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/qxTQZTN.gif\")
<\/p>\nIt’s okay to admit it, you thought we were going to make an arse of it as well, didn’t you?<\/p>\n
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Or at least have another tale of another Champions League nearly men ?<\/p>\n
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I couldn’t have been the only one remembering Billy McNeill’s summary of the 1970 European Cup, where he described beating Leeds and losing to Feyenoord as falling over the molehill at the top of the mountain you’ve just climbed.<\/p>\n
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After looking like things were getting back on track against Kilmarnock, more pace, more directness and plenty of chances created, Young Boys should have been there for the taking last night, and could have been five or six down by half time as Celtic swept towards their goal with almost relentless aim.<\/p>\n
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Three times Kyogo Fuhruhashi found the net, three times it was ruled offside.<\/p>\n
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Of two penalty claims, one was awarded, and a nervous Arne Engels hesitated long enough to make a bit of a pigs ear of it.<\/p>\n
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But Celtic, to their credit, kept going, and Young Boys were extremely fortunate to go in at the break level, which, of course, gave them a little bit of confidence.<\/p>\n
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As Celtic began to run out of steam, which wasn’t surprising, YBB crept back into it, and their attacks, becoming more frequent, started to make our back line, never the most assured at the best of times, a little jittery.<\/p>\n
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At this point an image of Dariusz Dzeikanowski against Partizan Belgrade began to form in the back of my mind.<\/p>\n
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We all had our own ideas about changes, and we all guessed wrong. Instead of going two up front, we swapped left backs.<\/p>\n
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Instead of removing Reo Hatate and adding energy and enthusiasm in Luke McCowan, the Japanese midfielder remained on the pitch.<\/p>\n
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And of course, on came Adam Idah, looking for his first goal since he left school.<\/p>\n
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A collective “Well, that’s fecking that, then,” was heard throughout the land.<\/p>\n
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Or that might have just been me.<\/p>\n
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And yet, a McStayesque pass, a Sutton-like shield and a shot that bounced off a keeper and a defender later, the mood had changed.<\/p>\n
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The pass was top drawer, Idah shrugged off a defender and Celtic were into at least the play offs.<\/p>\n
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European knockout football awaits….and frankly, I don;t give a toss who we end up playing.<\/p>\n
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There’s still an outside chance , with a win against an unconvincing and inconsistent Aston Villa , that the hoops can skip the play offs and finish top eight.<\/p>\n
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for those who think that’s a wee bit beyond us, consider that had Bruges and Dinamo Zagreb been beaten, which are in the coud have should have bracket, Celtic would now lie fifth in the overall table.<\/p>\n
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It might seem like a bit of a roller coaster of a campaign so far, but it’s got us where we need to be.<\/p>\n
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We’re in the next stage, at least.<\/p>\n
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Add to that a League cup, progression in the Scottish Cup and a pretty much unassailable lead at the top of the league, and any criticism is harsh.<\/p>\n
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We’re doing alright, if I don;t mind saying so myself.<\/p>\n
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However, it does look like with qualification assured, one of our own may be leaving.<\/p>\n
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Kyogo Fuhruhashi is in advance talks to join Rennes, with Jota, remember him, about to rejoin Celtic.<\/p>\n
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Keiran Tierney’s loan at Arsenal is up…see the Diaries five years ago, i did tell you he was only going there to try to get his hip fixed and keep his match fitness at a decent level….so he’ll slot in to the squad either this month or at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
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Kyogo’s exit could mean a new striker, or simply a move central for Daizen Maeda, who incidentally got sent off last night for retaliation, with a snap kick to a player that looked worse than ot was, but the little buzz bomb had had enough, and although he apologised for letting everyone down, most would agree that at least everyone now knows that if you kick him he will kick you back.<\/p>\n
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Jota Maeda Kuhn isn;t a bad line, though of course, we’d rather Kyogo stayed as well.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Idah proved again last night he can win matches from the bench, well, not literally, obviously he has to be on the pitch, but you get the point.<\/p>\n
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Kasper Schmeichel signed a contract extension, and don;t underestimate his contribution last night. Most of us probably weren;t looking when he made that last minute save, but it was just as valuable as the goal.<\/p>\n
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All in all, we can be happy, or at least relieved.<\/p>\n
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Anything can happen in knockout football, and probably will.<\/p>\n
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We got a bit of luck last night, but we deserved a break.<\/p>\n
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Maybe these things do even out, and maybe there’s still a chance of a memorable season at home and in Europe.<\/p>\n
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Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve won a quadruple…..<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Last time, we had this…<\/p>\n
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![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71zZk39Og2L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg\")
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Party games in the White House, pin the tail on the donkey.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Image\"](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/E4hkNApWYAAresZ?format=jpg&name=small\")
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Today…<\/p>\n
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It’s okay to admit it, you thought we were going to make an arse of it as well, didn’t you? Or at least have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/motivational-wednesday-quotes-sc-032024-03-04fb21.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-4Vm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18934,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18932\/revisions\/18934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}