Just a few hours after writing yesterdays Diary, and getting ready for work, I found myself in the Vogue Bar in Rutherglen, eagerly anticipating \u00a0a great atmosphere, a great game and a great result.<\/p>\n
Two out of three isn’t bad, I suppose.<\/p>\n
And with just a little more savvy, Celtic would have beaten Inter, despite giving them a two goal start.<\/p>\n
Don’t get me wrong, to come back from two down and then again to equalise at the end of the game after Inter had capitalised on a rare Craig Gordon error just before half time was a remarkable achievement, just as the support reminding ourselves exactly how to support a team was equally remarkable, but there wasn’t anything to the Inter side that Celtic shouldn’t have been able to deal with.<\/p>\n
A little more self belief would have been good, by that I mean a little bit more confidence in the system that when applied properly had the Italians on the rack and that would , in my humble opinion, have got us a win.<\/p>\n
However, thats not to detract from what we did get, which given the early setbacks , was fantastic, and it sets us up for a possible glory night in the San Siro.<\/p>\n
Ifs and onlys ?<\/p>\n
Well, there were a few. Gordon made amends with his last minute save, but two of their goals came from his mistakes when it would have been safer to let the initial balls run out of play, and its a shame he chose last night to blot an otherwise excellent season. Scott Brown was a little more subdued than usual, obviously worried about picking up a booking that would have meant he’d miss the return game. Both fullbacks have had better games, although Adam Matthews was excellent going forward, and I felt that in the second half we could have exploited a weak right side of the Inter defence a bit more, as all too often only Izaguerre was in position, and he received little help. Note when Liam henderson entered the fray, it only took a couple of minutes for him to carve out a shot on goal from that side.<\/p>\n
The centre backs took a while to adjust, Jason denaayer, as in his first game against Dundee Utd, took a while to adjust to the higher level, but you have to give them credit for not letting their heads drop.<\/p>\n
Nir bitton , Leigh Griffiths and Stuart Armstrong were the top performers, while Stefan Johansen and Gary Mackay Steven tried, but nothing they did-barring the chip from the Norwegian to Guidetti for the equaliser, seemed to come off.<\/p>\n
From a fans point of view, it was nice to be back in a crowd that showed the world how to support a team, even when two down, even when the goalie flung one to the forward to score.<\/p>\n
Thats what its all about, i suppose.<\/p>\n
There were some interesting, and perhaps telling tweets from \u00a0a few of the players after the game.<\/p>\n
Jason Denaayer said;<\/p>\n
What a game !! Great performance of the team and great atmosphere as well thanks for the amazing supporters !!\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Leigh Griffiths added;<\/p>\n Wow, atmosphere was sensational, fans stuck with us till the end and it paid off, delighted for <\/span>@superguidetti<\/b><\/a> with his goal. On to Sunday<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n While Stefan Johansen was a little more subdued;<\/p>\n