Celtic v Internazionale (Thursday 19/02/15, K.O. 20:05, BT Sports 1)

My main concern is the team seem to lose composure when they concede a goal.. now granted we have not lost many recently but when St johnstone scored it looked very similar to earlier in the season

I hope we do not find ourselves a goal behind.. this is my biggest fear. I would love to see us get an early goal and it will be interesting to see how Inter react.. they are not having a great season and an early goal from us could really unsettle them

For Ronny and the teams sake i hope we get a result at home and set up a cracking return tie. Would be a great confidence boost for the club and Ronny's philosophy.

Here's hoping all 60k at the stadium make it a memorable night and show why our stadium has a great reputation. Trips to Celtic park is a *journey* that many players want to take part in..

 

After this game I don't want us to have reiterated our reputation for creating a great atmosphere.

I want us to be known for our fast, pressing and effective style of football that was too hot for the Italians to handle.

 

@OC

Could you tell us what the expectations are from the italian media towards this game. Do they expect Inter to stroll through or expecting celtic to give them a tough game?

 

Aye he's class and will cause us problems with his intelligent movement.

Love the Avitar by the way.

 

Thanks for the excellent assessment OC

Although I wish I didn't read it now as I was slightly optimistic before you said 'world's best keeper, future ballon d'Or winner, icardi, shaqiri AND Jesus!! Jesus was our European guy

We definitley need an early goal! Ah well that's me back to totall * it again, default mode pre European Night freak out

I can't be there but will have the TV up full blast for that amazing atmosphere

Griffiths must surely start after his recent form.

 

I cannot wait for this to come around now. I don't know what to think of the fixture. I'm very excited and optimisitic but still naturally cautious and slightly * it.

A 0-0 wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

2-0 Griffiths and Virgil will score

 

Just as long as we can go into the 2nd leg still in the tie.

 

Very confident about this. More confident than I tend to be for a euro game. Absoloutely buzzing for the match think we'll grab a first half goal then hopefully grab one late one to go into the 2nd leg with a strong lead. But as people have said already if Inter score we'll fall apart

 

To be honest, there hasn't been that much focus on the game. For one, seeing as we've had our troubles in the league and have had to concentrate on that first and foremost - completely opposite to you guys, who have pretty much waltzed through the league and because of the superiority you hold in in Scotland, have had the 'luxury' of being able to maybe look forward to this game a bit more than normal? I don't know if I'm making sense, but I'm assuming you get what I mean.
Also, there's the natural element of time. The big papers usually always just focus on the next game, meaning Atalanta a couple of days ago. Wouldn't make sense to jump ahead so to speak.
As for now, I'm not really seeing a whole lot of coverage - I haven't really looked to be fair, but it'll come naturally in the next couple of days I'd assume.

As for the draw, I think we were quite happy, without sounding arrogant, that we drew Celtic. Certainly a favorable matchup compared to facing, say Tottenham or Sevilla. We expect to go through, but, I don't think you guys doing progressively better and better has gone unnoticed. You'd have to be naive to call this fixture any sort of walkover.

The focus of attention from the media's viewpoint lately has probably been mostly your fans and the atmosphere at Celtic Park. You''d be hard pressed to find anything like it in the modern game, and that's coming from a guy who last saw you against... Barcelona maybe? But that was something special. Vidic said it recently, and I get the feeling that it's not just the usual "yah, great fans, be good to play there, have to give a hundred percent, yada yada yada", but that Inter and the Italian media in general have huge amounts of respect for the way you get behind your team (well, on full-packed European nights anyway).
That's another thing I forgot to add - that's half the battle right there I think. Say what you will about our squad, it's not really filled with players used to winning, and certainly not filled with players used to playing European football (I'm assuming playing away in Dnipro and Azerbaijan isn't the same as player Celtic Football Club at their own ground). Except maybe of course Vidic, but he isn't playing, and then maybe... Hernanes and Palacio who have played in big-occasion matches?

What I'm trying to get at, is if you guys manage to scare or get under the skin of our players, things could get ugly. If not, then I'd say we're good to go.
Personally, I'm alot more scared of the atmosphere and how we'll react, than I am looking at your team. I realize that sounds like a completely underhanded compliment, but it's certainly not meant that way.

 

Have you seen us play lately OC?

Edit: eh, you said you havent. I think we're underrated in Europe. Our team has come a long way in the last couple of months

 

I haven't. I'm basing this on the extremely limited knowledge I have about your club and it's players. So excuse me if I come off as ignorant.

But yeah, what you said I think is the general consensus, also in Italy. I still maintain that I fear the surroundings more than the 11 players on the pitch though, without making you lot seem like a poor side. Far from it.

Agreed one hundred percent. There's no reason Celtic shouldn't feel they have a good shot at progressing.

 

Dont disagree with much of that, but i cant help thinking our players play better together than yours do. Mancini hasnt had as much time to shape and drill his team and that makes me optimistic.

 

Stokes is garbage in Europe. Shouldn't get a sniff of the lineup.

 

By the end of this tie I want Celtic to be feared for more than the noise our fans make.

 

the atmosphere is going to be unreal