This is one of those times when nothing matters but the result. Tonight I don’t care how the critics view it, and I don’t care what they say. We’re through. We’ve got 12 points, and we deserve to be through.
We were the better team tonight by a country mile. Three times we had the ball in the net. We missed a penalty kick. And yes, we might have had a bit of luck at the end—but let me tell you something: you make your own luck.
We never stopped, never quit. Our heads didn’t go down. We played until the final ball, until the final whistle.
Tomorrow, once I’ve gathered my thoughts and seen how the media spins it, I’ll write a longer, more detailed piece on how it all went tonight. But for now? I’m just proud. Not relieved—proud. We always had the goal in us, and I always believed we’d get it.
I’m proud of this team. I’m proud that they’ve achieved something amazing in this new Champions League format. The final verdict on the group will come next week when we face Villa, and that game is going to be a cracker. We’ll need to be more clinical, no question. And we’ll need to do it without Maeda, one of our top performers tonight.
The critics will talk. The Ibrox fans will kid themselves into thinking we don’t deserve this. Right now I couldn’t care less what any of them say.
But I am overjoyed. I am delighted. I am looking forward to the draw, and I am damn proud of my team. Qualification with a game still to go and 12 points on the board? Outstanding, no matter what the naysayers want to claim.
I’m thrilled for Adam Idah.
He doesn’t get the goal—it’s robbed from him by an own goal—but you saw his joy. You saw his delight. You saw how much it meant to him. He was ecstatic, and I hope this is the confidence boost he needs to get better and better.
The pressure is off now for the whole team. We’ve got the first domestic trophy in the bag. We’ve got the league in our sights. We’ve got a straightforward task in the next round of the Scottish Cup. It’s all in front of us. And now, we have that extra Champions League round to look forward to.
Yes, people will squeal about us being fortunate.
Screw them. Let them cry their bitter tears. Let them whinge and wail. Tonight belongs to Celtic. It belongs to us because we earned it. It’s deserved. This is the night we’ve waited for since the draw, and nobody is spoiling it for me. They aren’t taking it away from me, from this club, this team, or this manager.
Brendan Rodgers has done everything asked of him. Everything expected of him. This is what he was brought back to do—nights like tonight. Mission accomplished. Now, the club has to back him and this team to see if we can take it to the next level. It will be incredibly tough, but we climbed a mountain to get here. How many thought we’d do that on the night we lost heavily in Dortmund?
I’ll probably be pissed off tomorrow at some of the coverage. Pissed off enough to write about it, no doubt. Because we are surrounded by bitter people and they will do what it is that bitter people do.
But not tonight. Tonight, I’m having a stiff drink and savouring this moment. This was a big night for Project Rodgers and Project Celtic, and we got the job done. I don’t care how. It wasn’t the cleanest goal. It wasn’t a moment for the Celtic Park archives. But it was huge all the same.
Ladies and gentlemen, we did it. Another box ticked. This is shaping up to be a very special season, and I intend to enjoy every moment of it—as I’ve enjoyed almost every minute of it so far.
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
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Well said James, agree with every word,it was a nailbiter nest the end but we did indeed deserve to win,I thought at one point with 3 goals chalked off and a missed penalty that lady luck had kicked us in the balls,but she smiled on us and made up for the bad luck with that OG,but that result was nothing more than we deserved,I thought we played very well, hopefully we can give Aston villa a game now.Hail Hail!!!
Brilliant bhoys what a first half ,I’m on cloud 9 and intend staying there.
Adam is thereal deal have no doubt about stardust is given to few.
Have to agree with you …. Invisible man 🙂
Well said, James, does not matter how, but we are through. Hail hail
Winning qualification with a game to spare is excellent. Some movement in the transfer market should now take place. Looks like Kyogo is off.
Hopefully Tierney and Jota will come in plus another winger.
I have a feeling that Maeda will now be used as a main striker which I think is his best position.
