Celtic gained their first point of the 2020/21 Europa League campaign with a 2-2 draw in France.
Truth be told I think many of us were fearing getting turned over last night.
But the team stood up to be counted for and produced a fabulous first 45 mins full of drive and endeavour that resulted in a stunning 2-0 half time lead.
Even before the goals, we had looked dangerous with an Albian Ajeti finish chopped off rightly for offside and the same man missed at the near post when it looked easier to score after a sublime cutback from Ryan Christie.
But the Swiss hitman backheeled wonderfully to set-off his ex-Basel teammate Mohamed Elyounoussi and the Norwegian winger then dispatched majestically from over 25 yards out on the 28th-minute giving keeper Mike Maignan no chance.
Indeed the recently capped French keeper didn’t even move.
It got even better four mins later when a Jeremie Frimpong cutback was finished beautifully by the same player and at that point, we were in dreamland.
But alas it didn’t last long as within a few minutes the home side were awarded a dubious penalty when Jonathan David had his heels clipped by Shane Duffy.
There’s no doubt it was a foul but it wasn’t even on the line never mind inside the box and to be honest it was a pretty typical decision by the referee Aleksandar Stavrev who was blowing for fouls to the home team all night.
Anyway, 30 million Euro man David hasn’t scored since arriving from Gent in the summer and nothing changed as Scott Bain saved with his trailing legs as the Canadian elected to go down the middle.
Justice was undoubtedly done on that occasion but we did get some luck on others.
Earlier in the half, there had been a scramble in the Celtic box which we were happy to see end with the ball floating wide.
Scott Bain also made a good save from a freekick by Yazici and then after his penalty save almost went from saint to sinner as he spilt a cross before Duch defender Sven Botman hit the bar.
In the second half I was praying we wouldn’t sit in but that’s exactly what we did as the home side peppered our defence.
We actually held out for over 20 mins but then Kris Ajer went off with a groin strain to be replaced by Nir Bitton and we conceded not long after as Zeki Çelik stood unmarked at the back post from a corner and duly finished.
Eight minutes later it was level as our defence was pretty much non-existent allowing Jonathan Ikoné to turn and equalise and at that point, you were just begging for full time.
There’s no doubt them throwing on a slew of substitutes on the 63rd minute which included big hitters Sanches, Neto and Yilmaz made a difference as they began to run over the top of us.
Around about then, we did give Odsonne Edouard a run out to replace Ajeti but he was pretty ineffective which is no real surprise considering his recent layoff.
We also threw on our own troupe of subs on the 81st-minute mark to help us see it out with Rogic, Soro and Welsh replacing Christie, Brown and Ntcham.
Both teams were pretty much dead on their feet at 2-2 and seemed happy to take a point.
There were a few opportunities on the breakaway earlier in the half and Elyounoussi bizarrely elected to keep running when he had a chance to score from the edge of the box at a much closet distance than his first emphatic strike but that aside us getting into their half in the second period was at a premium never mind scoring.
In the end, it’s a really good point and some game time too for the likes of Bitton and Edouard.
Let’s be honest you’d have taken it and then some before the game and as disappointing as it is to let a two-goal lead slip they are a very strong outfit who sit joint top of the French league with PSG after eight games and haven’t lost a fixture since February.
Elsewhere AC Milan hammered Sparta Prague 3-0 and could be the group’s runaway leaders and we now have a vitally important doubleheader coming up against the Czechs.
To have any chance of progression we will need to take at least four points from the two ties and ideally six.
We then face a daunting trip to Milan before entertaining Lille who at this stage look like our biggest rivals for second place and progression.
Ideally, Milan beat them twice over their doubleheader which would mean they pretty much have the group sown up by the time we come to visit therefore might not field a full-strength team.
I guess we’ll see.
It’s on to Sunday now and Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi-final from last season.
It’ll be played at an empty Hampden and the Dons are in good form as they showed by holding us a 3-3 draw last weekend.
With the likes of Lewis Ferguson and Ross McCrorie giving them drive from the midfield they have presence upfront via Watkins, Edmundson and the recently returned Cosgrove not to mention danger from out wide via Scott Wright, Niall McGinn and ex-Celtic Jonny Hayes.
With only one loss in ten and seven wins their confidence is high and 12 goals in their last five matches shows they have a real offensive threat too.
They’ll fancy their chances after last week but they haven’t beaten us at Hampden since the 1992 League Cup semi-final or at the national stadium in the Scottish Cup since the 1990 final when we lost 9-8 on penalties and the landscape of Scottish football was very different.
We’ve won eight games on the bounce against them in either semi-finals or finals since 1994 and it would be almost unthinkable for that run to come to an end on Sunday.
It would also dash any hopes of the historic quadruple treble.
Oh, and it would mean five games without a win which hasn’t happened since the ’90s.
Let’s make sure we end the current winless run and begin a new winning one to take us through the cold dark winter nights.
....Always A Tim! 