| Match Pictures | Matches: 2000 – 2001 | 2000-01 Pictures |
Trivia
- The SFA Referees Development Officer, Donald McVicar, backed Alan Freeland in sending off Chris Sutton in the previous game against Motherwell.
- Mark Burchill was placed on the transfer list. The club were seeking a fee of around £2.00million. With Larsson, Sutton and Johnson ahead of him in the strikers list O’Neill was unable to give him any guarantee of regular first team football. As such Burchill asked for a transfer.
- The club were linked to Joonas Kolkka, a winger then with PSV Eindhoven. He was still in contract at PSV and was thought that he would cost about £2.00 million. Elsewhere the Neil Lennon transfer saga rumbled on with Celtic having made a £6.5million bid but Leicester offering him £30,000/week to stay with them. Lennon refused to sign the new deal which prompted Leicester to slap an £8.00 million price tag on him.
- Joe Miller left Scotland to pursue his career in Australia.
- Rafael Scheidt stated that he would not back out of Scotland and intended fighting for a starting position. This was despite O’Neill’s singling him out after the Bray game to tell him how bad he was.
- Boyd and Petrov were rested. Shields, Johnson, Healy and Riseth came into the squad.
- Jeuness Esch were a set of Luxembourg part-timers. The teams meet in the Stade Josy Barthel with the Jeunesse chairman claiming that his team were fighting for the honour of their country. Celtic had played them before in 1977 when the aggregate score was 11-1.
- On the same night Scotland’s other representatives had mixed fortunes. Hearts beat IB Vestmanaer in Iceland 2-0 but Aberdeen were beaten 2-1 at home by Bohemians.
Review
An easy win against part-timers
Teams
Jeunesse Esch:
Van Riffwifck, Lamborelle, Thill, Schaack, Schault, Wagner (Meylender, 72 ), Bokboiloni, Stut, Kurtz (Nies, 65 ), Anodio, Bekil
Subs not used: Logenin, Laruall, Dillmann, Muller, Sabotic,
Celtic:
Gould, Mahe, McNamara (Johnson, 62 ), Valgaeren, Larsson (Healy, 62 ), Sutton, Lambert, Petta, Mjallby, Riseth, Moravcik
Subs not used: Kerr, Berkovic, Shields, Tebily, Burchill,
Goals: Moravcik (37), Moravcik (58), Larsson (61), Petta (81)
Yellows: Lambert (Celtic)
Referee: Kasnaferis (Greece)
Attendance: 4,004
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
- Manager Interview
Martin O’Neill post match :
“We were a bit lethargic at the start, some build-ups were very good, but the final ball was not so clever.
“We sorted that out in the second half, once the second goal went in, we ran out easy enough winners. It was just a case of trying to get the first goal in the beginning.”
“Lubo Moravcik is a wonderful talent, he has two great feet, he is a magnificent player. He should have done a lot more in his career. Where has he been for the last 15 years?”
“Petta certainly did well and scored a wonderful goal. It does show that in football confidence is a great thing. Lack of it last year played a big part in his performances. But he has knuckled down since I came here and I have encouraged him to go past players. He will lose the ball occasionally, but the main thing is for a winger that he must continue to try to get past men.”
Pictures
Stats
| Jeunesse Esch | Celtic | |
| Bookings | 0 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Fouls | 9 | 13 |
| Shots on Target | 1 | 16 |
| Corners | 2 | 8 |
| Offside | 0 | 5 |
Moravcik makes it easy for Celtic
The Scotsman 11/08/2000
Tom Lappin in Luxembourg
Jeunesse Esch 0 Celtic 4
MISSION accomplished. As expected, a comfortable victory in Luxembourg rendered the return leg of this UEFA Cup tie in a fortnight meaningless.Although Martin O’Neill still had words of criticism for his side and will value the additional time before the next roundto harden his team with more testing matches, Jeunesse rarely looked more than an irritant waiting to be swatted.
O’Neill managed to keep a straight face after the match when he said he would be extremely disappointed if Celtic failed to progress into the next round after last night’s stroll.
