Champions League: Celtic v Benfica

A foreign bloke in branded leisurewear having a smoke outside Glasgow's Radisson can only mean one thing.

There's a football team in town and one of the coaches is plotting the downfall of some of our brave boys while looking as effortlessly cool as it's possible to look while indulging in a pastime that runs the very real risk of setting his Adidas training gear alight.

The studied nonchalance on Argyle Street has belonged to Benfica this week as the Champions League group stages return to Celtic Park.

Celtic revel in nights like this: 18 home games in the group stages of this competition have seen them claim 13 wins and suffer just one defeat.

If their Champions League campaigns haven't always brought sustained success, achieving parity with the great and the good of the European game has rarely been a problem at home.

But Neil Lennon is facing something of a conundrum before this evening's match.

Celtic predicted canter in the one horse SPL has started groggily. A meek defeat to St Johnstone on Saturday confirmed the worst start to a league season for over a decade.

Why?

Lennon suggested - and it was a chagrined suggestion - that thoughts of this Benfica clash might have played a part in Saturday's defeat.

Others have suggested that the players might be taking time to adjust to a league shorn of their rivals.

I might also question the wisdom of that Philadelphia friendly with Real Madrid after the league had started and when both the domestic season and the squad were already facing disruption for the last round of international fixtures.

More prosaically there have been injuries and what appears to be a collective loss of form among a few key players.

The manager will expect his squad to rise above that in the SPL but he'll also be concerned how this lacklustre start will translate into European performances.

In the parlance of such things he'll be looking for a reaction tonight. Without it Celtic could be in for a long evening.

The bookies would seem to concur. Celtic are 13/5 to win with Ladbrokes while Benfica are 11/10.

Domestic form, the depth of the two squads and Celtic's four years absence from this stage would certainly explain those odds. But they do seem to disregard the Celtic Park factor, the home advantage that so defines Celtic's European adventures.


The draw is quoted at 9/4 although the generosity of Celtic's defence so far this season would scare me off 0-0 at 6/1.

1-1 at 7/1 might well look the better bet.

I'm also happy to be influenced by the Craig Levein Equation: Craig Levein + Craig Levein questioning Player X's value to the Scotland squad = Player X doing something impressive.

In this case Kris Commons (Scotland's ninth best midfielder. Or is tenth best?) scoring first in a 1-1 draw comes in at 40/1.

Have a punt on that.

By the end of the night you might be just be singing Levein's praises.

All odds from Ladbrokes

Always remembering www.gambleaware.co.uk

SPL Advent: Celtic

Day two of our Scottish football Advent calendar. Celtic lurk behind today's window.

Was it really just a few weeks ago that all hope was lost and Neil Lennon's job prospects looked bleaker by the match?

Celtic teetered as Rangers thrived, the SPL gap was getting bigger and the Parkhead title challenge was being written off.

A defence that seemed porous and ponderous hamstrung a side apparently beset by apathy and poor form.

Modern footballing hype dictated that we pointed to a crisis, that the deficiencies were analysed until they took the form of insurmountable obstacles.

Yet some measure of Celtic's defiance remained, hints of a certain resilience were apparent.

The nadir might have been reached at 3-0 down to Kilmarnock. Punch-drunk and bloodied, Celtic could still drag themselves from the canvas to win a point.

Now, the deficit cut from 12 points to a far more scalable four, they might just have snatched the SPL momentum.

What changed?

The European win over Rennes, a game which began with an early concession and saw several storms weathered, segued into victory in what was billed as the "second place" clash with Motherwell.

Two tests safely negotiated. Enough, perhaps, to inspire the current run of six straight league wins.

Maybe the catalyst was something far simpler. How much did Kris Commons turning up at training bedecked in neck brace and bandages help lance the boil of rumour and unease that made dodgy results seem worse and hampered the chance of a recovery?

Commons the practical joker breathing spirit into a squad that needed reinvigorated? Stranger things have happened, even if outweighs much of his impact on the pitch so far this season.

Maybe all it took was good players remembering that this is a league that throws up opponents they should be able to dominate.

Weaknesses, of course, remain. Celtic had lost three games by the first week of October. By the end of that month a Hibs team that was attempting to redefine hopelessness had taken a point home from Glasgow.

The defence has been chopped and changed and has too often appeared unsettled on the pitch. Big wins have come but at times Celtic have struggled to convert dominance into goals. That combination will lead to dropped points.

It's strange though how an often false narrative can develop around a team.

We might think Celtic are diminished compared to last season. Maybe they are. But they're only a point worse off than they were at this stage last year. They've conceded only one more goal than they had last season.

Equally importantly they've timed their recovery from a "crisis" period at almost exactly the point where Rangers have endured their own wee slump.

On Saturday Celtic emerged with three points after a struggle against Hearts. Back in October you wouldn't have expected them to come through such a test intact. It's exactly the kind of win that can appear much bigger in May than it does on a cold December evening.

In a two horse race you'd rather be four points ahead than four points behind.

But the last few weeks have been kind to Celtic and the coming weeks promise the return from injury of some big names.

That should be reason enough to look forward to the festive season with optimism to spare.

Santa Claus is coming to town

Celtic - despite an oft stated commitment to good housekeeping - would appear to be the best placed of all the SPL sides to carry the disposable consumerism of our Yuletide orgy into the January transfer window.

Constructive signings who can offer long term solutions to the travails of earlier in the season would seem to be the order of the day.

Such players aren't always easy to find. Santa might feel it prudent to tell Celtic that if they can't find better than the toys they've already got they shouldn't bother.

But two gifts are likely to top the wishlist: An Old Firm win between Christmas and New Year and an SPL title in May.

On current evidence the former would be a massive stride in the direction of the latter.

The Scottish Football Blog blogathon took place in November in aid of Alzheimer Scotland and the Homeless World Cup. You can still donate to help two great causes.

Scotland v Northern Ireland: McArthur's Magic Moment

Cross or shot?

Who cares?

Either way James McArthur - a last minute replacement for Scott Brown - made quite an impact to mark his first Scotland start.

McArthur, Kenny Miller and Kris Commons got the goals as Scotland beat Northern Ireland 3-0 in Dublin.

A good start to our first Carling Nations Cup campaign. Northern Ireland weren't great but Scotland were quietly impressive. And we've not always taken advantage of failings in the opposition.

So a heartening night. Weaknesses persist. But could we be seeing the emergence of a number of players who can actually provide the nucleus of a decent squad in the next few years?

I'm in danger of being optimistic...