Champions League Celtic V Young Boys January 22nd kick off 8PM TNT sports 3

We still have a slight chance with a draw(10pts), but we’d need City to smash PSG tonight too.
That would leave a 4 way battle between us, PSG, Stuttgart and Zagreb for 2 places.
Zagreb would need at least 3 points from Arsenal and AC Milan, which is unlikely.
Then Stuttgart (10pt) and PSG (7pts) play each other on week 8.
If that’s a draw or stuttgart win, we go through.
If PSG win, it will go to GD with the lowest of the 3 going out.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that anyway, do the business tonight and we’re through no matter what!

 

Champions League VII: BSC Young Boys

Match Preview: https://www.talkceltic.net/forums/threads/champions-league-vii-bsc-young-boys.157323/#post-7817044

 

I have no idea what we want off other games just now, seen another post on here if Arsenal win and we do play-off spots guaranteed?


I had a look earlier at the table and it’s that tight I’ve no idea. But really, * everything else, we just need to absolutely make sure we win. And win as much as we can for goal difference.


If we can’t then we don’t deserve * all.

 

Yeah, that would make it mathematically impossible for us to drop below 24th.
Basically, if we win tonight, it would take an extraordinary series of results to knock us out, including Zagreb beating both Arsenal and Milan, amongst several other unlikely results.
Fair to say that if we win, we are through!

 

With current table if we win and Bayern win we will move up to somewhere between 14th and 18th.
We cant get to 12th tonight as the teams above us are all on at least 13 pts except Bayern who are on 12pts but need them to beat Feyenoord,

 

A draw tonight will be enough if PSG lose win tonight.

PSG play Man City. Those are the two teams that can knock us out but because of the fixtures, Stuttgart or PSG will go below us if we get a point tonight because they play each other on the last game day.

 

Some nice reassuring statistics, lifted from BBC

Match statistics

• Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic are unbeaten in five in the Champions League matches at home and 29 in all competitions.

• Young Boys, who sit ninth in the Swiss top flight, have only won one of their latest nine games away from home.

• Young Boys have not won any of their 11 away games in the Champions League, losing nine of them.

• The sides have played twice previously, with a 0-0 draw in Switzerland before a single own goal gave Celtic victory in Glasgow in the Europa League in 1993.

• Young Boys have lost two and won one of their six games against Scottish teams, their latest being a 2-1 home defeat of Rangers before drawing 1-1 at Ibrox in the Europa League in 2019.

• Celtic have won 11 and lost four of their 18 matches against Swiss opponents, the latest being 3-0 victories home and away over Sion in the Europa League in 2011 (famous away win )

• Celtic have never lost at home to a Swiss side, winning eight and drawing the other - 1-1 with Zurich, who would win the Uefa Cup tie 5-3 on aggregate, in 1998

 

Can't wait for this..

 

Can’t wait for tonight but it’s also been the most nervous I’ve been for a game in years. Don’t get me wrong I’d have snapped your hand off to have a game against this mob at home to essentially qualify but it’s the expectation that comes with it that worries me. We’ve been here so many times in Europe in games we would expect to win but hopefully tonight is different.

An early goal would be * massive because it would release so much tension inside the stadium but if that doesn’t come I just hope the fans stick with the players because the last thing we need is fans getting on players backs early doors after a misplaced pass or a mistake.

One thing for sure we need to be far more clinical than we have been in recent games, they may be a poor/below average side however they’ll still have players that can hurt us if we * away big chances again, simply can’t afford that tonight.

 

Ok, first I agree with you on the nerves... I'm not confident at all, and I agree that not doing our usual and shipping a stupid goal in the 5mins around starts/ends of the halves is huge, and as always the fans will be a huge influence on proceedings in Europe

Not sure I'm onboard with them being a poor/below average side though... There's no really poor teams in the cl, and they can all show up on the night. I'm delighted it's them Vs a Bayern/Liverpool type team, for sure, but I'm not putting them as a gimme by any measure...

 

All about which Celtic turns up. If the Celtic that played Leipzig turns up, we'll blow them away. If the Celtic that played at Ibrox shows up, we're in for a horrible defeat. If the Celtic that played most of our games since the last international break shows up, we're in for a tight, nervy night that could go either way.

Got to say, I'm expecting that last one.

 

20 Minute Tims released a scouting podcast on their Patreon.

 

Gonna be tough. They've just had a break so will be fresh aswel. Hopefully we grab every chance we can as I don't fancy a thing from villa.

 

I’m definitely not classing it as a gimme but the facts are they’re bottom of the league on 0 points having conceded 22 and only scoring 3. Their last 2 results have been 5-1 and 6-1 defeats and in addition to that they’re 4th bottom of their own league.

It absolutely won’t be a gimme and I’m not expecting to just run over the top of them because they’re playing in the champions league for a reason, but the facts are anything other than a win would be a very poor result. If we want to do anything at this level, then this is a game we have to be winning and anything less wouldn’t be acceptable.

There is huge pressure on the game and expectation of a result can weigh heavy but if we turn up and are at our best we win, it’s really that simple.

 

That last time we played them, did Tom Boyd make a brilliant save? And then got sent off? Was it at Hampden?

Sure I went to that game.

 

The thing with this league phase is that it's draw dependant. Who's beat them? Did they draw Liverpool, city, Madrid, etc? Or other comparable teams that are * but not as *?

 

Our defence are becoming day dreamers
Our midfield is non existent at times
Our front men couldn’t hit a barn door

Looking forward to it mind lol

 

It was at the old Celtic Park. September 1993. Liam Brady's last ever win as Celtic manager. He would resign just a couple of weeks later.

If you were there that night you might remember this (I didnt know this until researching for this game)...

Celtic had a popular ground announcer back then called 'Tiger Tim', and this game also marked his last ever as the ground announcer.

Earilier the same day as this game, R****** got knocked out of Europe, the news of which came through just before kick off... The ground announcer, Tiger Tim, asked for a minute's silence before the game... apparently noone knew why... after the minute's silence was observed even by the players etc, he revealed it was to mark the death of R****** in Europe for the season, and apparently the entire stadium exploded with laughter.

The 'Old Board' did not see the funny side of it and they fired him before halftime.

 

First of all as long as we approach this with the right mindset go out to win the game and play well then I think it doesn’t matter how YB approach this.

What could impact the nature of how the game is played is how YB see this game.

Either they don’t care and want to focus on their league and getting back into Europe next season.

Or they see this as a complete free hit no pressure and a positive result could be a springboard for their league campaign.

Saying that an early goal for us and I see their arses collapsing. Their aim will be keep it 0-0 and get the crowd onto our players backs.

 

Might be a bit rusty so could work in our favour. Need a quick start.