| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
Trivia
- Following the Lyon game it came out in the Press that Viduka’s agents had been touting him around various clubs in Europe. The latest to declare ‘no interest’ in Viduka was Victor Fernandez, the Celta Vigo manager
- Petrov started at the expense of Moravcik and Petta, Wieghorst and Brattbakk were dropped from the squad that had faced Lyon
Review
Celtic and Barnes went into the game knowing that this was a crucial match following the defeat to Lyon and going out of European competition. Despite going in level at half time level, there was little fight in the second half and at the end there was a distinct feeling of despondency (see Tom Shields comments below). A soft penalty, Lambert out for what could be a lengthy period – but generally a lack of ideas and fight. Regi Blinker was cheered onto the pitch by the Rangers fans when he subbed Petrov. This was a humiliating game and result. At the post match press conference Barnes became quite agitated when it was suggested that he might have to change his tactics.
Teams
Rangers:
Klos, Porrini, Moore, Amoruso, Numan, Reyna, Ferguson, Albertz, Van Bronckhorst (Vidmar 89), Amato (Durie 77), Johansson (McCann 77).
Subs Not Used: Charbonnier, Nicholson.
Goals: Johansson 19, Albertz 45 pen, Amoruso 49, Amato 66.
Booked: Van Bronckhorst (Rangers)
Celtic:
Gould, McNamara, Stubbs, Tebily, Riseth, Burley, Lambert (Mjallby 45), Petrov (Blinker 57), Berkovic, Wright (Burchill 78), Viduka.
Subs Not Used: Kharine, Moravcik.
Goals: Berkovic 21, 42.
Booked: Burley, Lambert, Petrov, Gould, Blinker. (Celtic)
Referee: Kenny Clark (Scotland).
Attendance: 50,026
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Rangers | Celtic | |
| Bookings | 1 | 5 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Fouls | 15 | 21 |
| Shots on Target | 10 | 5 |
| Corners | 7 | 3 |
| Offside | 7 | 8 |
Articles
Barnes’ boys lack vigour . . . and Wim
The Herald 08/11/1999
Tom Sheilds
As John Barnes might say, it was just a blip. We are not talking here about Celtic’s defeats by Lyon and Rangers. It appears that the 5-1 victory over Kilmarnock was the blip in a decidedly downward spiral for the Parkhead club.
Book now for the end-of-season dance at the Jock Stein Birling In His Grave Lounge.
Mingling, as we do, with the ordinary Celtic fan, we hear words which are quite clear. The new regime will not do. If Barnes is a football prophet, he is too far ahead of his time. His system, whatever it is, does not work. Good players have become bad. Moderate players have become worse.
Celtic now has a defence that is not even capable of constructing a wall to defend a free kick. The rot and lack of confidence has spread as far back to Jonathan Gould, once the cockiest and most secure of goalkeepers.
Barnes has not only lost the dressing room, he has lost the entire stadium.
The simple remedy of throwing the manager to the wolves is not available at this moment to Celtic. Allan MacDonald, the chief executive, begat Kenny Dalglish as director of football who begat Barnes as first-team coach.
If one goes, they all have to go.
For they operate as a triumvirate. But it is a triumvirate without leadership. Power without responsibility. Big wages without accountability.
Rangers are run by two people, David Murray and Dick Advocaat, both driven and totally focused.
The Celtic chairman is, I believe, a chap called Frank O’Callaghan. Perhaps we might hear from him this week. It is time for him to show some leadership. Celtic is not just a plc, it is a football club and a way of life for the 60,000 fans without whom there is nothing.
The lack of leadership is also apparent on the field. The pass back rather than the searing run forward is the lietmotif of this Celtic team. There is a lack of heart and spirit in the squad which is unacceptable.
There can be nothing more dispiriting for a team than to hear opponents give a raucous welcome to your substitute. In the last two games, Barnes’ answer to Celtic’s failings has been to bring on Regi Blinker. Without wishing to heap opprobrium on individuals, this is Celtic’s problem in microcosm. And worse, Bobby Petta is waiting in the wings.
It appears that the season is effectively over for Celtic in the two arenas that matter, the Premier League and Europe. Rangers are streets ahead. Celtic are back at square one.
The answer is not to let the present regime, notably Dalglish, loose with the cheque-book. That is a sure route to having a rubbish football team and a huge bank overdraft. What the team needs is a couple of sure hands on the tiller. Fergus McCann and Wim Jansen spring to mind.
