| Match Pictures | Champions League | Matches: 2003 – 2004 | 2003-2004 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic lose to 10 man Anderlecht
- Post-Note:
- "I've faced many great strikers, but the toughest one was when I was 17 and playing against a great Celtic team. On the other side was Larsson and Hartson, which was just an unbelievable strike force."
Vincent Kompany (2019)
Review
Celtic's Champions League aspirations were dealt a heavy blow by defeat in Brussels to 10-man Anderlecht.
The home side threatened when Aruna found room behind the Celtic defence to meet a Walter Baseggio cross but his header was comfortably gathered by Hedman.
With 25 minutes gone Anderlecht were reduced to 10 men when De Boeck received his second yellow card. The experienced centre half was booked for a scything tackle on Henrik Larsson and was then penalised for tugging at the shirt of John Hartson.
Larsson came close to finding the net with a header from an Alan Thompson corner and, soon after, Anderlecht keeper Daniel Zitka pulled off a marvellous save to block another close-range header from the Swede. Hartson nodded in the rebound from a yard out but the Welshman was ruled offside.
Larsson was then denied a penalty when Deschacht sent him sprawling in the area.
Eight minutes before half time Chris Sutton controlled a long ball from Didier Agathe on his chest and his flashing shot on the turn whistled just over the crossbar.
With 18 minutes remaining, Celtic fell behind when Christian Wilhelmsson flew down the right flank and cut back for Aruna to fire past Hedman from a central position 10 yards out.
Teams
Anderlecht:-
Zitka, Deschacht, De Boeck, Zewlakow, Baseggio, Kolar (Tihinen 90), Hasi, Wilhelmsson (Hendrikx 88), Mornar, Aruna, Kompany.
Subs Not Used:- Peersman, Vanderhaeghe, Zetterberg, Traore, MacDonald.
Goal:- Aruna 72.
Sent Off:- De Boeck (26).
Booked:- De Boeck, Hendrikx.
Celtic:- (3-5-2)
Hedman, McNamara (Valgaeren 46), Balde, Sutton, Varga, Agathe, Petrov, Lennon (Miller 80), Thompson, Larsson, Hartson.
Subs Not Used:- Douglas, Gray, Sylla, Maloney, Kennedy.
Booked:- Petrov, Larsson.
Attendance:- 21.835
Referee:- Fritz Stuchlik (Austria).
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Anderlecht sink Celtic
BBC
Anderlecht 1-0 Celtic
Celtic's Champions League aspirations were dealt a heavy blow by defeat in Brussels to 10-man Anderlecht.
Martin O'Neill's side had an advantage in personnel for 65 minutes, following the dismissal of Belgian skipper Glen De Boeck.
But Dindane Aruna struck a 72nd-minute goal for the home team in a scrappy match, played at whirlwind pace.
Both sides were committed to attack as the game raged from end to end but Celtic failed to create many good scoring chances.
Anderlecht came within inches of taking the lead in the ninth minute when Olivier Deschacht exchanged passes with Aruna and curled a shot past Celtic goalkeeper Magnus Hedman, but the ball struck the crossbar and bounced away to safety.
I always knew this group would be very tight and it is still wide open – but there is no margin for error now
Celtic boss Martin O'Neill
O'Neill rues missed chance
The home side threatened again moments later when Aruna found room behind the Celtic defence to meet a Walter Baseggio cross but his header was comfortably gathered by Hedman.
With 25 minutes gone Anderlecht were reduced to 10 men when De Boeck received his second yellow card.
The experienced centre half was booked for a scything tackle on Henrik Larsson and was then penalised for tugging at the shirt of John Hartson.
Larsson came close to finding the net with a header from an Alan Thompson corner and, soon after, Anderlecht keeper Daniel Zitka pulled off a marvellous save to block another close-range header from the Swede.
Hartson nodded in the rebound from a yard out but the Welshman was ruled offside.
Larsson was then denied a penalty when Deschacht sent him sprawling in the area.
Glen De Boeck was sent off in the first half
Eight minutes before half time Chris Sutton controlled a long ball from Didier Agathe on his chest and his flashing shot on the turn whistled just over the crossbar.
The lively Aruna cut a swathe through the Celtic defence just before the interval but a timely lunge from Stanislav Varga finally blocked the striker's path.
Five minutes into the second half Varga popped up in attack but could only bundle a Thompson cross wide of the post from just a few yards out.
On the hour Anderlecht striker Ivica Mornar was released by a long ball over the top of the Celtic defence but his attempted lob drifted wide of the target with Hedman advancing at speed.
With 18 minutes remaining, Celtic fell behind when Christian Wilhelmsson flew down the right flank and cut back for Aruna to fire past Hedman from a central position 10 yards out.
Larsson saw a tame strike saved, substitute Liam Miller dragged an effort wide and John Hartson shot straight at Zitka from a great position as Celtic threw men forward.
But Celtic could not find a way through and have now suffered defeat in all five of the away matches they have played in the Champions League.
Anderlecht: Zitka, Deschacht, De Boeck, Zewlakow, Baseggio, Kolar (Tihinen 90), Hasi, Wilhelmsson (Hendrikx 88), Mornar, Aruna, Kompany.
Subs Not Used: Peersman, Vanderhaeghe, Zetterberg, Traore, MacDonald.
Sent Off: De Boeck (26).
Booked: De Boeck, Hendrikx.
Celtic: Hedman, McNamara (Valgaeren 46), Balde, Sutton, Varga, Agathe, Petrov, Lennon (Miller 80), Thompson, Larsson, Hartson.
Subs Not Used: Douglas, Gray, Sylla, Maloney, Kennedy.
Booked: Petrov, Larsson.
Attendance: 27,000.
Referee: Fritz Stuchlik (Austria).
Agathe recalls Anderlecht agony as Champions League offers echoes of past life
Stewart Fisher
Sports Writer
(2017)
THIS season's Champions League group selection stirs up strange echoes of Celtic's past life. Not since the 2003-04 season have the Parkhead side found their name matched with Anderlecht and Bayern Munich, with the numbers made up by an ambitious French side, this time Paris Saint-Germain rather than Lyon. But as far as this week's trip to Brussels is concerned, supporters of the Parkhead side will hope that is where the co-incidence ends.
Arriving in the Belgian capital in October 2003 on the back of an unfortunate defeat in Munich and a 2-0 home win against Lyon, Martin O'Neill's hopes for the elusive away win which would have blown the group wide open were sky high when their captain Glen de Boeck was dismissed for two bookings within the opening half-hour. Rather than use their good fortune as a springboard, though, Celtic merely turned in one of the more insipid performances of the O'Neill era, succumbing to a late goal from Aruna Dindane to lose 1-0 to the 10-men Belgians. It was a blow which they never quite recovered from, a late Juninho Pernambucano penalty in a 3-2 defeat in France's second city seeing Munich progress for the last 16 at their expense.
O'Neill's side, indeed, never did make it out of the group stages, but a 3-1 in the reverse match against the Belgians at Celtic Park at least meant they finished ahead of Anderlecht on head-to-head record and took their place in the then Uefa Cup, progressing through one round before going down narrowly to Barcelona. *While Brendan Rodgers would probably take a similar outcome this time around, a riotous Champions League title was claimed by the previous year's Uefa Cup final opponents Porto only emphasised what they could have won.
Celtic were along familiar lines that night in the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. But this was an unfamiliar performance, even if their opponents that day included a callow 17-year-old Vincent Kompany.
Again, the trip to an Anderlecht side who have started the season badly and recently installed former striker Niko Frutos as replacement for the sacked Rene Weiler, seems quite winnable. Didier Agathe, a veteran of that night, knows the importance of victory in a group where the opening match day merely conformed to the idea that the best both these teams can do is third place.
"The away game against Anderlecht was a strange game," Agathe said. "I don't like to make excuses but I remember finding it hard to play in Scotland then having to change to play in a Champions League game. It was a small tight pitch and there wasn't much room. To be fair we went there and didn't play well. We didn't have control of the ball particularly in midfield, we couldn't find the striker like we normally did. We knew we didn't play well. But by the time we played them at home it was a different game because we knew we could play so much better. We usually played better at home."
Those same system problems with Scottish football still exist, with the task facing clubs like Celtic merely magnified by the riches lavished on their rivals, like PSG and Bayern Munich. Agathe, who recently completed his A licence and has designs on landing a club job in Europe, is a huge admirer of Rodgers, but even he was surprised by how much the Northern Irishman was prepared to open up and try to play against PSG. He hopes that confidence remains intact ahead of the trip to Brussels.
"I watched the game against Paris St Germain at home and I thought if you are playing a team like them you really have to defend," he said. "Neymar, [Kylian] Mbappe and [Edinson] Cavani, they like to play in the space, they like lots of space to play in, so I would have said that you would be best to defend quite narrow and quite deep, to give yourself a chance of a draw, and a draw against Paris I think would have been a really good result.
"I can't be critical because I really, really like Brendan Rodgers, I like the way his team play, I like the way the manager wants to have the ball and wants to attack. But when you play against Paris St Germain, they are at the same level as maybe Barcelona and Chelsea, you need to adapt. Because it was 5-0 at home the danger is that it affects their confidence. Celtic need to remember that it is only Anderlecht they have got next, they can beat Anderlecht, and they need to beat Anderlecht. They need to have possession in the game, try to play the way they normally play."
With Youri Tielemans gone to Monaco, and the highly-rated Leander Dendonker still there, Belgian football is a hot house for young talent. But Celtic have no shortage of international players within their own ranks.
"For me, it is important that Celtic don't think they are a bad team at this level just because they lost 5-0 at home to PSG," Agathe said. "It happens in football, now they have to come back again and show that Celtic is a great team. I think they can beat Anderlecht, qualify for the Europa League and go on a run. As long as they get their confidence up, they still have a great, great chance to go through."