Got booked up yesterday for Lisbon. Doing it the hard way, Edinburgh to Gatwick to Porto then a train from Porto to Lisbon. .. .and the reverse to get home. A steal at £160 though. Really fancied Moscow as i've been to the other two but i'm hearing Tam Crook are taking £599 for a day trip and thats before you buy a visa (£130) and a ticket. . . . .Even by their standards thats a shocking price.
On top of losing Garcia to Man City, Benfica have tonight sold Witsel to Zenit for 40m euros. Can only be good news for us.
Wow Moscow is one expensive trip going on that! The Portugese Clubs fair get decent money for their players, aint even heard of that guy above and he went for 40m euros, same price as Falcao i think and he is a good striker.
A few of us really fancied Moscow and i was prepared to pay a bit more to go but i'm refusing to pay £599 for a day trip. . . . . .and thats before i shell out for a visa and ticket. There is some cash floating about the Portugese league now with 40m euros to Porto for Hulk and 40m to Benfica for Witsel.
Benfica have lost a lot of their better players this summer, don't know much about who they have bought but they are definitely a weaker side now than at the start of the transfer window. Still probably a level above us but its good to see their better players out the door.
While they have lost two of their best players they have signed the top goalscorer from Braga who scored as many league goals as the striker they lost. While we will all be thinking they are weakened i've no doubt the replacements will be top players.
Didn't know where to put this so i'll stick it in here. Samaras was taken off injured tonight and his m8 on Twitter (a sports lawyer) reckons it's a serious back/arm injury. Typical.
Our luck with injuries in recent years has been unreal. On the plus side McGeouch will be back in training next week.
The queues for Champions league tickets was halfway down the London Road today which is great to see. The only thing missing was our 'star' striker mingling and Dermot Desmond running about with a tray of plastic cups shouting about 'them over there'
After going on general sale yesterday Celtic have announced that the three match Champions League packages have sold out. So three sell outs and around another £3-4m in the club coffers. Big time football returns to Glasgow. . . . . . #Armageddon.
Can't wait for tonight, Celtic Park will be bouncing. On ability Benfica should beat us but with the atmosphere and the players showing heart you never know. Whatever happens it's good to be back!
From BBC Missing both Kayal and Ledley, will be a big loss for us in midfield. Really looking forward to tonight
Good result tonight, against a strong Benfica side. We never really threatened their goal, but we remained tight at the back and played well. Special mention for Brown and Wanyama who were both outstanding tonight, especially Brown. I've never seen him play that well for Celtic, incredible performance.
We played at a level tonight we know we can. Benfica are a good team and we easily matched them. While we look for three points at home we know where we are and a point against a top team like Benfica is decent.
Pleased enough with last night. A draw was definitely a fair result as we never really looked like winning but didn't deserve to lose either. As above, Scott Brown produced arguably his best performance for us last night and was well assisted by Wanyama. We just didn't trouble them enough in the final third and although it's early days I think it's fair to say that Miku is not a lone striker. He seems a bit one paced to me and doesn't seem overly keen to put himself about. He does seem to have decent ability though. My main expectation form the group was that we emerged with some respectability even if we finished bottom and I think we managed that in the first game.
I still think we lack creativity in the final third, and Commons can be very selfish, which is sometimes our downfall in the final third. I don't mind his selfishness at times because he grabs goals, but at times were he just shoots when there isn't much on instead of holding onto it for a bit longer, or looking for an extra pass is frustrating. A lot of you don't rate Stokes, him and Hooper is the best partnership we have, they are brilliant together and very creative, and if they were playing last night I feel that we could have won.
All the injuries meant we had very little to change it going forward mate, shame because otherwise I'd have fancied us to win it. Kelvin Wilson also looked much improved, apart from one slight moment of hesitation in the second half
I completely agree on the injuries, they're never kind to us. As soon as one player goes they all drop. I've never been convinced by Wilson or Lustig, but both of them played well last night, no complaints. Just wish they could do it week in week out, same as Broony. I'm quite surprised Watt didn't get a run out in the last 10, coming on for Miku. Hey ho, games over, we got a good result and showed we aren't the groups whipping boys, so no real complaints.
I was on a downer when i found out Wilson and Lustig were starting last night but i'll hold my hands up and say both played well and proved me wrong. I said at the start i'd take the Europa place from this group and last nights point is decent in trying to achieve that. Another one in Moscow would be superb but again that will be a big ask.