Penalty makes it a forgone conclusion; Romp for Rangers after Albertz equaliser
The Herald 08/11/1999
Ken Gallacher
Rangers 4 Celtic 2
Rangers pushed themselves four points ahead of Celtic with a game in hand, after gaining victory in this first Old Firm game of the season. It was an astonishing match which saw Celtic go behind, claw their way back to level terms, then take a short-lived lead towards the end of the first half.
Then came the penalty award which allowed Rangers to equalise and send the teams into the dressing room sharing four goals – but with Celtic players still arguing over whether referee Kenny Clarke should have given a foul against Paul Lambert when he slid in to send Jorg Albertz crashing to the ground in the third minute of injury time.
Clarke appeared to caution both Jonathan Gould and Jackie McNamara as Lambert was loaded on to a stretcher and taken off the field.
But, as the arguments raged over that decision, television evidence suggested that the Ibrox team should have been given a penalty earlier when Vidar Riseth brought down Sergio Porrini.
As the Parkhead coach, John Barnes, said just the other week – these things have a habit of evening themselves out over the season.
Basically, any complaints should not hide the fact that in the second half Celtic scarcely had a shot at goal – I can recall just one, an angled drive from Mark Viduka which was deflected away from the goal.
In the first half, too, Rangers enjoyed long spells of domination and had more scoring opportunities than their city rivals.
As well as the two goals, they struck the woodwork twice as Gould looked nervous and unsure, perhaps still suffering a hangover from the loss of that European goal against Lyon in midweek.
It was in the midfield that Rangers gained control, as well as down Celtic’s left flank, where there was always space to be found for Porrini and others beyond Riseth.
Much of their threat came from that area where the Bulgarian internationalist, Stilian Petrov, provided little cover for the Norwegian as Claudio Reyna prodded ball after ball into space, always probing for a weakness and, unfortunately for Celtic, more often finding it than not.
That meant that the Parkhead defence was always under pressure and that their two main attackers, Viduka and the veteran Ian Wright had only glimpses of the service they might normally have expected.
If it had not been for the quickness and the vision of Eyel Berkovic then Celtic would not have been able to find their way back into the game after Rangers gained the lead in the nineteenth minute. Before then, Jonatan Johansson had given warning of the dangers which lay ahead on that Celtic left flack.
He raced clear of Riseth in five minutes and clipped a ball across goal which Gabriel Amato could not reach. His follow up to that was spectacular, coming clear of Oliver Tebily this time and blasting a shot from an angle which smacked against the junction of post and crossbar and rebounded clear.
Then, the young Finn scored the opening goal – thanks to a blunder from Gould.
Amato headed a long throw-in from Albertz into the penalty box and, as it dropped, Gould fumbled the ball, allowing it to squirm from his grasp and Johannson was there to stab it over the line.
However, within two minutes, Berkovic equalised. The Israeli played a perfect one-two with Viduka at the edge of the Rangers’ penalty box and then slotted away a low shot which struck the inside of the far post and went into the net.
It was a glorious goal and how the Celtic fans celebrated.
Seven minutes later, Albertz slipped a short free kick to Lorenzo Amoruso, whose fierce 35-yard shot struck a post.
Albertz followed that with a drive which swept wide then Riseth downed Porrini as the Ibrox players looked for a penalty.
As half-time approached, though, Celtic took the lead after a mistake by Amoruso, who gave the ball away to Viduka then found himself trailing in the Australian’s wake before the striker played the ball forward to Berkovic, who stroked it past Stefan Klos and into goal.
The goal stunned the Rangers fans in the 50,000 crowd and it took that injury time penalty to restore their faith in their side.
The Celtic defence was caught out when Arthur Numan sent a ball forward and as they tried to regroup Albertz col-lected the ball and strode into the box.
Lambert launched himself into a sliding tackle, Albertz went down, and the referee pointed to the penalty spot despite protests from the Celtic players.
Albertz recoevered – Lambert did not – and the German struck the ball carefully past Gould despite attempts by Wright to put him off.
Within four minutes of the re-start, Amoruso made up for his first-half mistake with another free-kick after Albertz touched the ball to him. This time it was on target and it took only the slightest deflection off the Celtic wall before going into goal.
From then on, Rangers commanded the match. Celtic brought on Regi Blinker, who was cruelly cheered on to the field by the home support but he could make no impression.
