2000-11-09: Celtic 1-2 Bordeaux, UEFA Cup

Match Pictures | Matches: 20002001 | 2000-01 Pictures


Trivia

  • Olivier Tebilly was out with a back and ankle injury but on the road to recovery. Paul Lambert’s ankle injury sustained in the last game against Kilmarnock was diagnosed as a stress fracture.
  • Eyal Berkovic turned down a move to Besiktas. Though desperate to get away from Celtic where he had fallen out of O’Neill’s starting eleven he told his advisers the volatile nature of Turkish football would not appeal to him and his young family. The move would have been of the order of £3.5 million to Celtic.
  • Aston Villa were said to be about to make a £1.5million bid for Mark Burchill who was out on loan to Birmingham City at the time and had scored 5 goals for the Blues.
  • Kenny Dalglish’s case against Celtic for unfair dismissal started to be heard at the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh. The club admitted that Dalglish could be entitled to a £750k pay off. Dalglish was seeking £1.2million. The case was adjourned to mid December for both sides to present their cases in the light of evidence.
  • Vidar Riseth was on the verge of a move to German side TSV 1860 Munich. The Germans were looking to take him on a permanent deal but O’Neill was only prepared to initially contemplate a loan deal despite Riseth only making him four starts this season.
  • Bordeaux were beaten 6-2 by Rayo Vallecano in the fourth round.

Review

This was a real test of Celtic, the first real chance to see how far we had come and it was built up as such by the media in the week leading up to the game. The first leg in France had finished a creditable 1-1 draw, and Elie Baup, the Bordeaux coach had been going on about the referee, who had awarded Celtic a penalty, ever since. Both sides were talented. Both had good players. For Celtic it was a chance to break a 17 year hex on making it through to the 3rd Round proper of the UEFA Cup. An excellent real joust of a game saw the Hoops fall in extra time to a goal caused when the defense switched off. But this really was an excellent game and the deflation felt at the result was offset by the performance of the team and a great game where in truth we dominated it and should have won.


Teams

Celtic:
Gould, Boyd, Valgaeren, Mjallby, Agathe, Petrov, Moravcik (Johnson 77), McNamara (Healy 39), Petta (Berkovic 105), Larsson, Sutton.
Subs Not Used: Kerr, Stubbs, Smith, Crainey.
Goals: Moravcik 54.
Booked: Sutton (Celtic)

Bordeaux: Rame, Jemmali (Saveljic 101), Sommeil, Diabate (Afanou 55), Roche, Bonnissel, Legwinski, Batlles (Basto 80), Dugarry, Pauleta, Laslandes.
Subs Not Used: Roux, Grenet, Alicarte, Bugnet.
Goals: Laslandes 78, 114.
Booked: Diabate, Sommeil (Bordeaux)

Attendance: 51,242
Referee: Sergey Schmolik (Belarus).


Articles

  • Match Report (see below)

Pictures


Stats

Celtic Bordeaux
Bookings 1 2
Red Cards 0 0
Fouls 11 16
Shots on Target 7 2
Corners 4 1
Offside 7 1

