| Match Pictures | Matches: 1998 – 1999 | 1998-1999 Pictures |
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Trivia
- The club and Rangers were poised to sign a shirt sponsorship deal with NTL which would bring the two clubs more than £12m in revenue over three years, with a one-year further option.
- Chelsea were said to be lining up a £1million bid for Stewart Kerr.
- Sheffield Wednesday declared their interest in signing Simon Donnelly and Phil O’Donnell who would both be out of contract at the end of the season. Donnelly was already on the transfer list but the club hoped to persuade Phil O’Donnell to sign a new contract and stay at Celtic Park.
- Lubo was recovering from a thigh muscle tear sustained against Motherwell. Kerr and Healy dropped out of the squad. Donnelly, having recovered from his stomach muscle strain was included as was U21 goalkeeper Barry John Corr. Mark Viduka made his debut coming on as a 54th minute replacement for Brattbakk. Of the rest of the squad the following were injured : Rieper (toe), Stubbs (ankle, but also said to be fit and dropped for this game with the speculation of a move south), O’Donnell (knee), Johnson (thigh), Annoni (calf).
Review
A lackluster game but Viduka’s debut and a cracking goal from Burley made up for the very out-of-sorts first half. Viduka's impact was as low-key, but he did rise above the United defence to nod a header over the bar, then tried to lob Sieb Dykstra from 25 yards.
Teams
Celtic:
Gould, Boyd , Riseth, Mjallby, Mahe, McNamara, Burley , Lambert, Blinker, Larsson, Brattbakk (Viduka 54).
Subs Not Used: Donnelly, McKinlay, Burchill, Corr.
Goals: Burley 74, Larsson 78.
Booked: Lambert, Blinker (Celtic)
Dundee Utd:
Dykstra, Malpas (Skoldmark 68), De Vos, Duffy, Miller (Mathie 87), Easton, Hannah, Eustace (McLaren 81), Paterson, Dodds, Olofsson.
Subs Not Used: Thompson, Gallacher.
Goals: Dodds 25
Booked: Dodds. (Dundee Utd)
Ref: M McCurry (Glasgow).
Att: 59,902.
Articles
- Match Report
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Dundee Utd | |
| Bookings | 2 | 1 |
| Fouls | 10 | 13 |
| Shots on Target | 5 | 3 |
| Corners | 14 | 1 |
| Offside | 1 | 5 |
Articles
Rule of tongue as Larsson gives United the kiss-off
Scotland on Sunday 28/02/1999
Celtic 2 Dundee United 1
IT is written in the stars. Preordained. No earthly power can influence it. There is simply no other way to explain exactly why Celtic, time after time after time, filch wins from beneath Dundee United's noses.
Victories that are rarely merited and rarely depend on anything but a final 20-minute flurry. Yesterday at Celtic Park Jozef Venglos's side produced their worst performance of the year. They were rewarded by moving to within seven points of league leaders Rangers.
For long spells the home side looked out of sorts; carrying too many passengers and too little threat. Then, with just 16 minutes remaining and trailing to a Billy Dodds opener, Craig Burley scored, to give yet another indication that even when he appears out of a game he never truly is.
In doing so he justified his first start since being sidelined with injury in September. It was an unusually sprightly and direct Regi Blinker who, after a crab-like run, sent him on his way with a diagonal through ball. Burley's raking drive thumped against keeper Sieb Dijkstra before looping over his body and dropping gently beyond the line.
As is the way of it in this fixture, as soon as Celtic scored one goal, a second was inevitable. Just as inevitable was the identity of the man whose efforts clinched the win. Need you be told it was Henrik Larsson?
His 32nd goal of the season in the 77th minute was a snatched affair. Several hooped combatants swarming around the penalty area tried desperately to force the ball through. The Swede pulled off and created the space for himself to angle a drive in at the near post from eight yards.
Until the equaliser, the home support had to settle for the debut of Mark Viduka in order to exercise their vocal chords. His appearance in competitive action has been a long time in coming and perhaps that accounted for the Australian being afforded a tumultuous reception when he replaced Harald Brattbakk in the 54th minute.
Actually, perhaps simply the fact that he replaced Harald Brattbakk accounted for the warmth of the welcome extended to a player who has been a problem case since his move from Croatia Zagreb in November.
Since then he has probably been personally responsible for the destruction of countless hectares of rainforest.
On his first 36 minutes of active service, which included an audacious chip that drifted just over, it would be unfair to judge if the sacrifice was worth it. The player himself conceded he has some adapting to do. "It was a great feeling to turn out in front of 60,000 people but I was shocked by the first 10 minutes because it was so quick," he said.
If Celtic's first-half showing proved anything it was that there is no such thing as a one-man team in football. Even if the one man happens to be Larsson. He was deprived of his co-star Lubo Moravcik -missing with a hamstring pull – and support players Phil O'Donnell and Alan Stubbs. The Englishman's absence set tongues wagging once more about his future at Celtic Park and afterwards Venglos conceded that his absence was due to "a family problem".
