2013/14 Champions League Qualification

"There is no UEFA ruling for it but I think it would be in his best interests not to play the game and if I get the opportunity to speak to him I will be telling him that as well," said Lennon.

"Were Elfsborg to succeed, in the longer term I don't think it would look good for Mohamed's future here.

"I won't speak to Elfsborg but my take on it is that in his current situation it wouldn't be a good idea. If he played it would put him in a compromising situation.

"I think it would be a very difficult situation for him mentally as well so I think it would be best for all parties if he didn't participate in either of the ties.

"He is our player at the end of the day and we have loaned him out to that club. The only reason we put him out on loan is to get some game time.

"He is playing in an environment that he knows, he has done very well, so hopefully he will come back a better player."

Not sure what to make of Lennon's comments.

 

Bad draw, potential banana skin and frankly I'm nervous. Helsingborg weren't as easy as people seem to remember. They are halfway through their season and the first leg will be at a half full CP. Just because Bangura was * for us, doesn't mean he will be * in their system.

All reasons to be nervous. I'd say we're favourites, but not by much. Wasn't expecting to face a decent team until the playoff round.

 

Right ok, here's the thing. Anybody who's played football before has played on astroturf at least 100 times. It suits us, why, because we like to play the ball on the deck and everyone up front are as two footed as they come, with bags of skill and pace.

We played in Russia on the astroturf and won, we played last year on the astroturf and won, we already had a run out on the astroturf against Cliftonville and came close to running up a cricket score two weeks into pre-season.

I know Champions League football is hyped up for Elfsborg and they gambled on not signing a player to be cheapskates and take Bangura on loan. That is gonna backfire, because when he walks out onto Celtic park, he has no idea what will await him and i think his bottle will crash big time.

 

I'll be surprised if you got more than 1000 , due to the fact that our capacity is only about 10600 in Europe due to the ridiculous All-seater-rule and the fact that UEFA doesn't allow us to use temporary seating in the Terracing anymore.

Elfsborg come from a small town in Sweden. Borås about 50 000 inhabitants. There are many Old men and families that follow Elfsborg. They are not even top 4 in terms of audience in the Swedish league. They've never been involved in any public scandals.

 

Celtic Park will not be half full. It will be very similar to the attendance against HJK Helsinki at the same stage of qualification last season, which was 52,849. At the very worst, it will be three quarters full, especially with more season tickets having been sold this year in comparison to last year.

 

I'm guessing half full based on the complacency I'm sensing from large numbers on this forum.

 

You're wrong about Bangura ... all the world players, they do not good in any team even if one is good. Football is very much about coincidences since they are very different around the football that should work.

Our scorelist in 16 matches bangura had started 13

Lasse Nilsson 6
Mohamed Bangura 5
James Keene 4
Marcus Rohdén 3
Tom Söderberg 3

And assist list

Stefan Ishizaki 7
Mohamed Bangura 3
Marcus Rohdén 2
Viktor Claesson 2
Lasse Nilsson 2

 

random review

That's not an accurate way to measure future attendances if I might say so myself. This forum is not a fair representation of all Celtic supporters, sorry fellow posters

I think the vast majority of Celtic fans will be excited for this tie and won't be complacent at all, especially with the first leg at Celtic Park. If the 2nd leg had been at Celtic Park and we had hypothetically beat IF Elfsborg 2-0 away from home in the 1st leg then perhaps.

 

to be fair, we only have 1 week to sell tickets

 

Ooooh, it's his dream game eh, haha. Just wait man. The Green Brigade will have a field day with this one.

 

The Helsinki game was on the season books. I think we will be doing well to break the 40,000 barrier which in itself will be a superb attendance.

 

Yeaa Henrik Larsson is the best Swedish player on the 2000 century after our superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Our nationalteam is good. But only 2 players in our National team come from our league. Tobias Hysen and Anders Svensson

 

Cliftonville added extra seats to their ground just for the Celtic match. Uefa gave them permission to do so.

 

fixed that for you

 

Christ the stats are terrifying. Just over a goal a game, but somehow less assists than goals

 

You look forward to him proving us wrong?

 

Do you think your 'superstar' ibrahimovic will still play and score goals at age of 41. King Henrik did albeit in a reserve game last month for his first club Hogaborg.

Anyway, at home Celtic 3 Elfsborg 1 away Elfsborg 1 Celtic 1