Individual Player Ratings

JONATHAN GOULD……………7
Goalkeeper did not have all that much to do but still ended up on the losing side and will feel entitled to have had more protection from his defence for both goals.
TOM BOYD………………………7
Undoubtedly Tom Boyd’s best game in a Celtic jersey for a long time and he made some telling interceptions especially in the first half.
JACKIE McNAMARA…………..5
Replaced Paul Lambert in the holding role in midfield but was the victim of a reckless high challenge by Lassina Diabete which effectively ended his match. Healy came on for him in 38 minutes.
JOOS VALGAEREN…………….6
The Belgian international must shoulder part of the responsibility alongside Mjallby for allowing the cross in from the right that allowed Laslandes time and room to score the equalising goal. He could also have been tighter on Laslandes when he struck the winner.
JOHAN MJALLBY……………….6
Swedish international was beginning to show signs of developing a real understanding with Valgaeren but was cruelly punished for lack of concentration and got caught flat-footed for Laslandes’ sucker punch goal.
BOBBY PETTA…………………..6
Fairly ineffective performance from the Dutch winger who struggled to make any impression on proceedings and was far too often wasteful in possession but did track back.
LUBOMIR MORAVCIK…………6
Slovakian international didn’t have the most productive of nights and his set- piece delivery was surprisingly poor but he worked hard and did bag the crucial opening goal. He was substituted with 12 minutes to go.
DIDIER AGATHE………………..6
Looked cumbersome and sluggish and final delivery into the box fell way short on many occasions but he was always willing to work and help out with defensive duties.
STILIAN PETROV……………….7
Got forward to real effect and ghosted into some great forward positions but unfortunately for Celtic the Bulgarian left his shooting boots at home.
CHRIS SUTTON…………………..8
The pounds 6million hitman was a constant menace to the French defence and put in a tireless shift in attack. Missed a couple of early opportunities and was Celtic’s best performer on the night despite an ongoing feud with Christophe Dugarry.
HENRIK LARSSON………………7
Swede looks out of sorts at the moment. Uncharacteristically missed a glorious first-half chance and early season goal touch seems to have deserted him of late but he did force keeper Rame into a brilliant stop from a second-half free kick.
COLIN HEALY…………………….7
The young Irishman replaced McNamara after 38 minutes and was an able deputy in the heart of the midfield.
TOMMY JOHNSON………………5
Replaced goalscorer Moravcik with 12 minutes to go. Blazed wildly over in extra time and also forced Rame into a stop at near post. He was dragged hopelessly out of position for the move that set up the winning goal.
EYAL BERKOVIC…………………4
The Israeli international replaced Bobby Petta in the midfield for the second period of extra time and looked lively enough and in the mood but it all came to no avail.


Articles

Celtic’s Bordeaux whine

The Scotsman 10/11/2000
Tom Lappin at Celtic Park

Celtic 1 Moravcik (54)