Gould then had to come off his line to stop Johansson after he had escaped the attentions of Alan Stubbs.
However, in 67 minutes, Amato took advantage of another muddle in the Parkhead defence.
A lob from Albertz found two Celtic players going for the ball, neither of them cleared it and it dropped towards goal with Amato in pursuit.
Gould came off his line, forcing the Argentinian to go left but, from an acute angle, he was somehow able to flight the ball into goal and hand Rangers a two-goal lead.
Neil McCann and Gordon Durie took over from Johansson and Amato 12 minutes from time and before the end Gould saved from a McCann shot and stopped a late drive from Numan with his legs.
Their lead was never in any danger . . .
There were six bookings in the game, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, of Rangers, and five Celtic men, Craig Burley, Lambert, Gould, Petrov, and Blinker.
The way the bookings totalled up gives an idea of the amount of play that Rangers had over the near l00 minutes of action – there were four minutes of injury time added to each half.
For Barnes, it was a tough and fierce baptism and a defeat which will rankle with the support, coming as hard as it did on their European exit.
But now is the time for him to prove himself, look back at how Dick Advocaat coped with the five-goal thrashing his team suffered at Celtic Park last season and fight back.
This was the Dutchman’s first win over Celtic at Ibrox, and he would savour that with it giving him an increased lead in the title race, as well as his team having played a game less than their Old Firm rivals.
Man-by Man
| Jonathon Gould | 6 | Spilled the ball to allow Johansson to score and his general handling was suspect. Atoned with superb saves from Van Bronckhorst and Johansson. |
| Vidar Riseth | 5 | His failure to cut out Numan’s long throw led to the opener. He also failed to provide the necessary width on the left. Rarely got out of his own half. |
| Jackie McNamara | 6 | Delivered just one telling cross in the 90 minutes and was kept so busy in a defensive role that he struggled to support his midfield and frontmen. |
| Alan Stubbs | 7 | Given a torrid time as he faced wave after wave of attacks. Easily Celtic’s most impressive defender |
| Oliver Tebily | 4 | His lack of concentration saw him caught out several times and he was also betrayed by a poor first touch |
| Craig Burley | 5 | Back in his preferred attacking role, it was a frustrating afternoon for the Scotland man |
| Paul Lambert | 5 | Deservedly yellow-carded for a high challenge on Amoruso.Lucky not to see red after the rash challenge that led to Rangers penalty. |
| Stiliyan Petrov | 4 | Bulgarian had his work cut out keeping Reyna in check. Picked up a booking for hauling down Amato |
| Mark Viduka | 7 | Set up Berkovic for the opener and he did spade-work for the second. But received no service or support |
| Ian Wright | 5 | Forced a fine save from Klos with his only chance, a header in the 17th minute. Was otherwise ineffective |
| Eyal Berkovic | 7 | Showed composure to take both his goals superbly well but was shadowed by Barry Ferguson |
| John Mjallby | 5 | Replaced Lambert on the stroke of half-time and turned in a solid if unspectacular display |
| Regi Blinker | 3 | Came on to cheers of “There’s only one Regi Blinker” – from the Rangers fans. Booked for a foul on Durie |
| Mark Burchill | 5 | Given just 11 minutes to impress by Barnes but fared no better than Wright or Viduka with the scraps he had |
- BBC Match Report
- Manager Interview
John Barnes post match:
“I can’t fault my players as individuals. The effort was there, although the quality could have been better. We didn’t do it as a team.
“We changed to three at the back in the second half but formations don’t matter – we have to pass the ball better.
“It’s disappointing for me, the players and the fans. They have to face their workmates and the Rangers supporters.
“Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it now for another two weeks.”
“If they hadn’t got that penalty it possibly could have been different but I don’t like to think like that.
“You can never tell what would have happened if we’d gone in 2-1 up. The fact is we didn’t and they went on to win the game.
“At the time the penalty was awarded I felt aggrieved but I’ll need to see it again on television.”
“I believe that we can win the majority of our games and keep in contact but unless Rangers are now going to drop points then the gap will stay the same so, obviously, we’re playing catch-up.”
“I’m always looking to strengthen the squad but the quality of player we’re after isn’t often available. We can take heart, though not much, from some of our play today.
“If we can get these players to perform like that consistently for 90 minutes in every game then fine. Otherwise we need to bring in more quality.”