It feels as though this game has been a distraction since December and glad to get it out of the way. The players deserved the win – a win that I thought too many fans had taken for granted before tonight.
Our next game is our most important game – roll on Dundee at 3pm on Saturday.
With the win tonight and qualification, a lucrative night’s business by the team.
Aye Jeez Celtic – Always the drama Presidents for sure !
Well done Brendan and the Lhads tonight for sure…
Three goals chopped off (no complaints about the officials there)…
A piss poor penalty missed –
Hit the crossbar…
The Great White Danish Shark keeps Celtic in it…
Score a very very lucky winner !
The King of Goalies saves us again…
Average blood pressure SKY HIGH –
Jeez Oh Celtic I love ya – Oh Celtic I do…
Well I can say that over a Lager and Double Whisky now !!!
An 11 million player that cant pass the ball into midfield, a 9 million striker that celebrated the own goal as if he scored it , a dominant first half where our elite manager keeps the same tactics for 90 minutes, against the worst opponents in this year’s champions league with no points and we’re lucky to have a clean sheet thanks to our goal keeper, let’s not kid ourselves, that was shocking.
A home game that should have had us playing to our potential, instead we had to endure a team at the lowest level making us look bang average in the second half, and to rely on an own goal from the bottom team in the champions league is not potential for progression
Have you ever considered bingo mate?!
We’ve made the playoff with a game to spare after finishing bottom of our group in the 2 previous seasons and made it past the first stage for the first time in 12 years – that IS progression by any definition, yet not only can’t you take any joy from the achievement but you feel the need to berate the manager and the team / players who delivered on what they set to achieve.
This is the toughest club competition in the world and none of the teams which qualify are a gimme, irrespective of how many points they may or may not have on the board, and especially not the current champions, (and 6 of the last 7 years) of a league ranked higher than our own. Trading some of your sense of entitlement for a bit of perspective would probably serve you well.
Jim, everyone is entitled to an opinion and I respect that.
However, I think your comments are a bit off the mark, and I’m putting that across with due courtesy!
First half, I thought Engels, Hatate & CalMac were excellent, ( as was some of their passing!)
Pre-match, there were a lot of shouts for McCowan to play from the start, which many can’t disagree with, given Reo’s unpredictability this season, but we trust in our manager, and Hatate’s superb performance, completely vindicated his decision.
We had 3 goals ( correctly) disallowed, and a (poorly taken) penalty saved, so apart from scoring, we got more or less, everything else, correct, in a highly dominant first 45.
Second half was a bit more nervy, understandably so, but like so many previous occasions, we found a way to win. It looked as if they put an extra man in midfield, to give us more room out wide, but I thought Kuhn was disappointing, and never gave us much !
I was not impressed with Young Boys whatsoever, and I thought they used a lot of gamesmanship ( again putting it mildly,) throughout the match, and were allowed to, by a very poor ( imo) referee!
We should all be very proud of our team and manager’s achievement and see this as a continuing evolution of our club, rather than believing it was “shocking!”
However, as I’ll always say, it’s all about opinions!
Well done Celtic ! HH
Dominant for 45 minutes. We were never going to maintain that for the entire game.
Having 3 goals chopped off, missing a pen & arguably not being given another one could easily have drained the players mental energy.
We were off it in the second half but were still comfortable.
Keeper made bigs saves, that’s why we have him in goals for that very reason.
Idah got everything right for the goal other than getting it past the GK, timed his run perfectly for the pass (something Kyogo failed to do 3 times in the first half), he deserves to celebrate yet another critical goal for us whether he is technically awarded or not is irrelevant.
I’ve been critical of Adam because I don’t think he has been good enough but he appears to step up in the big occasions. That is a promising sign for us going forward as if he can handle that pressure he’ll come good. (I’ll still be critical if he isn’t performing well but I’ll freely admit that a lot of that is down to overpaying for him)
Engels also had an extremely good game, I think the Penalty save at RC got into his head & changed a formula that didn’t need adjusted adding in that stutter.
Bernardo coming on was visibly poorer & off it but big atmosphere to come into with the result still in the balance.
Another night we would have repeated our opening Champions League game of this campaign & run riot.
Defence was excellent, Taylor was tremendous, thought Valle was just as good when he came on. Really do think we should be exploring a permanent deal for him.
AJ was superb also & was extremely disciplined in managing to navigate that game without picking up a yellow & missing the Villa game. That would be worse than losing Maeda for it. Ralston would be ran ragged by the Villa offence.
The only unfortunate thing was Maeda red, I thought it was harsh but swing a leg out in Europe & you’re asking for it to be reviewed.
It was done the Celtic way by making us watch from behind the sofa but fuck it man the result is what we needed & we got it.
As others have said, games clearly been on their minds as I’ve not seen energy levels like that for 2 months from the team.
Every single one of them played their socks off & deserve credit for a performance that required every ounce of their commitment.
Well done Ceitic,did us proud.What makes it even better is knowing how sick all those hun bastards in the Scottish media will be, the fuckers would have been sharpening their pencils with a few minutes to go.Hope their favourite Billy boys trash Manchester and show the whole country the scum that they are.
I’m proud as well James, but also very relieved. We deserved our victory, no doubt about that, but we ended up making it very hard for ourselves. The main thing of course is that we got there. Hatate’s pass through to Idah was exceptional and it deserved a fitting ending. All’s well now at Celtic Park and we can now look forward to another great season.
We are through and that’s what matters, savour it everybody because these moments don’t come along very often, of course there was an element of luck with the goal but that makes it all the sweeter because it has our friends across the city incandescent with rage! I wonder what winds them up more?
1 That an irishman of colour was mostly responsible for the goal
2 That the extra money earned for the win as opposed to a draw will probably be more than the combined transfer fees they MAY receive in this window.
3 We have just qualified for a stage in the top competition….. a feat they will never accomplish
4 Their club is an atrocious shit-show.
Please Jim, chill out and enjoy this.
First of all, well happy with the win, tho tbh, YB were a team we should be beatin and it was thanks tae Kasper we did. If they had scored at that time and he hadnt managed those saves, imo the way we were playin that 2nd half, ah think we would’ve lost. 1st half played them aff the park. 2nd half dreadful and naewhere near as effective. We should be addressin how we so often, fail tae sustain our form for 90 minutes. No just in Europe, it’s a noticeable factor domestically as well. As ah say tho, well pleased we’re through and with the 1st half performance. It’s no a gripe, just the nigglin concern about this bad habit and pattern we’ve developed.
Another thing would like tae say. We get through and the reaction is incredible and predictable. Because of the Swiss teams name, it was always goin tae be an opportunity for the social media, ugly minded. Never known a support, who obsessively and eagerly indulge in so much poison. They’re also, even usin Kyogo’s 3 var disallowed goals, as ‘proof’ of Scottish officials bein ‘biased’ in our favor. Couldnae make it up, right ?! Also, berry of the DR’s snide headline about Maeda makin a ‘grovelling apology’ tae the Celtic support, shows how angry and hurt these bastards are that we’re through. Nothin ‘grovelling’ about it and ah doubt if any Celtic supporter sees it that way. It was a sincere comment statement by the player and typical of his nature. A professional, who’s boots berry isnae fit tae clean.
‘ Mission accomplished ‘.
I presume you recognize the historical significance of that phrase which was spouted by G.W. Bush after the complete destruction of a country that did nothing to America.
A complete destruction that murdered 1 million Iraqi men, women and children using sanctions and illegal war,which was a genocide.
Mission accomplished is not a term I like to see used at all considering it’s description of that genocide committed by the USA,but especially by a fellow Celtic fan.
Cmon James you know better ??