Bordeaux 2 Laslandes (78, 114)
Referee: S Schmolik (Belarus). Att: 51,242
After extra time, Bordeaux win 3-2 on agg
THIS latest European exit will merely be an addition to a dismal recent record, but for a few days at least it deserves to be noted that Celtic stumbled out of the UEFA Cup in the cruellest of circumstances.
After an assured and battling performance for 80 minutes, they seemed certain of a place in the third round draw. Unfortunately, games last 90 minutes and a late lapse cost Celtic the tie. The game demanded extra-time: Bordeaux won it with a glorious finish from Lilian Laslandes, but it was a match that will be pored over in many a Celtic Park post-mortem to ascertain what went wrong.
It was always going to be a headache of a match for Celtic and their supporters. Their dilemma was striking a balance between keeping their opponents under pressure and retaining a tight grip on the advantage they already held.
The puzzle was hardly solved when Celtic took the lead early in the second-half through Lubomir Moravcik. Still, they had to maintain the correct combination of going forward and giving away nothing at the back. In the end their nerves failed them, a lacklustre Bordeaux scrambling an equaliser 12 minutes from the end.
It was bad news all round as Scottish football could now be set to lose one of its two Champions League places the season after next after Rangers had also misfired, in the Champions League the night before. The Old Firm’s European misadventures directly affect their country’s co-efficient and, it follows, their future European ambitions.
At the start, Martin O’Neill’s line-up accentuated the positive last night, with Didier Agathe and Bobby Petta providing width in a five-man midfield. Celtic took the initiative from the outset. Early chances fell to Chris Sutton, heading wide from Agathe’s cross and Henrik Larsson, hitting a first-time shot from just inside the penalty area that didn’t have the power or direction to beat Ulrich Rame in the Bordeaux goal. The game then settled into midfield skirmishes, with Christophe Dugarry being booed like a pantomime villain.
The French started the game in a languid fashion, not seeming too exercised by the need to score to stay in the competition. Their coach Elie Baup had mentioned the need for patience, but their only attempt on goal in the first 45 minutes was a casual header from Pauleta that drifted over the crossbar.
They looked a little more vigorous after the restart but it was Celtic, though, who went closest, opening the scoring, Larsson striking a menacing free-kick from 25 yards that evaded the wall, but produced a flying save from Rame.
It was a temporary respite for the French. In the 55th minute and after some busy work from Petta on the left, Moravcik picked the ball up on the edge of the box and struck a low right-foot shot that evaded Rame’s dive and crept in off the foot of the post.
The goal didn’t entirely change the complexion of the match, Bordeaux still needing a goal to square the tie.
Celtic’s only problem, though, was the danger of succumbing to an unaccountable torpor that sets in once a 1-0 lead has been established. The French were far from fluent, but Jonathan Gould began to be called into the game. The French were a little encouraged when Laslandes contrived to get the ball in the Celtic net, but the offside flag had long since been hoisted.
The game was acutely balanced, a second goal for Celtic would give them a chance to breathe, while 1-0 induced nerves in players and manager alike.
Moravcik tired and was replaced by Tommy Johnson, which suggested O’Neill wanted to keep the play in the Bordeaux half.
Just as the ginger-haired striker appeared though, the French struck, Laurent Battles’ cross from the right evading the Celtic defence with Laslandes bundling it past Gould in ungainly fashion.
Petta tried to bring us a dramatic conclusion with a left-foot drive from a tight angle, but Rame tipped it over.
Extra-time arrived for the second time for Celtic in this competition. Now Ulrich Rame’s words predicting that Bordeaux would thrive in extra-time came to mind. Stilian Petrov whipped a shot wide at one end, Joos Valgaeren made a decisive saving tackle at the other. Eyal Berkovic replaced Petta for the final quarter-hour, but the plotline of the bad luck story was coming together.
Bordeaux’s winner early in the second period of extra-time was a thing of cruel beauty. Basto’s crossfield pass found Laslandes free, but at a tight angle on the right of the box. His finish was sublime, a high drive across Gould into the net.
Celtic’s season suddenly took on an entirely domestic aspect.

PA Sport Match Report

  • Manager Interview

Martin O’Neill post match:
“It is galling to think we outplayed a very talented side, and didn’t win the match. We had them beat.”
“It is very hard to take. I could not have asked for an ounce more effort from the players but we could not convert the chances we created in a game we should have killed off by half-time.
“Right now, this is the most disappointed I have felt because it was a match we should have won, there wasn’t even a doubt in my mind.”
“Now we are desperate to get into the Champions League and take on the best teams in the Continent.”


Celtic 1 Bordeaux 2 (Agg: 2-3) By Jon West, PA Sport

A goal five minutes from the end of extra time by Lilian Laslandes dumped Celtic out of the UEFA Cup.

It was the French international’s second strike of a memorable game that the home side thought was theirs when Lubo Moravcik fired them into the lead early in the second half.

But Laslandes wiped out that deficit late in normal time and struck again when the legs were at their weariest to make this a week to forget for the Glasgow giants.

Rangers may still be in this competition but only because they were knocked out of the Champions League two days earlier.

Celtic, like their bitter rivals across the city, had been so close to glory – but were caught out on the break and paid the price.

Before the game Celtic manager Martin O’Neill had claimed his side would attack as they simply didn’t know how to play for a goalless draw.

And so it proved with wingers Bobby Petta and Didier Agathe attacking from the flanks from the off.

Petta was kicked over a couple of times as he tormented his opponents on the left but it was Agathe on the other flank who was to have more influence as the half wore on.

He repeatedly sent over crosses despite having more than one marker to contend with as Celtic kept Bordeaux under almost constant pressure.

But it was a good old-fashioned passing move from the heart of midfield that first opened up the visitors’ defence.