“We were a bit lethargic at the start, some build-ups were very good, but the final ball was not so clever,” he said. “We sorted that out in the second half, once the second goal went in, we ran out easy enough winners. It was just a case of trying to get the first goal in the beginning.”
It was a 36th minute strike from Lubo Moravcik that gave Celtic that vital breakthrough, after a busy but less than incisive start. He came up with the second as well, 13 minutes into the second half. It took an hour for Celtic to look completely comfortable, Henrik Larsson adding a third, and Bobby Petta grabbed a late goal which makes the return leg a mere formality.
O’Neill heaped praise on goalscorer and provider Moravcik, saying: “Lubo Moravcik has outstanding ability. He and [Tommy] Boyd are as old as me, but he has this great talent, maybe he should have done better in his career. Where’s he been the last 15 years?”
Petta too, was singled out for commendation by the Celtic manager. “I thought Bobby Petta was outstanding, and he scored a great goal,” O’Neill said. “Confidence is a very important thing, and I think that’s what he lacked last season.
“Certainly since I’ve been here, he has shown that he wants to knuckle down, and I’ve encouraged him to go past players, that’s his strength.”
Petta started in the left wing-back role in a Celtic side without Alan Stubbs, whose knee injury was still troublesome enough to rule him out. Johan Mjallby was drafted into midfield, with Vidar Riseth joining the back three alongside Stephane Mahe and Joos Valgaeren.
Chris Sutton, another recipient of post-match praise from O’Neill – “he has the beginnings of a good partnership going there” – started briskly and tried a speculative shot from 25 yards that did not dip early enough to be dangerous.
Midway through the half, he produced a more menacing effort. Larsson cushioned down a header just outside the area, and Sutton hit it first time.Jeunesse goalkeeper John Van Rijswijck reacted quickly to make a fine save.
A goal was required urgently, and Moravcik contrived one with a decisive run from midfield to support the attack.Sutton and Larsson were attempting to interpass their way through the Jeunesse hordes when the intervention of a third party, the Slovakian, proved conclusive. Trailing a leg to collect the loose ball around the penalty spot, he dragged it past the goalkeeper and into the net, to quell Glaswegian anxieties.
Larsson looked about to add a second two minutes before the interval, stepping on to a Mjallby through-ball that evaded an attempted interception. The goalkeeper again came to the rescue, getting a hand to Larsson’s fierce rising shot and directing it over the bar.
Celtic had the Jeunesse side’s measure, and should have enjoyed a more relaxed second half. There still seemed an edginess about their play though, an inability to show a little patience or intelligence with the final pass. Sutton snatched at a half-chance inside the area early in the second half, and the ball rolled wide.
Even Larsson was culpable. Finding himself six yards out and unmarked from Petta’s cross, he headed firmly goalwards, but somehow the goalkeeper sprawled on his line and made the block. Van Rijswijck was in danger of becoming that rare phenomenon, a Luxembourg football hero.
Paolo Amodio would have enjoyed a brief spot of glory himself if his control had been better, finding himself in space on the right of the Celtic area as Jean Wagner’s through-ball eluded the Celtic defence. Amodio panicked, and the ball bounced harmlessly off his boot and safely to Jonathan Gould.
Jeunesse were punished for their impertinence. Moravcik seemed to be the only Celtic player keeping a cool head,and he duly secured the second goal in the 58th minute.Sutton’s pass found him in space on the left, and his low shot into the corner was struck with absolute certainty.
At last Celtic found a degree of confidence. Three minutes later Larsson scored the third, with quick control and a smart finish from eight yards. His reward was a breather on the bench, with Tommy Johnson the replacement.
Petta’s goal came just as the game was declining into desultory passing. The winger skipped down the left and drifted past a couple of tired attempted tackles before whipping the ball low and hard into the corner of the net. It was a reward for a willing and positive attitude.
That man Amodio’s night got worse before the end. With the best chance of finding a consolation goal, he poked his shot at Gould from six yards. Not a happy night for Jeunesse, although a century of footballing non-achievement has probably inured the locals to these results.