As a result of the trio's absence, Celtic were largely inspirationally-challenged. While Larsson has been scoring hat-tricks, the football sages have recognised that it is not merely the intricacy and vision of Moravcik, but also Stubbs, that is the key to Celtic's creativity.
It may have accounted for a lack of movement and absence of rhythm in the home side, but equally important was the fact that United were lively while Celtic looked lethargic.
With the blurring figures of Kjell Olofsson and Dodds, Celtic were stretched and United in the ascendancy.
After only six minutes, they came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock as Craig Easton showed supreme technique to curl an effort beyond Jonathan Gould only for it to meet the crossbar.
As it was, the Celtic keeper was beaten only by himself and the keeper paid for that, allowing the Tannadice side to eventually take the lead in the 25th minute.
Jim Paterson launched the ball from deep and Gould came to pluck it from the air. Like a slippery fish in his mitts, the ball dropped to the ground and Dodds did the rest from close range.
United continued to press, showing greater composure, and shortly after the interval Olofsson crashed in a heap as he went through on Gould to prompt wild claims for a penalty and an even wilder haranguing of the United man by the Celtic goalkeeper.
"The players felt there was a shove on Kjell from behind," United manager Paul Sturrock bemoaned, before returning to his standard "light at the end of the tunnel" theme. "It's a time to be optimistic," Sturrock said. "Until we meet Celtic again. Then, pessimism will be the only way to avoid disappointment."
- Manager Interview
Dr Jo Venglos, post match:
"That was very tough but I was glad we improved in the second- half.
"It was not easy against Dundee United because they were well organised and had eight men in defence at times."
Mark Viduka on his debut:
"It was wonderful to get that sort of reception. I was shocked for 10 minutes afterwards.
"I didn't worry about how the fans would react. I just wanted to get the past behind me.
"I have sat in the crowd as a fan a few times now but I can tell you it's a whole lot different being on the pitch!"
"It would have been a dream to score but it wasn't to be. I'm just happy we won.
"I felt quite good and think I will be suited to Scottish football. My family in Australia all know I was on the bench and the Celtic Supporters' Club back home will be watching for the highlights I'm sure."
27 FEBRUARY 1999 CELTIC 2-1 DUNDEE UNITED
http://celticunderground.net/debut-days-mark-viduka/
In August 1998 Celtic were defeated 3-1 on aggregate by Croatia Zagreb in the final Champions League qualifying round. Zagreb were a very impressive side, a tremendous mixture of strength and technique, and one of their best players over the two legs had been the Australian-Croat, Marko Viduka.
Viduka was so impressive that Celtic opened transfer discussions soon afterwards and after prolonged negotiations with the Croatians in Zagreb, he arrived in Glasgow to sign for Celtic in late November.
He dropped the 'o' from his Christian name and became plain Mark Viduka, and it was hoped his signature would give Celtic a lift in their league title battle with Rangers after the team had suffered an indifferent spell of results.
However, controversy was to be a constant companion for Viduka during his time at Celtic and on December 5th it was discovered that he had returned to Australia, citing problems with stress, and was said to be actually considering giving football up all together. Having spent £3.5M on their new star striker, this was not the news that Fergus McCann and the Celtic fans wanted to hear.
Twenty four hours after Viduka's disappearance, Celtic visited Tynecastle and lost 2-1 to Hearts which only served to add to the frustration of the supporters. At one point it was felt that Viduka would never return but in February an olive branch was handed out to him by the club and the big Australian eventually arrived back in Scotland, with the Scots' press taking a particular interest in his girlfriend, Ivana.
Viduka's pending debut helped to attract a magnificent crowd of 59,902 to Parkhead for the game against Dundee United, although Celtic's new signing had to make do with a place on the bench.
The first half was a dreadful affair with Celtic playing poorly and United taking advantage by taking the lead, courtesy of a Billy Dodds goal. With Celtic in need of inspiration, manager Jozef Venglos, decided to throw Viduka into the fray to replace the ineffective Harold Brattback.
The substitution had the desired effect and it raised the spirits of both the players and the supporters alike. In 74 minutes Craig Burley equalised and just four minutes later, the incomparable Henrik Larsson snatched a typical opportunist goal to grab the winning goal to keep the Celtic title challenge alive.
In his 36 minutes on the field of play, Mark Viduka had impressed everyone with his intelligent play and he had been unlucky not to score when he headed just over and then when he had, audaciously, tried to lob United goalkeeper, Sieb Dykstra, from 25 yards.
Mark Viduka's Celtic career was now off and running. The Australian was to enjoy good times and suffer difficult periods during his time in Glasgow but there is one thing that can be said for definite. Life was never dull when he was around.