[BBC] Report
Rangers 4-2 Celtic
Rangers survived a pulsating six-goal derby clash with Old Firm rivals Celtic to move four points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Ibrox was treated to a feast of goals as four of Dick Advocaat’s legion of foreign imports shared one apiece after Celtic’s Israeli international Eyal Berkovic had put his side ahead with a well-taken double.
Goals galore
Jonatan Johansson opened the scoring for Rangers but Berkovich’s brace put Celtic ahead only for German Jorg Albertz to level the scores from the spot just seconds before the end of a rivetting first half.
Rangers then took full advantage of their Ibrox luck, taking the lead through a deflected free-kick from skipper Lorenzo Amoruso and sealing the win with a fortunate solo goal from Gabriel Amato.
Scotland manager Craig Brown watched his five internationals nervously in advance of next week’s momentous first-leg tie against England.
Celtic’s Paul Lambert was the only casualty, forced to leave the field with concussion after conceding a penalty.
He lost several teeth and suffered a broken jaw and will now miss both games against England because of strict Uefa rules governing concussion.
But it was an accidental injury andin general both sides looked more eager to knock the ball around than each other. As a result the 50,000 fans were treated to end-to-end action.
Referee Kenny Clark waited a full 35 minutes before issuing the first yellow card, to Lambert for a late challenge on Amoruso.
Advocaat, forced to do without Michael Mols who is to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, opted for Amato and Johansson as his stand-in frontmen.
Johansson was in impressive form and found the net after eleven minutes.
His goal came from the most innocuous of moves. Rangers tossed a hopeful long throw into the box but with their twin strikers outnumbered two to one, Celtic were seemingly in control.
However, when Amato beat Alan Stubbs to the flick on, panic set into the visitors’ defence.
Riseth found only air with his attempted clearance and then keeper Jonathan Gould spilt the ball for Johansson to prod home from inside a yard.
It was a well-deserved lead and Rangers might have expected to consolidate but instead Celtic earned themselves an unlikely equaliser within two minutes.
New striker Ian Wright was having a quiet game and Celtic’s few promising moves came from their hard-working midfield.
Berkovich, playing just beind the front two, played a clever ball into the feet of Mark Viduka. He played a first-time ball back to the advancing Berkovich – who swiftly side-footed the ball through the legs of Stefan Klos and into the empty net.
The visitors took the lead in the 43rd minute and again it was against the run of play.
Amato lost the ball 35 yards out to Viduka, who shrugged off his challenge and surged goalwards before holding it up for the galloping Berkovich to stroke calmly home.
The clock showed three minutes of normal time before the break but when the touchline official signalled a further six minutes, one sensed Rangers might make their pressure pay.
With the Celtic defending becoming increasingly desperate, Albertz showed all his experience when he pushed the ball dangerously into the box and simply waited for the challenge.
It came from Lambert, who flew in at full stretch – conceding the penalty and a facial injury which saw him stretchered from the field to be replaced by Johan Mjallby.
Albertz slid home the spot-kick to take the scores to 2-2.
The Rangers fans sensed blood and when Celtic centre back Alan Stubbs gave away a free-kick 25 yards out just four minutes after the break, it arrived.
The wall disintegrated in front of Amoruso and though his shot was not the best, it took a deflection off the foot of Wright and spun past Gould to give Rangers the lead.
At just one goal behind Celtic had every chance of taking something from the game but once again fortune conspired against them.
With Amato a good two yards offisde, the ball fell at his feet after rebounding off a Celtic defender.
The flag stayed down and he skillfully rounded Gould before chipping in Rangers’ fourth from the acutest of angles.
Celtic coach John Barnes switched formation with 15 minutes to go, 19-year-old Mark Burchill replacing the 36-year-old Wright, while Rangers brought on home-grown striker Neil McCann and Gordon Durie for their foreign imports. Their work was done.
Teams:
Rangers: Klos, Porrini, Moore, Amoruso, Numan, Reyna, Ferguson, Albertz, Van Bronckhorst, Amato, Johansson.
Subs: Vidmar, McCann, Charbonnier, Nicholson, Durie.
Celtic: Gould, McNamara, Stubbs, Tebily, Riseth, Burley, Lambert, Petrov, Berkovic, Wright, Viduka.
Subs: Kharine, Blinker, Moravcik, Mjallby, Burchill.
Referee: Kenny Clark (Scotland)