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Trivia
- Following the match against Bray Wanderers the team immediately flew on to Copenhagen where they were joined by Chris Sutton.
- Following Viduka’s transfer to Leeds Utd he was suddenly refused a work permit and Leeds had to go through an appeal procedure with the DoEE. His transfer was put on hold.
- Berkovic turned down a move to Besiktas staying that h wanted to stay and play in Scotland.
- Celtic were being associated with a move for Norwegian centre half Bjorn Otto Bragstad, then with Rosenborg. They were in competition with Valencia, St Etienne and Derby County for his signature.
- Celtic were joined by German trialist Tomasz Hitzlsperger. He had already had trials with Aston Villa and Liverpool and was brougft on the recommendation of Tommy Burns.
- FC Copenhagen were managed by Roy Hodgson. This was the first serious game of their season which would start properly on 23rd July. The game was played at the 41,000 seater Parken stadium
Review
That man Brattbakk back again to haunt us (as he would do again later). The Bhoys that had been at the European Championships were back and the youngsters went back to Celtic Park.
Teams
FC Copenhagen:
Stensgaard, Tur, Rytter (Haren, 68), Svensson, Jensen, Jonsson (Thorninger, 66), Lonstrup, Nielsen, Zuma (Vencevicius, 78), Brattbakk (Clifford, 75), Mio Nielsen.
Goals: Brattbakk (16, 38)
Celtic:
Kerr (Gould, 53), Hitzlsperger (Stubbs, 53), Rafael, Tebily (Mahe, 53), Boyd, Riseth (Petrov, 53), Lambert (Petta, 53), Mjallby, Moravcik, Berkovic (Burchill, 53), Johnson (Larsson, 53).
Goals: Burchill (57, 80)
Yellow Card: Stubbs (Celtic)
Referee:
Attendance: 4,000
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
- Manager Interview
Martin O’Neill, post match.
“At this stage of season, it’s all about getting games in and, although we didn’t defend too cleverly, I’m not too concerned just yet, but if it was the night before the Dundee United game, I would have been.
“I don’t have much time and the season is two and a half weeks away, but it is only the second game and, from that aspect, people are still not functioning fully at the moment.”
Brattbakk back to haunt Celtic
The Scotsman 13/07/2000
Neil McLeman In Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
FC Copenhagen 2 Brattbakk (16, 38)
Celtic 2 Burchill (57, 80)
MARK Burchill denied Harald Brattbakk an unlikely revenge over Celtic last night when the Scotland international came off the bench to cancel out two first-half strikes from the Norwegian.
Brattbakk, who left Parkhead in January after two unhappy years, gave FC Copenhagen a 2-0 lead against a defensively poor Celtic side in the first half until manager Martin O’Neill made seven changes after the interval to herald the fightback. O’Neill was later phlegmatic about his team’s defending.
He said: “I am not concerned now. The night before the Dundee United game I might be. I don’t have a great deal of time. I have two-and-a-half weeks before the start of the season, but it was only the second game. From that aspect I am still prepared to accept people are not fully functioning at the moment. If it continues like that it would be a concern but it is not a crisis at the moment.”
The game also saw 18-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger appearing for Celtic at the start of a two-week trial. The former German Under-17 international, who played at left-back last night, must have come off the field just after half-time not thinking much of his prospective employers, but thinking they could quickly improve by spending a few quid on the blond attacker he faced.
Brattbakk’s first goal after 15 minutes was gorgeous. Receiving a pass just inside the Celtic area, he feigned to shoot with his left foot before cutting inside a nonplussed Rafael to curl a delicious right-foot shot round the dive of Stewart Kerr and inside the far post.
It was like watching the videos of all those Champions League goals he scored for Rosenborg before his arrival in Scotland in December 1997.
The sense of the absurd was heightened when Brattbakk doubled the lead after 37minutes. Todi Jonsson made a strong run down the left before delivering a cross along the six-yard line which even Brattbakk during his Celtic days would have accepted.
“It was only a pre-season friendly but it is always fun to be able to score goals,” the amiable Norwegian said later.
“It is obviously a bit more fun when you do it against yourformer team. It doesn’t mean anything, but it was fun.”
Even though done in the cruellest of circumstances, Celtic’s display, against a team one week closer to the start of their domestic season, did not deserve parity. Defending with the cohesion of a blancmange in the rain, the Celtic rearguard – whose central component washeightened when Brattbakk doubled the lead after 41 minutes. Todi Jonsson made a strong run down the left before delivering a cross along the six-yard line which even Brattbakk during his Celtic days would have accepted.
“It was only a pre-season friendly but it is always fun to be able to score goals,” he saidlater. “It is obviously a bit more fun when you do it against your former team. It doesn’t mean anything but it was fun.”
The Celtic rearguard was pierced at will by the Danes with the tactic of punting balls over the top for Brattbakkproving alarmingly effective.
Tebily even put through his own goal but the effort wasdisallowed due to an earlier foul on Kerr.
Brattbakk should have wrapped up the game, and a Celtic defeat dripping in irony, three minutes after half-time when he again raced clear of Tebily and Rafael only to spear his right-foot volley wide of the post. O’Neill had seen enough.
After 52 minutes, en masse, he made seven substitutions, with Jonathan Gould, Alan Stubbs and Stephane Mahe bolstering the defence, Bobby Petta and Stilian Petrov joining the midfield and Henrik Larsson and Mark Burchill forming the new attack. Kerr, Tebily,Hitzlsperger, Lambert, Riseth, Berkovic and Johnson came off.
The changes had an almost immediate effect. Four minutes later, Larsson threaded the ball down the centre for Burchill, who held off the vigorous challenge of Diego Tur to tuck the ball under Michael Stensgaard.
Brattbakk was substituted after 74 minutes and with ten minutes remaining, Petta drove down the left and sent over a low cross which Burchill converted with aplomb.
“That was my first kick of the ball this season,” he said. “It is good to get back and score a couple of goals.”