UEFA Cup Semi Final 1st leg
Thursday April 10th

Celtic 1

Boavista 1

0:1 Valgaeren o.g (49) ; 1:1 Larsson (51)

Att: 60,000

ref: de Bleeckere (Bel)

Celtic: Douglas; Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren; Agathe (Sylla 34), Petrov (McNamara 84), Lambert, Lennon, Thompson; Hartson, Larsson

29 years since we were last in a European semi-final and night to savour for what it stood for rather than the football itself.

The game was easily the poorest, in terms of quality, that we've seen in Europe this season. Apart from their goalie Boavista are a very ordinary team. After 10 minutes everyone in the ground had come to the conclusion that someone like Hearts could probably take them. Unfortunately some of our players are still playing well below their expected level. Without getting too specific, the midfield. Petrov hasn't had the best of seasons, but tonight he was utterly anonymous.

This is not a good team we're up against and we should be swatting them away. But we're labouring. Celtic had lots of the ball without appearing to have the wit to do a lot with it. Despite the Hoops being clearly superior we went in level at half time.

The second half was a mixture of the good and bad. Having had none of the game Boavista took the lead. A break down the right wing saw the ball played low into the box. Valgaeren lunged for it but managed only to stick it in his own net. Calamity. Without a shot on goal to their names they were one up, and in possession of a vital away goal.

Having dug ourselves into a hole we certainly didn't waste much time in getting out of it. Just two minutes later Larsson equalised.

It should have seen Celtic grab the initiative, but again we just couldn't get going. It wasn't all his fault, but Neil Lennon had a shocker. Having a shocker is one thing, nearly gifting the opposition a goal twice in five minutes is something else. He got hooked off but we'll need another Anfield style performance from him in Portugal.

With just fifteen minutes to go Celtic were awarded a penalty for an apparent handball. By comparison with some of the volleyball in the Boavista box that had gone unpunished earlier in the match it was a soft award. Unfortunately Larsson repeated his Basel trick and we were left with a 1:1.

So again we have to score away from home - but that hasn't proved a problem in previous rounds, and this team is no Stuttgart. Hell they aren't even a Blackburn. We should do it. If nothing else, it'll be murder to bear if we go out to a team like this