No Luck For Celtic In Parkhead Euro Tie

Celtic 0 Arsenal 2

While Arsenal may have enjoyed the luck of the Irish last Tuesday at Parkhead, the quality of their team and play left no doubt that Celtic now have a mountain to climb in the second leg at The Emirates Stadium if they want to progress into the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League.

That said, Celtic did not embarass themselves by any means. Until the first goal went in, the bhoys were giving as good as they got and came close to scoring an opener themselves.

The match was tight until the point at which Cesc Fabregas, right before the end of the first half, fired in a free kick which deflected from the cowering William Gallas' back and past a now-helpless Artur Boruc into the net.

After this piece of tragic bad luck, the home side seemed to loss confidence and Arsenal were bouyed, looking much more comfortable with their game in the second half.

It was a dreadful game for Celtic skipper Gary Caldwell, the defender who had wastefully given away the free kick in the first place.

Worse was yet to come for the Scottish national player who'd been sent off in his country's 4-0 loss to Norway.

With 20 minutes to go, Arsenal left-back Gael Clichy, aided by midfielder Abou Diaby, finessed his way down the wing and fired a pass into the six-yard area where a helpless Caldwell diverted the ball into his own net.

Even with striker Scott McDonald and new-signing Marc-Antoine Fortune coming on from the bench, there was no way through for Celtic and 2-0 would be the final score.

There is always hope in a two-legged tie, but a gambling man or woman may be right in thinking that the odds of winning by three goals in Arsenal's stadium is a bridge too far.

Should Celtic fail to advance, they will be relegated to the Group Stage of the Europa League, where they have a good chance of ultimate success.

On Saturday, Celtic gave a Scottish Premier League welcome to new-boys St. Johnstone, beating them 5-2 at Celtic Park.

Both Fortune and Shaun Maloney grabbed braces with Scott McDonald adding the icing on the cake with a fifth.

Another Caldwell error let St. Johnstone back into the game when the bhoys were only up by two though, misdirecting a header to the 'keeper which allowed Collin Samuel to smash one in from 22 yards out.

According to manager Tonyt Mowbray: "We left Landy N'Guemo in the stand as he has played a lot of football and has a couple of international games coming up.

"If we have a chance to rest our international players, as we did today, we will do that.

"We are trying to beat ourselves with the goals we are conceding, but there was plenty good happening going forward.

"Marc-Antoine Fortune was desperate to score, but I know from last year at West Brom how good a footballer he is and what else he brings to the team," he concluded.