Stilian Petrov was involved in it, enjoying one-twos with Agathe and then Henrik Larsson to set up Chris Sutton with what should have been a routine tap-in.

The flag was up anyway but somehow the former Chelsea man sidefooted wide to record a worse miss than the Dynamo Kiev striker at Manchester United last night.

There was more of an atmosphere at Celtic Park however as not a munched prawn could be heard in the din.

Sutton had been an injury worry before kick-off but O’Neill had in the end been forced to make two changes from the side that won 1-0 at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

With Paul lambert a long-term injury casualty and Alan Thompson ineligible, in came Agathe and Moravcik.

Celtic didn’t look like a side disrupted but another enforced change had to be made in the 40th minute when Jackie McNamara, who had been hurt sliding in with Lassina Diabate, was unable to continue and young Colin Healy replaced him.

Larsson was busy but his shooting in the first 45 minutes was woeful and he received a telling off from referee Sergey Schmolik for leaving his foot in on goalkeeper Ulrich Rame.

Bordeaux had threatened rarely before the break and Christophe Dugarry, the man who had scored in the first leg, was booed whenever he touched the ball.

He did little with it during that period although for all Celtic’s domination over the first 45 minutes they too had failed to produce anything that tipped the tie decisively in their favour. A goal had to come soon and it fell to Celtic just eight minutes after the restart.

Petta beat David Jemmali on the left and when Alain Roche did nothing more than head the ball a few yards upfield Moravcik belted it back to beat Rame low to his right.

It was no surprise the home side had taken the lead as minutes earlier Larsson had forced Rame into a breathtaking tip-over from a 25-yard free-kick after Sutton had been bundled over.
It was advantage Celtic although the objective was still the same for Bordeaux – they had to score to stay alive.

Sutton forced Rame into a save from distance and the goalkeeper survived a few more nervous moments when the ball was in his penalty area.

Bordeaux had to do something to stay in the game and eventually they did equalise through Laslandes in the 78th minute.

Jemmali made headway down the right, Laurent Batlles was first to the ball into the box and he turned to set up the number nine for a stab past Jonathan Gould.
O’Neill had been spot on – it had never been a game that had 0-0 written on it.

Neither side fashioned many opportunities inn the first period of extra-time, although Joos Valgaeren deserves plaudits for the way he tracked Dugarry back to snub his run at the crucial moment and Gould was able to gather.

In the second period it was Rame who needed to make a save, denying substitute Tommy Johnson after another replacement, Eyal Berkovic, had set him up.

It was the move of the match and had been begun deep in defence by Valgaeren and involved some excellent head tennis by Sutton and Petrov to get the ball under control.

But then Laslandes struck to put his side into the lead with just five minutes remaining on the clock.

Johan Mjallby and Valgaeren had been rocks in defence and Tom Boyd too had held firm but when red-booted substitute Bruno Basto played the ball to Laslandes down the inside right channel the opportunity for a shot was there.

It was a top-class effort, a searing curl over Gould and into the vacant net over the goalkeeper’s right-hand shoulder.

Bordeaux were home and, fittingly for a wine-producing region, dry once Laslandes’ shot hit the net.
Teams
Celtic: Gould, Boyd, Valgaeren, Mjallby, Agathe, Petrov, Moravcik (Johnson 77), McNamara (Healy 39), Petta (Berkovic 105), Larsson, Sutton.
Subs Not Used: Kerr, Stubbs, Smith, Crainey.
Booked: Sutton.
Goals: Moravcik 54.
Bordeaux: Rame, Jemmali (Saveljic 101), Sommeil, Diabate (Afanou 55), Roche, Bonnissel, Legwinski, Batlles (Basto 80), Dugarry, Pauleta, Laslandes.
Subs Not Used: Roux, Grenet, Alicarte, Bugnet.
Booked: Sommeil.
Goals: Laslandes 78, 114.
Agg (2-3)
Att: 51,242
Ref: Sergey Schmolik (Belarus).