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Trivia
- Chinese captain Du Wei arrives at Parkhead on trial.
Review
Teams
Celtic:-
Boruc, Telfer, Balde, McManus, Camara, Thompson (Aliadiere 87), Petrov, Lennon, Wallace (Maloney 53), Hartson, Zurawski (Beattie 63).
Subs Not Used:- Marshall, McGeady, O'Dea, Lawson.
Goals:- Thompson 23, hartson 44, McManus 53, Beattie 82.
Booked:- Thompson, Balde.
Artmedia Bratislava:-
Cobej, Burak (Stano 68), Debnar, Durica, Tchur, Kozak, Vascak (Mikuljic 73), Borbely, Fodrek, Halenar (Bulkic 86), Obzera.
Subs Not Used:- Hellebrand, Kotula, Gomez, Kollar.
Booked:- Debnar.
Att:- 50,063
Ref:- Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain).
Articles
- Match Report (CelticFC.Net)
- (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Celtic regain pride but still fall short
Ewan Murray at Celtic Park
The Guardian, Wednesday 3 August 2005 01.06 BST
Article history
Celtic bowed out of European competition at the earliest opportunity last night despite a spirited and memorable performance at Parkhead. Gordon Strachan's men came within a goal of forcing the tie into extra-time and completing the greatest comeback in Champions League history, but ultimately could not recover from their 5-0 drubbing in Slovakia last Wednesday.
Celtic's club captain Neil Lennon voiced his support for his under-pressure manager despite the club's departure from European competition, which is likely to cost them at least £10m. "I think everyone could see tonight that the boys are right behind the manager, and we're all pleased for him," he said. "We only have ourselves to blame after letting ourselves down last week, but tonight there was quality, passion and everything you'd want from a Celtic team.
"We can take a lot from the performance and the fact we never gave up. The dressing room is a bit subdued, but we wanted to give it everything tonight and certainly did that."
Artmedia's coach Vladimir Weiss was a relieved man. "I have never seen such an atmosphere in all my years in football," he said. "It was a difficult job to convince the players that miracles couldn't happen coming into this game. Thank God there was no miracle, but there almost was. I am very proud of my team."
Strachan handed the Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc his first competitive start after David Marshall conceded nine goals in his last two outings. Boruc's compatriot Maciej Zurawski also took also took a place in the starting XI after missing the weekend draw at Motherwell. Bobo Balde was restored to the centre of defence alongside Stephen McManus because of Stanislav Varga's groin injury.
After a low-key build-up, Artmedia kicked off to a deafening noise from the home support. Zurawski created the game's first opening down the Celtic left, but Daniel Tchur headed away from the lurking Ross Wallace at the back post.
Wallace blazed over from the angle of the penalty area in the sixth minute, after neat set-up play between Neil Lennon and John Hartson. It was all Celtic by this point, with the visitors already content to play out time and indulge in some unsurprising spells of play-acting.
As the half wore on, the Slovakians gradually found their feet. A Branislav Obzera cross was smartly held by Boruc and Balde headed a Jan Kozak free-kick behind. But Celtic were handed the chance to keep the tie alive after 22 minutes, when Ondrej Debnar was adjudged to have pulled Zurawski down inside the box. Alan Thompson made no mistake from the resultant penalty.
Strachan had demanded a two-goal half-time lead and with seconds of the opening period remaining Hartson provided it, latching on to a Wallace flick-on to blast the ball home, low to Juraj Cobej's right.
The goal lifted the team for the start of the second half. Shaun Maloney was brought into the fray eight minutes after the interval, replacing Wallace as Celtic went all out for goals. Only seconds later McManus, a 22-year-old defender, stooped to head home the substitute's cross with the aid of a slight deflection.
It was all to play for now, and how the home side knew it. Hartson lobbed just over after a blunder in the Artmedia defence, with Strachan urging his team forward at every opportunity, and Craig Beattie, the scorer of Celtic's last-minute equaliser at the weekend, replaced the tiring Zurawski after 63 minutes.
Strachan was now opting for pace as the primary weapon against the battle-weary Slovakians, who by this time were simply unable to get out of their own half, such was the ferocity of the home side's attacking play.
Stilian Petrov saw an acrobatic overhead kick go inches wide and a Beattie header came back off Cobej's right-hand post. The small band of Artmedia fans sensed time was running out for Strachan's men, and made their presence felt for the first time.
The final moments were made even more fraught when, with eight minutes remaining, Celtic put themselves within one goal, Beattie powerfully latching on to Mo Camara's cross from the left wing to head past Cobej. But the fifth goal would not come, despite the late siege on the visitors' goal area.