Champions League Group F, Matchday Four
Tuesday 2nd November 2004
Celtic Park
Kick Off 7.45pm, Live On ITV Scottish, Sky Sports 2
Tomorrow night, Celtic face Shakhtar Donetsk at Celtic Park. As we are sitting with no points in Group F, while Shakhtar are three points ahead of us, the game is a must win for Celtic.
There are so many ifs and buts surrounding our possible progression in Europe. Mathematically, we are not out of the Champions League as yet, but realistically we have no chance of going through to the last sixteen. We need to look at a possible UEFA Cup place, which will be contested between us and Shakhtar.
Before the first game in the Ukraine, I did not know much about the Ukrainians. After watching Celtic suffer a 3-0 defeat, I now have a little more knowledge on them. As we know, they spent millions in the summer on transfer fees, and this showed in the Ukraine.
The news from the Shakhtar camp today is that one of the goalscorers a fortnight ago, Brandao, is out of the game.
As far as injuries go, we are certainly worse off. There is no point in moaning about it as we have to accept it and move on. Sutton is obviously going to be a massive blow but hopefully Henri Camara will be back for the game. Craig Beattie will also be looking to start the game after scoring at the weekend.
Another young Bhoy who will be eager to start against Shakhtar is Aiden McGeady. He also scored against Motherwell, and his creative spark could help us in getting our first Champions League points of the season.
Our defence was once again all over the place at the weekend. Martin O'Neill has today told them to shape up or face the consequences. We cannot afford to make schoolboy errors against anyone in the Champions League.
We have had no luck whatsoever in Europe this campaign. Late goals and injuries have all worked against us but hopefully tomorrow night, we can get the three points we deserve, and move on the road to the UEFA Cup.
Come On The Hoops!
Prediction: Celtic 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk