Having seen off the Austrians of Tirol in the previous round, Celtic were drawn against Liverpool in the first round proper. Despite being written off by those knowledgeable chaps in the press - both north and south of the border - the tie turned out to be a remarkably tight affair, with Celtic a bit unfortunate not to progress into the next round over the two legs.
The first tie was played in front of a packed Celtic Park, and those in attendance witnessed a cracking end to end game that could have went either way. Liverpool opened the scoring early, with a young Michael Owen showing the kind of pace that his hammys can no longer handle to latch onto a through ball and slip the ball past Gould in the Celtic goal.
It was the unlikely figure of Jackie McNamara who got Celtic back into the game in the second half with a stunning goal that left James in the Liverpool goal rooted to the spot. Celtic then stunned the visitors by taking the lead - Simon Donnelly converting a penalty after Henrik Larsson tripped up over a blade of grass in the box. Let's just give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
But, just as it seemed the Hoops would hang on for the win, Liverpool grabbed what was probably a deserved equaliser with only seconds remaining - Steve McManaman scoring after a long mazy run that had started at the edge of his own box.
All in the all the result was probably a fair reflection on a game that saw both teams playing some great attacking football. The return leg, by contrast, was a dreary lifeless 0-0 draw. The result was enough to put the English side through to the next round, but Celtic more than matched their more illustrious opponents over the 180 minutes.
The first tie was played in front of a packed Celtic Park, and those in attendance witnessed a cracking end to end game that could have went either way. Liverpool opened the scoring early, with a young Michael Owen showing the kind of pace that his hammys can no longer handle to latch onto a through ball and slip the ball past Gould in the Celtic goal.
It was the unlikely figure of Jackie McNamara who got Celtic back into the game in the second half with a stunning goal that left James in the Liverpool goal rooted to the spot. Celtic then stunned the visitors by taking the lead - Simon Donnelly converting a penalty after Henrik Larsson tripped up over a blade of grass in the box. Let's just give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
But, just as it seemed the Hoops would hang on for the win, Liverpool grabbed what was probably a deserved equaliser with only seconds remaining - Steve McManaman scoring after a long mazy run that had started at the edge of his own box.
All in the all the result was probably a fair reflection on a game that saw both teams playing some great attacking football. The return leg, by contrast, was a dreary lifeless 0-0 draw. The result was enough to put the English side through to the next round, but Celtic more than matched their more illustrious opponents over the 180 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment