Bhoys Take An International Break For The Week

A More 'Calm and Modest' Artur Turns Out For Poland

By Tony Quinn

Celtic players were on international duty last weekend in World Cup 2010 qualifiers.

Barry Robson, Scott Brown, Shaun Maloney and Gary Caldwell - played in Scotland's 0-0 draw with Norway at Hampden and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink missed out for Holland through injury but the Dutch still beat Iceland 2-0.

Greek striker Georgios Samaras played for 70 minutes of his country's 3-0 win over Moldova.

Artur Boruc was restored to the Poland starting XI for their Group 3 showdown with Czech Republic and played his part in an impressive 2-1 win.

On Wednesday, Samaras and his Greece team-mates take on Switzerland in Group 2, while Boruc's Poland travel to Slovakia.

Croke Park in Dublin is the venue for the Republic of Ireland's Group 8 contest with Cyprus. Aiden McGeady is expected to be involved for the Irish.

Shunsuke Nakamura will play for Japan against Uzbekistan in Saitama, while Scott McDonald is in the Australia squad for their meeting with Qatar in Brisbane.

A memento from the Lisbon Lions European Cup final is expected to fetch up to $60,000 when it goes under the hammer. The Celtic pennant was given to Inter Milan captain Armando Picchi by Billy McNeill before their teams clashed in the 1967 match. It is the official club pennant produced by Celtic for the customary exchange before kick-off.

Celtic became the first British side to win the famous trophy, defeating Inter Milan 2-1.

The pennant will be auctioned at Convery Auctions in Edinburgh on November 5th at their sporting memorabilia sale.

Ticketless Celtic fans have been urged not to travel for next Tuesday's Champions League trip to Manchester United. It will be the first time a Scottish side have played in Manchester since Rangers fans rioted after been beaten in May's UEFA Cup final.

Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police are desperate to avoid a repeat of the ugly scenes involving a minority of supporters.

Council leader Sir Richard Leese, Chief Supt Gerry Donnellan and Manchester United chief executive David Gill issued a joint statement on Tuesday appealing to fans on Celtic's official website. It read: "Manchester is looking forward to welcoming Celtic fans visiting the city for Tuesday October 21's UEFA Champions League tie with Manchester United. We're a city that's passionate about football with a proud reputation for hospitality. In return, we are sure that Celtic fans will want to uphold the great reputation of the club and its travelling supporters. Along with Celtic, we are urging supporters who do not have tickets not to travel to the city. Ticketless supporters will not be able to get into the game and facilities will not be provided for fans to watch the match elsewhere."

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell added a statement from Celtic: "Celtic supporters have a tremendous reputation and have become renowned across Europe for the positive manner in which they travel and support the club. This was again in evidence just a few weeks ago when our supporters traveled to Villarreal in numbers and despite the result once again made friends and enjoyed a great sporting occasion. We are delighted that Celtic Football Club and Manchester United FC also enjoy such a fantastic relationship. We have met on a number of occasions previously in both competitive and friendly matches, with thousands of our supporters travelling to the city to honor such great footballing names as Bobby Charlton, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs."

Artur Boruc has vowed to become "more calm and modest" following his temporary ban from the Poland national team. Boruc had been dropped by Poland coach Leo Beenhakker after embarking on a so-called 'drinking binge' ahead of a friendly with Ukraine in August. He was told by Beenhakker he needed to 'learn to take responsibility' for his actions.

The Holy Goalie has since been restored his country's line-up and played an key role in Poland's win against the Czech Republic last weekend. Boruc said: "I decided I should be more calm and modest. The past few weeks have been a very dark chapter in my book but I believe all that is behind me now. I regret what happened but sometimes you need to experience such things to grow as a person and as a professional."

Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen believes that Marc Crosas will be a star, and reminded Celtic fans that he expects to see him back in the Camp Nou. Crosas arrived in Glasgow in the summer, but the Catalan giants have a buy-back clause to sign the 20-year-old back. "Barcelona inserted clauses into Marc's contract so they can buy him back and that is understandable," Gudjohnsen said. "When a player grows up with a club and you don't see him developing in the near future you might want to let him go with an option to re-sign him. Marc trained with us for parts of last year and was on our pre-season tour so he's a player I know well and have a lot of admiration for.

He continued: "The fact that Barcelona were willing to let Marc go doesn't make him a bad player. Eto'o was allowed to leave Real Madrid at a young age and look at him now. Players' careers develop in a different way and Marc had taken a great step forward. I'm sure he will be an excellent signing for Celtic."