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Trivia
- Alan Thompson was still be associated with the club and had been told by Aston Villa that if the offer was right then he could leave.
- Bjorn Otto Bragstad, linked to the club, said that he had accepted an offer from Derby County.
- Marc Rieper was about to make his decision on whether to return to Denmark. At that point he was still helping out with first team coaching.
- Jamie Smith was appointed U21 captain for the season.
- Injuries had started and Stephen Crainey was the first on the treatment table with both an injured left foot and a groin strain after the Bray Wanderers game. Long termers Colin Healy (knee), Dmitri Kharine (knee) and Morten Wieghorst (knee) were slowly making progress towards fitness
- Leicester wanted £200k compensation for John Robertson to be allowed to move to join Martin O’Neill at Celtic
- Eyal Berkovic missed the game when he had to rush home for family reasons.
- Sachsen's Czech goalkeeper Rene Twardzik was the father of footballing twins Filip and Patrik Twardzik, who went on to join the Celtic Youth ranks in 2009.
Review
A strange fixture – no one seemed to know why we were playing it and needing to charter a plane to fly to eastern Germany to play a little known third division side. It may have had something to do with the £30,000 match fee. Still…. A pipe band and a rock band pre-kick off (both at the same time) and a sky diver just before kick off added to the party atmosphere.
Teams
Sashsen Leipzig:
Twardzik (Eckstein, 46), Schmidt, Schiemann, Hartel, Weutzel, Filipovic, Poviser, Klee, Kapagiauuidis, Hoche, Grebenoshko.
Subs: Eckstein, Risch, Georgiev, Valeucia, Dyudikov, Zieme, Rothe.
Goals: Schmidt (8), Hartel (29)
Celtic:
Gould (Kerr, 46), Mjallby (Boyd, 46), Stubbs (Rafael, 60), Tebily (Johnson, 60 ), McNamara (Moravcik, 46), Hitzlsperger (Petta, 46), Riseth (Mahe, 46), Petrov (Fotheringham, 68), Lambert, Larsson, Burchill (Sutton, 46).
Non-Used Subs: Kennedy
Yellow Cards: Filopovic (Sachsen Leipzig) Sutton (Celtic)
Referee: Heinimann
Attendance: 7,483
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
FOOTBALL: CELTS NO-WIN SITUATION
Daily Record 15/07/2000
DAVID McCARTHY
SACHSEN LEIPZIG 2 CELTIC 0
CELTIC last night rounded off their three-match, three-country pre- season tour on a low.
They slumped to defeat at the hands of minnows Sachsen Leipzig, who finished sixth in the German Third Division last season.
It was the first defeat of Martin O'Neill's Celtic reign and although he spent much of the match switching players and systems, the game would have left him with more questions than answers.
But the biggest question of all has to be: Why on earth did Celtic take on this game?
Sure, they were paid pounds 30,000 to play the little-known Germans, but do Celtic need that kind of money so badly?
The players weren't happy at having to jump aboard a 41-seat private plane to journey to Germany for a game that meant absolutely nothing.
They would have preferred a second game in Denmark, where they had made their base for the five days.
Of course, this match was organised before O'Neill arrived at Parkhead, but whoever sanctioned this schedule – and Celtic either don't know or won't say – didn't do their players any favours.
And the way they started the match suggested they would have rather been anywhere else.
For the first time O'Neill employed the three-man defensive set-up that had been utilised so well at Leicester. Johan Mjallby, Alan Stubbs and Olivier Tebily were used, with Rafael on the bench.
Further forward, he was denied the use of Israeli star Eyal Berkovic, who asked to be allowed to return home early to be with his wife who has taken ill.
Celtic were still finding their feet when Sachsen had the 7400-strong crowd up with a forage forward that had Jonathan Gould flying to tip over Jens Hartel's long-range effort.
It turned out the big midfielder was just setting his sights, but more of that later.
The Germans were clearly determined to put their big-name guests in their place, a fact underlined when their skipper Almir Filopovic was booked after just 10 SECONDS for scything down Vidar Riseth.
The Bosnian can play a bit as well and in the eighth minute he created the opener for Leipzig.
He left Celtic's kid trialist Thomas Hitzlsperger floundering and when his cross came over, Hagen Schmidt had been neglected by his marker Jackie McNamara and he scored with a free downward header.
It was poor defending and it wasn't to get much better, although in flashes Celtic showed some attacking flair.
In the 18th minute Mark Burchill set up Henrik Larsson for a look at goal but the Swede was unusually hesitant and his shot carried no power.
Riseth shot over from a good position and in the 23rd minute Celtic put together their best move of the half when Stilian Petrov – their most productive player – flicked a pass to Larsson who found Burchill in on goal.
A goal looked certain but Rene Twardzik in the Sachsen goal got down well to block.
That was as good as it got for Celtic at that stage and in the 29th minute they fell further behind.
It was another bad one to lose, but a fantastic strike nonetheless from Hartel, who was allowed to move forward from the halfway line and smash a 30-yard shot into Gould's top-right hand corner.
O'Neill made a host of changes at the interval – Gould, Mjallby, Hitzlsperger, Riseth, McNamara and Burchill staying inside and Stewart Kerr, Tom Boyd, Bobby Petta, Stephane Mahe, Lubo Moravcik and Chris Sutton coming on.
All eyes were on Sutton to see how the first glimpse of a partnership with Larsson would develop.
But his contribution was a booking 11 minutes into his debut for a high tackle on Olaf Kapagiannis.
Sutton did better in 59 minutes, linking with Larsson before curling a 20-yarder wide.
Rafael replaced Stubbs on the hour-mark and there were signs that Celtic were finally making an impression on the German defence.
Larsson headed over from eight yards, although he was placed under pressure by a defender.
Celtic made further changes after 68 minutes, Mark Fotheringham replacing Petrov and Tommy Johnson coming on for Tebily.
That meant a reshuffle, with Stephane Mahe going to centre- back and Larsson dropping in behind the new forward partnership of Sutton and Johnson.
Sutton was certainly working hard and was robust in the way he was occupying defenders but his lack of fitness in comparison to his team-mates was evident.
He did, though, get a good look at goal with 10 minutes left after Fotheringham found him inside the box.
Sutton moved off his marker well before hitting a right-foot shot that sub keeper Marco Eckstein turned round the post.
And in the last minute he set up a chance for Johnson, which a German leg blocked as the Geordie pulled the trigger.
It was that kind of night for Celtic. The result might not matter but the performance will give O'Neill much to ponder over the weekend.
- Manager Interview
Martin O’Neill, post match
"We have very obvious defensive frailities which we have to work on the best we can.
"The whole side needs improving all over the pitch and you have to defend from all over the pitch.
"One of the reasons why maybe they haven't done so well over the last year is because they haven't defended properly as a team and that's now quite apparent to me."
"We are back home next week and it is going to be an important time for us because we have to work on the obvious defensive frailties we have.
"I spoke to the players after the match and told them that they have to defend from all over the pitch. All the best sides do this and it is one of the reasons we are short.