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Trivia
- Much was happening off the field prior to this game not the least was the furore building up to a head over the John Collins compensation case. Fergus in all his terrier-like qualities refused to let it go saying that the club would go all the way to pursue the claim through UEFA, FIFA and the Swiss courts.
- The Celtic AGM took place the previous day; notable points were a call for a reduced number of clubs in the Scottish leagues, a clear series of hints towards a call for a Euro-league; and on the financial side Celtic shares were floated at £64 in September 1995 and were then trading at around £295 on the Alternative Investment Market; Celtic made a loss of £1.01 million for the year to 30 June 1996 after writing off a total of £3.8 million because of the Bosman ruling, which effectively abolished transfer payments for out of contract players; Turnover for the year increased 54% to £16.01 million and operating profit was £2.74 million.
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Celtic were eyeing up Everton midfielder Joe Parkinson with Davie Hay heading to see him play.
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Hamburg players Stephan Henchoz and Valdas Ivanauskas would see further Scottish football in the future; the former would join Celtic briefly and the latter would be recruited by Vladimir Romanov to first team coach then manager at Hearts
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The same night Aberdeen beat Barry Town 3-1 in the same competition.
Review
Found out in Europe by a moderate to good German side, frankly it was embarrassing.
Teams
Celtic:
Marshall, Boyd, McKinlay (McNamara, 46), Grant, di Canio (McLaughlin, 79), van Hooijdonk, Thom, Cadete, O'Neil, Hughes, Wieghorst (MacKay, 46).
Unused Subs: Kerr, Anthony.
Hamburg:
Golz, Henchoz, Friss-Hansen, Kmetsch, Ivanauskas (Schupp, 66), Baron, Fischer, Schopp, Hollervach, Sporl, Dowe (Hartmann, 46).
Subs: Hiemann, Falihamidzic, Kovacevic.
Goals: Baron (3), Schupp, (70)
Referee: Collina (Italy)
Attendance: 45,412
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Celtic fail big European test The Scotsman 11/09/1996
Celtic 0
Hamburg 2 Baron (2), Schupp (71)
THIS new-look Celtic side may have passed the standard grade examinations on the home front but they failed the first sitting of their European higher in the UEFA Cup last night.
A naive performance in defence allowed a run-of-the-mill Bundesliga side to stamp their authority on the first leg of this first-round tie with two goals from Karsten Baron and Markus Schupp. The winning margin might have been even greater such was the technical and tactical superiority of the German visitors.
Celtic played with a flat back four in the first half and a sweeper in the second. At no stage of the match, though, did they produce the kind of patient, thoughtful football needed to succeed at the top level.
Andreas Thom, Jorge Cadete, Pierre van Hooijdonk and Paolo di Canio are all able forwards but in this game they were unable to thrive on meagre rations. Not only were Celtic suspect in defence, but they were also one dimensional in midfield where the absence of Paul McStay was keenly felt.
There was no precision or rhythm about Celtic's passing and they failed to put the Germans under the cosh at any stage of the match. The evidence of this 90 minutes was that Celtic have acquired half a team – a forward line – but remain far short of the finished article.
If pre-match form was anything to go by, the fact that Hamburg came into this tie having conceded seven goals in their last two games while Celtic had scored ten suggested the Scots had little to fear. However, the poverty of the competition in Scotland meant that all assumptions were foolhardy.
Hamburg only required two minutes to prove the point.
Bernd Hollerbach was given acres of space down the left to make progress and allowed to deliver an unchallenged cross to the back post. Celtic were taken aback by the simplicity of the threat and failed to stop the towering centre-forward Baron from executing a powerful header. Gordon Marshall got both hands to the effort but was unable to prevent the ball bulging into the roof of the net.
It was the worst of all possible starts for the Scots and Celtic's response was muted. Unlike Hibs, who allowed Celtic to play as they pleased and gave them the oxygen of space on Saturday, Hamburg choked the life out of the home side's midfield.
While Morten Wieghorst was reasonably effective, Peter Grant regularly found himself caught in possession. The stress of being closed down quickly saw Celtic give the ball away too often for their own good.
With the advantage of an early away goal secured, Hamburg were able to relax and play a containing game.
Celtic were also uncertain at the back. Marshall's need to punch cross balls rather than to catch them meant that Celtic were unable to clear their lines. Baron might have scored a second in the 21st minute when Marshall was stranded had Di Canio not headed away.
Cadete then had the ball in the net after Wieghorst knocked the ball on but the effort was disallowed for offside. At least by the closing stages of the first half, however, Celtic had got over the shock of losing that early goal and were producing flurries of pressure even if they had not grasped any clear pattern of play.
Celtic made changes in personnel – Malky Mackay replaced Tosh McKinlay and Jackie McNamara came on for Wieghorst – and switched from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 after the interval.
The alteration in tactics brought a short-term change in attitude as the Scots laid siege to the Hamburg goal. Unfortunately there were drawbacks as well as benefits from changing horses in midstream. There was a warning about what was to follow after an hour when Hamburg attacked in numbers and inadvertently Mackay played the German forward line onside.
Hamburg's second goal was only delayed. Celtic's defence was again caught out in the 71st minute looking for offside as the substitute Schupp strode clear of the cover and found time to pick his spot beyond Marshall.
- Manager Interview
"Funnily enough I don't think it's beyond us," said Burns. "We will certainly go to Hamburg and have a real go."
Burns agreed the main priority for his side was domestic success. "You don't go from the state we were in to become a European force overnight. There have to be steps along the way and for us that means winning trophies in Scotland. We are still short at European level."
Burns thought the loss of an early goal was crucial but felt the game might have changed if Jorge Cadete's disallowed goal had been allowed to stand. "I didn't see anything wrong with it and a goal at that stage might have changed the game for us," he said.