WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10th
Champions League

Lyon 3

Celtic 2

1:0 Elber 6
1:1 Hartson 24
2:1 Juninho 52
2:2 Sutton 75
3:2 Juninho 86 pen

Att: 40,125

Ref: Urs Meier

Celtic: Hedman Gray Balde Varga Mjallby Miller Lennon Sutton Petrov Hartson Larsson

subs
Sylla for Hartson 68
Wallace for Gray 68
Kennedy for Sutton 80

Having watched the match, suffered and been sickened, I have subsequently had to endure all the crap from the hacks, the pundits, the armchair fans and the defeatists among our own ranks. It's truly amazing how easily the opinions of the weak willed among us have been swayed by this result. In the cold light of day the situation, as I see it, is as follows: We are still in Europe; we are still contenders in a major European Trophy; we have not hit a glass ceiling for clubs from smaller nations at the top level. The worst case scenario, for many, of going out of Europe totally and the Orcs going into the UEFA cup, did not occur.

What is most galling though, is that Celtic do not deserve second best. We have not progressed, that's true, but critically, no matter what the doom mongers and pundits like Souness may say, we have not regressed either. We now have to regroup and do better in the UEFA Cup.

As expected for a team of Lyon's calibre playing at home, they dominated on the night. Yet, forgotten by many is the fact that we scored twice away from home and were minutes from qualifying for the next level.

Our failings on the night were in defence. Given the line up on the night, our squad is not sufficiently strong in depth. Hedman yet again failed to perform and could not deal with a 40 yard shot. This is unacceptable at this level, especially after his error in Munich. Michael Gray fared little better and had the worst game of any Celtic defender in a decade. When OFM opens the final window of his advent calendar the taxi for Gray should surely be pictured on the inside. Mjallby had a torrid time, but lack of match practice, especially in the European arena, did not help him. Varga and Bobo were immense. Those barracking Balde when we played Dundee at Parkhead immediately after Lyon need to have a serious look at themselves.

The penalty that helped to prevent our progression was soft to non-existent. The lack of a similar award when Sutton was body-checked in the Lyon penalty box has been largely ignored by the press and many of the fans.

To their credit, Hartson and Sutton delivered yet again, while Larsson drew defenders at every opportunity, but all their efforts were in vain.

It was Seville all over again. Going a goal down in 6 minutes, the defence slept when a soft free kick crashed off the bar. It could, in all honesty, have been all over had an Elber effort gone the other side of the post, but the players hung in until evntually Big John picked up on a Larsson mis-kick to level before half time.

The second Lyon goal was a goalkeeping disgrace, which Momo's perseverance at the heels of Berthoud helped Sutton to redeem when he slipped the ball inside the far post to put Celtic within yards of the finish line for qualification.

The Lyon penalty was a calamity. This wasn't all luck on their part, it was poor defending on Celtic's too. Poor organisation led to a hurried Balde challenge and a raised arm, which a myopic Swiss referee claimed blocked the path of the ball to goal. Obviously the ball must move differently in Swiss air. Either that, or this guy is going blind from Alpine frost bite. On the back of this decision he must have already lost other bits of his anatomy - in particular his genetalia - to the cold.

The memory of how we outplayed and out-passed Lyon at Celtic Park disappeared as quickly as the crowd at Ibrox the previous night. It was all too quickly replaced by sickening anger and frustration.

Had this been a UEFA tie we would have gone through comfortably. We can and do score away from home in Europe. We just need to learn to defend better. This does not require a total restructuring of the team. Just a new keeper and a defender.

It goes without saying that we could all empathise with OFM. The Champions League run was terminated too soon, but like Arnie, King of the Californian Gropers, we will be back. We just need the board to prise open the new biscuit tin.

Paul Shiels

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AAAAAAAARGH!!! SERIOUS RANT WARNING.

After the 5:1 Livi game in August the diary said of Hedman: 'Let's face facts sports fans, you couldn't let this guy within 50 yards of the first teamdressing room on Old Firm day.' Could you come up with a more damning statistic for the huns that the fact the Hedman has a clean sheet against them?

Much is being made in the papers these days of OFM not getting any money from the board. Well just remember that he managed to get £1.5m to buy the man who threw us out of the Champions League.

Hedman should never have been at Celtic in the first place. His performances in the 2002 World Cup should have seen to that. Almost to a man the Swedish press blamed him for their exit, and for every goal they conceded.

Rab Douglas isn't perfect, he makes mistakes, every keeper makes them, but you could definitely point to games where he has won us points. Not only can you not say that for Hedman, but I wouldn't count on him ever doing it.

There's a good case to say that Celtic haven't had a really reliable keeper since Simpson. Most of the others after him have been very up and down. Many fans will still lament the departure of Broto, and he did look good toward the end of last season. But can you really make a judgement based on a handful of games? And if Broto is really that good who is he playing for now?

Cloughie always said a good keeper can win you things, and he had Shilton. Forget buying the new Lubo - we need the new Ronnie Simpson.

AB Murdoch